Busy this week? I have 3 (tonight, tomorrow, Thursday). Only one is a tourney -- the championship of a 4-team thing tomorrow night.

My pregame recently as R has included "Other than tossing the ball, there's only a few things that the R alone has responsibility for. Your job as U(s) is to make sure we don't get in any of those situations."

Exactly. But I've worked with Rs who think it's their jobs (you know one of these guys) to tell the Us how to officiate. I want all my partners to be Rs (in the camp-speak vernacular, not as the designated R for the game) and the only time I'll jump in is if we have something weird and I don't know what's going on or I don't think the coaches were adequately notified.

(Example: We had two players get tangled up after a basket. T blew his whistle, stepped in while they untangled, and then got ready to put the ball in play. As the L, I had no idea what happened -- I thought maybe we had a delay-of-game warning, which would need to be recorded. The coach in my lap had *no* idea what had happened. So I hit my whistle and asked my partner and then communicated to both benches. I was the R on the game, but I would've done the same had I been the U1 or U2 in the book.)

5. Double dip on Thursday, JUCO followed by a non-conference between D1 #2 and D2 #2.

All 3-person except tonight. :)

Great advice Bob.

Never said it did. :confused:

The shots I call are related directly to the referee's responsibilities. Most specifically, that's addressing any issues that might occur with the table crew and the proper administration of the game. I can't, and I'm not going to, over rule a call but as the R I'm going to make sure we properly penalize anything that's called. We're going to discuss situations as needed and if a decision has to be made, I'll make it.

For example, this happened in a game two years ago when we had a fill-in.

Second half, A1 is holding the ball in the low post when B1 attempts to grab it. A1 is doing a good job avoiding the held ball when there's a whistle from the trail. TWEET, "TIMEOUT!" He grants a timeout to Coach B. Coach A gives me a "WTF" look? I have to agree.

We grant the timeout to B. After the timeout, I explained to her that A1 had possession of the ball and that the timeout should not have been granted. As such, it's A's ball on the endline.

Had I not been the R, the situation could have been more difficult to correct.

Why? Any official can screw that up and once the whistle blows the only choice is to enforce it as an IW and give the ball back to A. I can make that mistake if I'm the R, U1, or U2. If the R granted that timeout, I would make sure that I stepped in and made sure that we got it right.

I don't see any magical powers required here.

I usually let the junior person (if I'm working with a stranger) "be the R" if only to let that person lead the pregame, etc. Once the game starts, it's usually obvious if one official's stronger than the other, anyway.

Umm...if B's coach requested the TO, and it was incorrectly granted (because A still had the ball), the TO is still awared and taken under Fed. rules. It's an IW only under NCAA rules, I believe.

Maybe that's why Tony needed to step in as the R. :)

But, otherwise, I agree with both of you. Of course, there aren't any "magical powers" associated with the duty, but sometimes a stronger personality is needed on a crew, and that person is usually better off being the R.

The *whistle* is an IW. The timeout is then granted by rule.

Ok, figured you knew that. :)

I only wanted to point that out to newbies that might want to simply say "never mind" and not grant the TO. I happen to "own" this rule because of...ahem...experience. :eek: :(

Only the R...
 

can declare a forfeit, that is a pretty big shot to call. Did it once at a church ball game (of course) where I was the R the U1 and the U2.

That's great unless you get the occasional idiot assigned with you. What if the guy who you made the R says, "No, I'm the referee and this is what we're going to do"? Then we have a problem on the floor where officials are disagreeing with each other. For example:

I was working the bases in a rec league baseball game a few years ago. As the pitcher came set while looking at the runner at 2nd, the batter stepped out of the box. The pitcher started his motion and stopped when he saw the batter out of the box. The idiot behind the plate called a balk. I tried to explain that it was clearly defined in the rules that this was not a balk. Coach B also knew the rule and it didn't take long to get ugly. In the end, the idiot wouldn't listen.

So please don't tell me it can't be an advantage to be the head official in such a situation. No, my way, that's not going to happen when I have a choice.

Magical? No. By rule? Yes. They're listed in rules 2-3 and 2-5.

I can have the junior person give the pregame. I can even have him toss the ball if I want to. I don't need to make him the R to do that.

There's no right or wrong here. If that works for you, great. Hope it doesn't bite you in the a$$ some day. My way works for me and that's the way I will continue to work it.

Stoopid IAABO Mechanics ...
 

IAABO mechanics mandate that when a technical foul is charged to the head coach, then the referee, and only the referee, will inform the head coach that he, or she, is required to sit down.

Here, in our little corner of the Constitution State, we have decided to ignore that mechanic. We have the noncalling official infom the head coach that he, or she, is required to sit down.

I just discovered that this season. Got that question wrong on the IAABO mechanics exam.

Well On Your Way!
 

This is willingness to accept feedback and do a good post-game review for yourself tells me that your head is in the right place, you are good at taking care of business, and that you're on the right track. Keep it up!

And I own it too.....recently. Thankfully, it was in a fall, developmental league.