Good Sportsmanship
 

I saw a TV commercial the other day in which a basketball game is being played, and the teams come to the benches for a timeout. As the timeout begins, one of the players tells his coach that he touched the ball before it went out of bounds and that they don't deserve to have the ball. The kid asks his coach to talk to the ref and tell him that he touched it before it went out. His teammates start telling him that the ref didn't see it and that it's a championship game. The kid replies that he touched it and that it's not right for them to have the ball. The coach doesn't say anything and starts going over instructions.

Then, as the teams break the huddle, the coach makes eye contact with the kid ans says, "Hey, it's your call." The commercial then cuts away, and the announcer does a pitch for good sportsmanship. As the commercial goes off, they show the kid approaching the ref talking to him.

Question: How would you handle such a situation? If an honest kid approached you like that after a timeout and said he was the one who touched it last, what would you do?

Nothing. Nothing you can do. This is totally unbelievable and totally unrealistic.

Better question. What are you going to do when the player thinks they caused the ball to go out of bounds and you know the ball did not go off of them last?

Then again, we know this is never going to happen. But something to think about. :D

Peace

I've seen said commercial. Like others have said, it's a totally unrealistic setting. The call wouldn't be changed. The only way I could see this working is if for some reason, the player said he caused it to go out of bounds immediately when the play is over. The only way I could see this is if the player raised his hand immediately. Even this, I wouldn't believe it right way.

I originally posted this story 9 Mar 09

Today, 0830 I am doing the first of my two "All-Star" Games. B7/8. Yep, this is the only 7 and 8 yr old game I do all year......and, it's a solo act.

Pretty good game really. Of course, at this age as long as you know a foul, travel, and a jump ball, you can pretty much call the game!

Anyhow, late in the third quarter I'm at the foul line extended, and the ball is shot from my side, misses everything is pin-balled around on the other side of the court and I am horribly screened. Ball goes out of bounds. I thought (I know, I know) it was off blue, but honest couldn't see well, and announce it as such. White ball.

As I am about to put the ball in play, a little boy 23W comes over to me and says in a very soft voice, "Mr. Official, the ball was off me, it should be blue ball." Me - :)

I announce to the gym, "Ladies and gentlemen, this young man said the ball was off him. Blue ball."

And don't ya know the parents and fans applauded the little boy's honesty. Really a great moment and great way to end the yr.

In high school ball - never would happen and if it did I would have a hard time changing my call.

But, I do a church league where this kind of behavior is encouraged. I actually saw a coach discipline a player for blocking a shot of a handicapped opponent. There are leagues where this kind of sportsmanship is not uncommon.

But, even in these leagues poor sportmanship abounds as well...

Sounds to me like it would be a good time for a 5 second violation on the throw in.

I'm not convinced of that.

While I've never had that happen in basketball, I've had that happen once or twice in soccer when I was working solo and didn't have the best angle, and I had no problem telling the player, "if you want to give up the throw-in, go right ahead."

Granted, soccer officiating empasizes judgment more than the black-and-white world of basketball, but consider this: If you decline someone forfeiting the throw-in, all they would do is stand out of bounds and take the five-second count, anyway. While we can't set aside free throws that are ordered, I don't believe this applies to throw-ins. (If someone has documentation that states otherwise, please post.)

As for JRut's question, I say you handle it like any other objection: state what actually happened, and let's play.

For those that say the commercial is unrealistic, I think they actually handled it correctly. No where do they imply the ref actually changed the call, only that the kid is doing the right thing by speaking up.

I think we all agree the call cannot be changed by rule in that particular scenario, but the message of the commercial is still a good one to get across.

I appreciate your honesty, but that's not how I saw it.

I didn't see the commercial, I was only commenting on how it was described. If it happened differently, then I reserve my right to change my opinion.

It is a message that is worth getting out there more, however.

Different sport, but similar scenario:

My son plays in an 11-12u baseball league. During one game, one of our hitters swung at a pitch, and the catcher inadvertently interfered when his mitt made contact with the bat. The contact slowed the bat down to the point that when it made contact with the ball, the ball just dribbled out to the pitcher, who made an easy throw to first for the out. After the play our coach walked to home plate and asked the umpire if he saw the contact. The catcher turned, held up his gloved hand, and admitted to the umpire that he had made contact with the bat. The umpire looked at him for a moment, then looked at our coach, and said, "I didn't see it." Our coach turned, scruffed the kid on the head, smiled, and told him, "I appreciate your honesty, Tyler, but you should probably keep that to yourself."

Unfortunately, we don't have enough of that kind of sportsmanship.

All a team has to do is throw the ball in to the other team....in either sport. No need to violate the throwin.

I think it is pretty cool how they do it in soccer/futbol, but that is something that is 'expected' from the earliest levels of the sport. Not so the case in hoops.
As for the commercial, at the end you see the official start to make a signal then hear a whistle with the NCAA slide appearing. It is giving you the impression that the call WAS changed. But I wouldn't bet on it....oh wait that is another commercial.

BTW - what product was the commercial for - ritalin? :p