That would only work if my reason for not allowing it was doubt, but it's not. I don't doubt that you have such an app. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if there really was a fully functioning tazer app for the iPhone. That's not the issue, the issue is the rest of its functionality and ability to distract during a game. Frankly, I couldn't care less, and the younger the timer, the less inclined I'd be to allow it.

Snaq, I've been out of HS for 11 years. The TASER installed was a joke of course.

Highly unlikely my watch will break any time soon considering I bought it back in 2003 & haven't had to replace the battery once for it.

It's more likely I lose it or rush out without my watch, than having to replace the battery.

Bottom Line
 

Word!

Ok, easy solution, just take all music off as well as other unnecessary apps that can be removed.

That would just mean I was carrying a very expensive calculator & stopwatch LMAO.

Why not just make it easier & make it mandatory no electronics at the table? But then no electronics, no stopwatch.

I don't think you get it. If I request that all iPod/electronics disappear and I see one after that, I'm having you replaced. End of story.

Most table people are polite and are there to do a professional job. Those people, I don't care if they use a stopwatch, iPod or count 1-Mississippi, 2-Mississippi during timeouts. Hell, an AD played the anthem from an iTouch last weekend. I thought that was cool, actually.

+1 on all counts.

Rich,

What I was meaning was, before the game, show that an iPod with basic apps was being used as a timing device for TOs, or as a backup for equipment malfunctions.

All the rules state under Timer Equipment is: 2-12-3

"Be provided with a clock to be used for timing quarters, extra periods & intermissions, and a stopwatch for timing time-outs. The clock shall be operated by the official timer. The clock & a stopwatch shall be placed so
that they may be seen by the timer. The clock shall be started or stopped as
prescribed in Rule 5-8 and 5-9."

It does not specify that the stopwatch has to be JUST a stopwatch. Majority of the time the table is set up with all the equipment in advance of the floor officials arriving, & unknown about by the floor officials until the item is being used during the game. In the event of equipment malfunction where an iPod has to be used either as a game clock or shot clock it should not matter what is being used as a timing device, nor should it matter if that was the only option available if no other timing device was presented for use.

A person needs to be flexible to allow for different personal preferences. What would happen if you were to work in a gym where the timer (personal preference) used nothing but an iPod/iPhone as a timing device for TOs & did not want to use anything else due to the ease of use & familiarity of it?

Not always is there going to be additional personnel available that are trained/knowledgeable that can replace the person in question. Nor is there always going to be alternate equipment available.

If the floor officials ask/request that no electronic devices are to be at the table, some would see that as nothing should be at the table that uses digital readouts/batteries/plugged in.

Where you seem to have an issue is the thinking that just because it's an iPod it's going to be used as a distraction because of what it is. I used to have the same thought about the iPod, however now I see it as an electronic version of a Swiss Army Knife cause of all it's capabilities (Calculator, clock, stopwatch, timer, & music player). I, however, know there's a time & a place to use specific functions as at least I have learned to realize that there is a time & a place for everything.

There are times I'd rather have cooperation than competence. Like I said, if I have faith in the table people and they haven't demonstrated that they are not doing their job I don't really care what they do.

My problems start when the table people either decide they're running the show (they complain that I'm whistling in subs a step or two from the X for example) or when they don't follow my instructions (I want a second horn EVERY TIME, for example) or don't know their job (on a fifth foul, when I start the clock, there'd better be a horn five seconds later). I'm not a petty dictator, but the fact of the matter is that we (the officials) are the one running the show and the table crew aren't going to be telling the officials how to run the game.

If there were any issues about how I do things at the table, I would of been told by the AD or the principal.

Like I stated earlier, I am thinking of using my iPod's stopwatch function for only 1-2 games (at first) to see which is easier (my watch or iPod for TO Timer). Only if after I find I am more comfortable using my iPod as the TO Timer would I use it, but since I have not had a chance to try it in a game situation I do not know yet if it is something I would prefer.

At Regionals 2 years ago, when the scoreboard malfunctioned, yes iPods/iPhones were used as timing devices, however at the games that I did I used my watch as the TO Timer.

Nowhere did I say that I was trying to run everything.

And by the time Billy or I get done doing what we are supposed to do (see Billy's quote above), both teams should be in the vicinity of their team benches. Sometime, have your spouse attend a game with you and have her time you from the time you from the time you recognize a team's request for a timeout until you get finished doing with your reporting duties at the Table, and you will find that you have taken close to 30 seconds or more before you signal the Timer to start his stop watch; meaning that a full time out can last 90 seconds or more.

MTD, Sr.