Annual NF rule change thread
 

Now that the season is, in effect, over - it's time for suggested rule changes. I'll start:

All teams should be required to have at least three hot moms in the stands, and they must sit in an aisle seat no higher than 5 rows up.

Plus...these hot mom's kids can never foul out.

Same as Last Year
 

"While the ball is live, time out may be requested only by one of the players on the court."
It would be better if that time out request be granted only if made in writing, with signatures of all five players, the coach, and the manager, but I don't want to make it unrealistic.

After a player commits a foul, they should raise their hand or it's a technical foul. :D

Good Lord, No! Don't even say that in fun. We had that rule back in the 70's and it was a complete pain in the azz.

You're assuming the coach knows how to write. ;)

Me likey!
 

After I called a foul earlier in the yr, the B15U player raised his hand and said, "I got him." I got all teary-eyed....:p

Anyone claiming to be an official in the stands who is berating officials working the game shall be required to sweep the floor at halftime. If it is discovered after halftime, then that person shall be required to assist the custodian post game.

Lighten up Francis.

There's a game?

Not really. BTW - is you mom hot? :cool:

Team control during a throwin!!!!

You've been punk'd.:D

WE would have our minds on the games!! The one on the court AND the one in the stands!!!!! We can multitask!
As for raising your hand after a fould I used to do that all the time when I played during the Reagan years. I even used it in college if I was near our star player and knew he was in fould trouble up went the hand!!! It worked most of the time!

Really?

OT - Funny story from yesterday's 9th/10th Grade All-Star Game. This is one of those Rec Leagues that has Pennies for jerseys. As my P and I take the court I noticed White has three number 22's, two 24's and two 42's. :eek: Turns out the league only has about eight jerseys/pennies per team and they get to where them for the All-Star Game, and of the ten players on one team, seven have duplicate numbers.

League Director kept the books and knew all the kids so when we said W22 and kind of "bird-dogged" the perp, he knew who it was......

I was expecting different numbers than that...
 

This is crazy talk!
 

You are correct...it is unrealistic to assume that, as officials, we can see 5 rows up. These "moms" need to be moved courtside when discovered.

Wait til you get older. ;)

I call boolsh!t! The mechanic used at that time was to bird-dog until the hand went up. We also had to tell the player and the player then had 5 seconds to raise their hand. So no, trying sumthin' like that never worked most of the time or even some of the time. Unless you're talking about college intramurals with pick-up officials.

In high school, our coach had the best FT shooter on the team toe the line whenever possible after a nearby teammate was fouled. Happened a handful of times. Maybe less. Was easy enough to play off with confusion if ever questioned by a man with a whistle. :o Was corrected maybe 25% of the time. :o

So, as an official, this is probably a POE for you. Know the shooter.

Since FIBA is switching to a rectangular restricted area you should change yours into some other fancy polygon. :) What about a pentagon?

Ciao

Great idea. I think one of these on every court would be cool. It might cut down on rough play.

http://weblogs.dailypress.com/news/l.../pentagon2.jpg

But, oh, the red tape when reporting a foul ... and those creases better be concrete-straight in those Sansabelts

No it was real live intercollegiate athletics.(Although I did play intramural soccer, flag football, frisbee golf and softball) Some of the games were even on that new fangled television invention. If there was a cluster in the lane and the whistle blew, up went my hand. I knew I had fouls to give and I knew my role on the team. It is also basic human nature to take the path of least resistance. Official blows whistle on a foul, sees a hand go up, why NOT give it to that guy he was near the play.
While I am sure you are the only official who never lost a players number on a foul, there are those out there who ARE fallible and as a player I more than certainly took advantage of it. And if the opposing coach picked up on it, that just made it more fun.:D

I can neither confirm nor deny any personal involvment in a similar situation as a certain poster would be more likely to believe you then me!!:D I can also not state with any certainty that it also helps your scoring average!!

When I played I did this once; I got away with it. It was not at the direction of our coach, however.

Frankly, while it may be a good thing to do, strategically; I find it to be poor coaching. In order to agree with me, though, you'll have to think coaching at the amateur level is about more than winning games.

SNAQ I would lOVE to agree with you but that may hurt your credibility on this board. So in THAT vein, I can't believe you would have such a nieve, innocent and quite frankly eggregiously out of touch expectation of athletics at the amateur level:p

My credibility level here is set in stone at this point, I think. What that level is, I have no idea. :)

Do you even know what a "birddog" is? Using the mechanics that we had to use when that rule was in effect, it was impossible for the wrong player to be charged with a foul. We had to run up to within 5 feet of the player who fouled and then point at the player's waist until he raised his arm. If he didn't raise his arm straight up within 5 seconds, we were supposed to call a "T".

And that rule was long gone before the Regan years when you said that you played.

Boolsh!t!:rolleyes:

JR, I have to say, I played during the Reagan and Bush (41) years, and I would do it also. I can't say how often it worked, and I can remember times it didn't work; but I also remember it worked occasionally. When I played, we still raised our hands out of respect when called for a foul. Also, I can't confirm nor deny that there may have been officials in my small town enforcing a rule that no longer existed.

JR I stand corrected, I don't remember any official running up and pointing right at a player. So my definition of Birddog may be incorrect. I was thinking it was just pointing in the general direction.
We were taught since high school to raise our hands when we fouled, say thank you to the referee's when they handed us the ball, always retrieve balls that went astray, and hand the ball to the official during TO's fouls etc. As far as I know it was a team rule in HS (not a State rule) and in college I know it wasn't a rule, but I kept that habit, and the others, throughout college.
So I am not really sure what you are objecting too. Are you calling BS on the fact that I raised my hand when fouled, or when another player near me fouled? Or are you calling BS on the fact that I was successful in convincing the officials I WAS to fouling player by raising my hand?

And you can do it today and it might work also. But it wouldn't and didn't work when the mandatory raising-the-hand rule was in effect because every single foul was bird-dogged. That's when bird-dogging started as a mechanic. The mechanics issued stated that we had to go right up to every single player that we called a foul on before they raised a hand, point at them and hold that point until they raised their hand. We were pointing and going to the player as we called the foul, not after we called the foul. That's why another player raising their hand wouldn't come into play.

We may have called a foul on the wrong player occasionally, but if we did it had absolutely nothing to do with any other player raising their hand. It was just a mistake.

I don't know, JR, I'll bet there <strike>were</strike> are some officials who, when faced with the a foul committed in a crowd, would gladly assign it to the player who attempted to own up to it rather than hit the guy who already had 4.

And while the rule may have been to ask the player after you bird dogged him, we never waited to be asked; especially in this situation. The whole idea was to take the foul, so waiting until the official actually pointed to the other guy would be pointless.

I'm not saying it was rampant or even common; but I find it highly plausible. Now, whether this could happen at the collegiate level (even NAIA) is another debate entirely; but I wouldn't be surprised if the "keep the star in the game" mentality exists in some small college officials.

I have no doubt that you may have occasionally gotten away with taking a foul for a teammate by raising your hand and raising a l'il confusion at the same time. A player can still do that today with an inattentive official. But you couldn't have done it when that stoopid rule that IndianaRef(jokingly, thank God) suggested be resurrected was in place. It was an absolutely terrible rule to administer, which is why it disappeared almost as quickly as it was instituted.

That was my point. Your getting away with taking a foul for a teammate had absolutely nothing to do with that particular old rule being discussed. When that stoopid rule was in place, it was almost impossible for any player to take a foul for a teammate. That was maybe the only good thing about it.

For those of you newbies who aren't familiar with the term "bird dog", here's a picture of one.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...s/bird-dog.jpg

And the old mechanic given to us was to start pointing at the fouler AS we blew the whistle, and then continue pointing ar him as we ran to that player. As a player, you wouldn't even know a foul was being called on your teammate until AFTER the bird-dogging mechanic was in process on your teammate. If you tried to raise your hand and take the foul for somebody else at that time, you'd either be laughed at or warned to cut that crap out.

And note that we also never asked the player anything. We just bird-dogged and told the player that he/she committed the foul. There was no confusion.

Of course, that's unless you were in the habit of raising your hand immediately every single time you heard a whistle...which somehow I doubt.

If I had a good idea the foul was committed by the teammate near me who didn't have as many left, I did raise it pretty quick.

I'm just curious, but are you saying officials were less inclined then to call a foul and mix up the fouler (in a crowd of arms) with that mechanic?

I'm seeing the bird-dog as irrelevant here, but I never really officiated much when it was required.

I think we should add a new mechanic for over-the-back. Here's what I suggest. First, we get one of the hot moms out of the stands. Then, we.....er, I'd better stop there - I think I hear my wife coming into the room! :eek:

Another reason to have them courtside and not 5 rows up! Wait, i think I hear your wife coming...gotta go!

We sureasheck were a heckuva lot less inclined to mix up the fouler with the bird-dogging mechanic that was given to us at that time. You called the foul, noted the player and immediately went directly to that player, just a-pointing away at the same time. You almost had tunnel vision, focusing on the fouler as you came in.

You may have called a foul on a wrong player originally in a mess of 'em, but a teammate raising their arm after you blew your whistle and started bird-dogging never confused us one little bit. We already had our mind made up by then.

Ask her when dinner will be ready. Thanks. :p