bad news about injured player

[mutantducky]

and who cares if they are

[JRutledge]

Even if you call a foul that does not mean someone still would not be hurt on the play. One of the biggest myths in sports is if the official calls something you will prevent someone from being hurt. Someone always gets hurt in sports even when you call something on a play. You should not take this to heart. You should not take this to heart.

Peace

[j51969]

Originally Posted by representing

That's what I was thinking but few have told me they would call it that way before T'ing up the flopper. So I'm incorrect there...

Warn and wack. I hate the flopping thing. It was big several years ago and I had no problem giving a T for this. The majority of the time its in the lane and under the basket. Not a basketball play and unsafe.

[jdw3018]

Originally Posted by representing

I'm taking it for what it is, but you are wrong on my emotional state of mind during a game. I do keep a level head during officiating. It's after the game that I start getting emotional about certain things. Like one game I had a few years ago. I T'd up a coach for running his mouth all game. No problem, kept my cool, went to the table to report it. After the game he initiated a stare-down competition with me on my way to the locker room. I stood my ground, and eventually he walked away. Then after the game I went to a cafe with a friend and just started analyzing the situation and got all emotional about it, thinking whether if I should have T'd him up for the stare-down thing.

To be honest, I am an emotional guy. Sometimes VERY emotional. But I don't let it get in the way of work. The emotions stays in the locker room when I walk to the gym to ref.

These two things make me think this may not be true. After the game is over there's no reason to engage in a "stare-down competition" with anyone, especially a coach. Swallow any pride that may be telling you otherwise and get to the locker room. Be the bigger man. Staring back is engaging in the same bad conduct.

If you can't get past these situations without "winning," then maybe you aren't emotionally ready for basketball officiating.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by representing

I do keep a level head during officiating. It's after the game that I start getting emotional about certain things. Like one game I had a few years ago. I T'd up a coach for running his mouth all game. No problem, kept my cool, went to the table to report it. After the game he initiated a stare-down competition with me on my way to the locker room. I stood my ground, and eventually he walked away.

There's no way a coach could get into a post-game stare down with me. He'll be looking at the back of my head as I get off the court. I wouldn't even know if he tried.

Just by engaging with him here, you lost.

[just another ref]

Originally Posted by snaqwells

just by engaging with him here, you lost.

+1

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by Snaqwells

He'll be looking at the back of my head as I get off the court.

We were wondering why you had, "Bite Me", shaved into the back of your head. Nice haircut for an official.

[Texas Aggie]

One of the biggest myths in sports is if the official calls something you will prevent someone from being hurt.

I've been saying this for years. I defy anyone to show me how a call or non-call would cause or prevent an injury. The myth in basketball is that if you don't call more fouls, the contact becomes harder or is increased. That's bull. The roughest games I've had were the ones where a bunch of fouls were called. But even then, I'd argue that one thing has nothing to do with the other. The game is going to be well played, or ugly, and that's determined by the two teams playing.

If the argument is that teams don't like the calls and get out of control, how am I supposed to respond if I believe the calls or non-calls made are correct? Make calls that I think aren't correct?

I had a coach in football tell me in pregame that he was deathly afraid of injuries to his kids. I said, "fine; I guarantee you my guys won't hurt them. Other than that, I'm not sure what I can do about it. Most injuries happen on legal plays. For the ones that happen on illegal plays, the flag isn't going to heal the injury, so the only real question becomes whether we make the correct call or not. I can assure you our goal tonight will be to get the calls correct, but I can't make any assurances about injuries on anyone' part -- your players, your opponents, or even you and I."

He seemed a bit annoyed, but I didn't really leave him with anything to argue about. I was very annoyed that he thinks officials have something to do with preventing injuries. In fact its one of my pet peeves (if you can't already tell)!

[jdw3018]

While I agree with everyone that in general calls (or no-calls) don't cause injuries, there are a few things we CAN do to potentially help prevent them. They are all non-basketball type plays. We can call a violation for swinging elbows the first time it happens and not wait for blood and teeth to attempt to stop the action. We can penalize unsporting conduct when it happens, which may prevent it from escalating into physical conduct. We can penalize intentional fouls when they are committed in late-game fouling and not allow the conduct to escalate.

Again, never are officials to blame for injuries. However, we can penalize conduct to reduce the chances of non-basketball plays escalating into actions that cause injuries.