Could be she has a journalist's mindset or is friends with any reporters covering the games. This is the type of thing that's very valuable to them (and they should be doing themselves, frankly, though not all do). And it won't come through in any score book or statistician's tallies otherwise. and eagle's right, a coach could make hay with, it too.

Why would the table crew need to have a pregame? THEY FREAKIN SIT NEXT TO EACH OTHER!!!!! Sheesh! :rolleyes:

This way everyone's on the same link/page. Also, this way everyone knwos what's expected of them, especially if they have not much of a clue about what they're doing or what's expected of their attitude/behavior.

My pre-game with the table (which I always do if I'm the R, and also if my partner is the R and doesn't do it) includes everyone, and thus would serve as a "group" pre-game for them. Although I like to think having a good table pre-game helps prevent problems, it's no guarantee. (Tuesday afternoon's game comes to mind!). But generally it lets the table know that they need to step up and try to act professional. Depending on how they act during the pre-game, I know how much effort I have to put into them for the rest of the game.

This isnt so comlicated chesgale that you should overthink it.

I ask the person doing the shot clock 1 question "What do you do if we have a jump ball?" if they answer that correctly they are good.

I ask the person doing the score and clock 1 question "On all official stoppages of play (ie. TO's DQ) when do you give us the first horn?"

I ask the person doing the book 1 question "How do you penalize a T?"

Of course I get their names too but thats it. That will tell me all I need to know about the tables ability for the game. I also make it clear that as a crew we need eye contact when reporting and if there are any issues to hit the horn immediatley. Oh I also ask that they refrain from hitting the horn for subs unless we miss it (I like as a crew for us to notice the subs and hit our whistle to get them in). I think it helps to show that we are on top of things.

On jump balls, if the team on offense keeps the ball, no reset. If the team on defense gets the ball, reset.

On full TOs & Intermissions: 45 seconds into. On 30-sec. TOs: 15 seconds into. On DQd, 5 seconds into.

If against an active player or players on bench: Mark 1 personal as well as 1 T & 1 team foul. If against a DQd player on bench: 1 against team foul & an indirect against the coach. If player dunks or grasps basket in warm-ups, 1 personal, 1 T, 1 team foul, & indirect against the coach. Sub coming in without beckoning &/or reporting: 1 personal, 1 T, & 1 team foul. Administrative: 1 team foul. Asst. Coach: indirect against HC & 1 team foul. HC: 1 T Direct & 1 team foul.

Concerning the horn & subs, I don't always buzz when I notice an official call subs in.

What I am meaning by having a pregame for table crew is just the table crew by themselves. A time to discuss what is & is not allowed concerning behavior while at table (remaining neutral, no cell phones or friends, etc.)

Another thing concerning table crew, on "Instructions to & duties of the scorer for basketball games", it says:

"DURING INTERMISSIONS:
1. Either the official scorer or a delegated assistant must be at the
scorer’s table with the official scorebook at all times."

How often is the scorebook left on the table with no one there?

Anything you would do as a table crew to try and be really good is nothing but a positive. Great table crews can be a tremendous asset to officials. Bad table crews can make things inconvenient for an official, but cannot hurt them.

Great table crew: odds 1:1,000,000

Bad table crew: odds 1:100

Or does someone have different odds?

Basically as I see everything (sorry if sounding like a perfectionist), every game is the state final.

Your odds on a bad table crew aren't even close. 99% of the table crews I have are good.

I wouldn't even notice if they're great, to be honest, as nothing normally happens that would separate a good table crew from a great one.

I was just making estimated odds, hence why I asked for other's odds.

I knew you were estimating, but you had them backwards, IMO. :)

I agree.

As far as the table crew having their own pregame, it depends on the situation. If it's the same crew that's worked together frequently, there's not really much need. On the other hand, if there's someone new or that you haven't worked with in a while, there's certainly no harm in taking a few seconds to make sure you're all on the same page.

I divide table crews into two categories, a) Good Enough and b)Not Good Enough. At the freshman level, that's all the distinction I need. With a little attention from me for the very inexperienced people, I almost always have Good Enough. I can only think of a couple situations in 11 years that I would call Really Bad. So I'd agree that the odds are 99% in favor of Good Enough.

If you go back & look at my posting about the odds, I changed it to correspond to what you told me.

I supose I'm fortuante that my primary timer partners (in both the fall and winter seasons) know what they are doing. I suppose if I was paired with a complete novice, then I might take time to see what they know and proceed from there.

That said, I will usually let my timer partner know at the beginning of the year if there are any relevant rule changes (such as when all of the warning horns were changed to be 15 seconds before the end of the duration or when the time to replace a disqualified player changed from 30 to 20 seconds).