22 years, 1 blarge
 

It happened last night. Juco men.

I'm lead, middle of the lane, obvious (well, to me anyway) block. Triple whistle. Fist. It was deep enough in the lane to definitely be the lead's first get. Just as I say block, I hear "OFFENSE". I hadn't even given a preliminary signal at that point and never did.

While the trail was in the shower, I asked the C the important question: What did you have? He said it was a no-brainer block and the T simply pointed the other way. I then asked who should've taken that and he said "definitely you."

If I had just kept my mouth shut, we would've avoided the blarge, but it would've been a horribly wrong call. Hey, we all miss one.

The coach wasn't thrilled. I could hear him talking with the C as we went to the table and reported the double foul and he said "I know that's the rule, but that's the lead's call all the way." He actually sounded like an official when he complained. :D

So I've been thinking about this on a different level this morning: Is it worse to have a blarge or to have a completely wrong call stand up simply to avoid a blarge?

Well, it was a good lesson and we only had about 25 people see it. Another chance tonight.

Personally I think a completely wrong call is worse.

To say it's better to just let it pass is kind of like penalizing a team twice for the same action.

Rich:

You are certainly not the Lone Ranger on this one. Happened to me about 3 years ago. In my case it was in a State Finals (televised) -- Ouch!

IMO it would be worse to pass on it in your position. Take the blarge and the heat as crew. We pre-game this all the time, but it will still happen time to time. Situations and emotions can effect our game as much as anyone else. **** happens.

Don't get me wrong. As soon as I said "BLOCK" I knew we were squarely in "blarge-land." To bad we weren't working the women's game as we could've gotten together and gotten it right. In the men's game, our hands were tied.

Had I not called out "block" I doubt I would've made a call, though, which is why I asked the philosophical question.

I wasn't saying you would pass only that doing so is worse. I think the women's rule is better. Initially you would here whinning from the coach losing the foul. Clearly better IMO to get the right call and move on. No one wins here.

yes

Why? To stroke officials' egos?

Serious question. Big bold font not persuasive.

Because jar believes it's not really the rule in Fed.

Serious answer. Who was responsible in the first place for the idea that reporting a double foul on a blarge was better than anything? Confer, decide what really happened as best you can, as we do on every other imaginable scenario in the book.

I do not think it's a good rule, but you won't convince me that (with the exception of NCAAW) there's any other way to handle it. Once the call is either signaled or verbalized, there's no putting the genie back in the bottle.

At least now it's not just an academic exercise for me -- I've actually been there.

On the contrary. Two signals. One reports a foul. The other walks away.

If there is the question: "What about you? What did you call?"

The answer: "Nothing."

Been there. Done that.

I don't find lying to be a proper response. Sorry. It's just as bad as football officials who blow (and then try to cover up) an inadvertent whistle.

Really? You've lied on the court? :(

So, how does lying on the court help anything? :confused:

For the record, I absolutely agree with you, in principle. However, the rule is there, in black and white. I don't agree with it either, but I have to abide by it. Just like I don't agree with coaches being able to request TO's during live balls, but I still abide by it. I certainly cannot lie and say I didn't hear them, just so I can "impose" my own way of doing things, or my own philosophies.

There's a big difference between simply disagreeing with a rule or case, and purposely going against it. By purposely lying about what you did, you lose credibility with your other calls that game, and you may also lose credibility with any members of the committee who might be reading this forum and considering changing that particular rule.

So, don't screw up the cause. :D