Whew...tough one tonight

[jdw3018]

Originally Posted by Jurassic Referee

What is a "game management" foul"? How does it differ from a regular foul?

Originally Posted by Bob

Game management has (almost) nothing to do with live-ball foul calls.

Was traveling all day yesterday and didn't get a chance to respond. Great comments from both.

My thoughts - I used to deplore the idea of "game management" fouls. I still don't like the term, as it implies to some people making things up. I don't condone that. At all.

That said, the situation was thus: B's defense was tight, there was contact, and at times it was questionable as to whether B maintained legal position. It is likely it wasn't at some point while bringing the all up the court. I know it either was or wasn't, but I couldn't be 100% sure, so I passed. That's my general philosophy - don't guess, only call what you're sure of.

In this situation, I believe calling a foul on the defender would have been appropriate and defendable. I let the contact pass. A1 responded by pushing off and that had to be called. My partner (who is my assignor) and I agreed afterwards that it would have been nice to have called the defender for the marginal contact.

I'm generally the "in the first two minutes and the last two minutes" guy. But I've come to recognize there are situations in which my tolerance for certainty may change from 100% to 80 or 90% in the final seconds of a game that is no longer in question. I also know others believe that to be a bad philosophy no matter the situation.