Not saying its a change, but locally we were told not to occupy that last lane space below the block and to properly assume our position off the end line.

I do probably 98% of the time. I suppose the other 2% is when I'm lazy and we are shooting the first of 2 or 3.

Officials manual states that we are supposed to stand in the same location for all free throw attempts. Not sure if it is new or not, but it was on the NFHS tests this year, which made me change my ways. I may not get as wide as I would on the final attempt, but I am certainly not going to be found at the block. Not a big deal as I also do not like to talk to players during a live ball anyway.

Thanks,
I thought it was changed in the new official's manual.

No change on this one in years. It has been as AustinRef mentioned for as long as I can remember. There were just a lot of people not doing it the "right" way.

I don't know, actually. I'll see what I do tomorrow night. I'm pretty sure I do in case I need it, but there are times I'm talking to a coach and holding the whistle in my hand during a live ball, so who knows?

I do remember once a coach was asking a respectful question while I was the C tableside and I was responding quickly and I had to abruptly put my whistle in my mouth and call a foul on his player. Instead of reacting angrily, the coach laughed and said, "that's what I get for interrupting you when you're working."

Mine almost always in my mouth. Keeps me from making the sarcastic snide remarks that come to mind when dealing with ignorance and stupidity. ;)

I'll have to try that around the office tomorrow.

I have it in my mouth.

I have it in my mouth.

Whistle in the mouth for any situation when the ball can become live. As far as the lane position goes, in NCAA I occupy first lane space, but on the 2nd of 2 or 3rd of 3, I will get into my normal position. NF games I am off the baseline for both.

I think I'm 50/50....I don't do either instinctively.

Well, I don't always have it in my mouth and I didn't on a free throw last night. The girl - it always happens in girls games - shot the ball and they thought it was the last free throw. I verbally told them we had another shot and they stopped, but my partner, the T, was blowing his whistle unnecessarily. I didn't think anything of it.

Now for the rest of the story:

1. The officials doing the boys game ripped my two partners at halftime. I was kind of shocked and amused at how much they lit into them. They said things like, "Tom is the only one who looks like he wants to be here" and, "Tom had to go calm the coach down three times." It was kind of funny because it is something I would normally do, but not as harsh.
2. The partner who blew his whistle came up to me before the game and asked how I handle teams not coming out of the huddle after the first horn. He wanted to put the ball on the floor - something I don't really do. He also said he doesn't believe in advantage/disadvantage or RSBQ.
3. This partner is a big time volleyball official, or so I'm told. The best thing I can say about his basketball officiating is that he is a big time volleyball official, or so I'm told. :D
4. Two girls came into the game without him beckoning them in and he said, "Hey, nobody told you to come in." The gym was relatively quiet when he said this and the way he said it was pretty unprofessional. Later in the game, they did it again and he called a T. I'm not shy about calling Ts, but I don't know if I would do things the way he did it. The game was a 50 point blow out and he called it on the team that was winning.
5. After the game, he said, "Can I share something with you" in his gold-toothed, sarcastic way. He then proceeded to tell me to keep my whistle in my mouth during the first free throw. This stemmed from the fact that the other crew laid into them at halftime. Oh, I also laid into him during a scrimmage befor the season on a play where he let the ball handler get pushed out of bounds and called the out of bounds instead of the foul - I guess that ties in with his feelings about RSBQ. He also wasn't paying much attention to me during the pregame.
6. I found the whole night rather amusing and loved the fact that it was a girls game, 5pm here, and I could get home early - a 10 minute drive from this game. After his comments, I blazed to the house and reshuffled the blocked partner list.

Is there some kind of an unspoken pecking order in play here? Sounds like the boys officials were higher on the food chain than the partners you worked with.

I probably don't have a whistle in my mouth during the first of 2 (or first 2 of 3) but I'll see tomorrow when I work. It wouldn't be a big deal to bring it up and blow it if needed. Of course I work football and drop the whistle from my mouth at the snap, so I'm used to holding it in my hand and bringing it up when I need it.

The partner who doesn't believe in ad/disad and RSBQ, well, what can you say. I've incorporated RSBQ in my pregame with unfamiliar partners, BTW -- I am trying to get us all on the same page with how we officiate ball handlers up top and I think this is a great way to discuss it. As far as putting the ball on the floor, haven't done it in at least 5-6 years and then only when a team was essentially daring me to do it. Teams typically are coming out before the second horn and that's good enough for me.

Our assigner has to juggle officials and make adjustments. Most of the time, I would be doing a boys game, but we are supposed to take what we are assigned. For me, the fact that this game was early and close to my house made it fine. For 32 minutes, I'm trying to get plays right, period.

The assigner puts someone who can do either boys or girls on the girls game as the crew chief. The guys I worked with last night will not do any boys varsity unless it is a smaller school out of town - that would be a double header. I would be nervous working with them on a boys game.

I think there is certainly a pecking order at play. We have a rating system and officials are assigned accordingly. I would be the crew chief unless I'm working with someone who is the same rating as me.