Another Blarge
 

Anybody catch the blarge in the Virginia/Maryland game this afternoon. Classic case of Lead calling across the lane on a drive from the C side. Lead goes block, C points the other way. At least they administered it correctly.

Two officials went to the table to explain what was going to happen. The announcers thought they were going to review something. The color commentator: "They can't go to the monitor to decide if it was a block or a charge. I'm not great with the rules, but I know that".

I don't ever recall seeing a blarge in an NBE game. Why so many in college games?

The NBA has a mall number of officials that work with each other OVER and OVER and have much more training and consistency in mechanics. College has so much variation because there are so many more officials and people that hire officials.

Saw an aborted blarge in the FLA/Vandy game last night. T and L both whistle. T has his fists up in the air, ready to bring them down onto his hips. L comes out pointing the other way. T freezes, then puts his hands down, and they went with the PC!

The Vandy coach came 15 feet onto the court pointing at the T 'cause he saw what he had! Cost him a technical for that little display.

Pretty amazing how 2 experienced officials can see the same play and call it differently.

They wonder why "we" make mistakes.

I almost had a Blarge once this year. It was my primary ( as center ) clearly defense had position and never moved. We both blow and partner comes with BLOCK, I have my hand in the air ready to come to my head and I see him give a primary call and I drop mine...I have no doubt I was right, but I am not getting into a BLARGE call.

Does anyone else see the logic that not signaling, just because another official does signal, is actually more damaging to getting the call right than going with a blarge; especially when considering repsected opinions about whose call that "should be" has the non-calling official not signaling when it is his call to make (in other words, the guy that fished out of his pond got the call wrong)?

It should be noted that I haven't a blarge in close to 10 years. :)

Knock On Wood (Eddie Floyd) ...
 

Thirty years and counting for me. Here in my little corner of Connecticut we try not to give a preliminary signal on double whistle, and when such double whistles occur, we usually defer to the lead official. There have been several times when, as the lead, I didn't hear the trail's whistle, and gave a preliminary signal, but in all cases, the trail either didn't give a preliminary signal, or gave the same preliminary signal as me. I guess that I've just been lucky so far. I'm sure that it will happen to me someday.

How much 3-person do you work? I've had one in my career, two years ago in a juco men's game. I was the lead, it was a secondary defender deep in the lane, and the T had no business making the call, let alone such an incredibly wrong one.

We got through it. But now we cover the lane extensively in the pregame -- the lead in most of my games has the deep half of the paint and all secondary defenders in the paint and this has seemed to clean up the outside officials jumping in.

I agree with Juggling, though -- why should a blarge be avoided when one of the calls could be momumentally wrong? Should the first person to signal be the one that prevails EVERY TIME?

Welcome To The Twentieth Century ...
 

Thirty years. One game. A few scrimmages. Remember, this is Connecticut, the Land of Steady Habits, and the Land of the Two Person Game.

And blarges happen most often in 3-person games.

Three, Four, Shut The Door ...
 

I'm sure that there would be even more in a four person game. And I can guarantee you that athletic directors, and principals, will never, ever, pay for four officials here in Connecticut. At least, not while I'm above ground.

It's the overlapping coverages in the 3-person game. If you have a foul in the lane in 2-person, you know who's getting it. 3-person? Not so much.

Ha!

Seeing how the NBA hasn't yet implement the 4-man mechanics that I designed for them, and the NBE doesn't have blarges, then the question would be when will the NCAA go to 4-man? ;)

I expected to get questioned about it.

I talked to my 3rd partner during a TO and he said he had the same thing I had from his position. I had no doubt I was right, but does a BLARGE make the crew look better or worse? They will forget 1 bad call, they will never forget a BLARGE.

JMO.

Nope. They'll forget a blarge a heckuva lot quicker than they'll forget a completely wrong call. At least both teams get something out of a blarge, even though one team shouldn't. A wrong call just makes the whole crew look bad. And you deliberately letting a wrong call stand makes it even worse imo.

The problem is that both officials in a blarge situation can feel they are completely correct.

True, but if I'm sure that I'm completely correct and I'm in the process of making the call, then I'm still going to make that call. I won't say something lame like "I wasn't going to give the PC signal; I was just scratching my head."

I still think proper mechanics dictate that the primary official (as agreed by the crew in the pregame) be given first crack at the call. If a partner who's primary makes a call I feel is completely incorrect, I simply assume he had a different look I did.

Doubtful I'd ever intentionally initiate a blarge.

I Know More About Quantum Physics Than NCAA Rules ...
 

... but isn't this how it's done for NCAA-W?

It's how it's supposed to be done at all levels. If 2 fists go up in the air then the primary official should take the call.

Some people don't know primary areas though. Especially ball watchers.

I was watching the game and said blarge as soon as I saw the L signal a block. The C didn't give a prelim but you could tell he was going the other way.

I don't know how in the world the L had a block on that. IMO it was an easy PC.

Because far too many player control fouls are called blocks.

Too many officials don't understand that there is no time/distance on a PC foul. Oh sure, they know what the rule is but as for actually calling the play by rule, far too many are called blocks. They think they "referee the defense" but the truth is they don't truly understand what that means.

You are correct on a double whistle in this type of situation. However, if double preliminaries are called, that is where we get into a sticky wicket.
IMO, the NCAA-W handle this correctly, but of course I am probably biased:D

First of all, who do you mean by "They"? Assignors? A "Blarge" call usually makes the rounds around the Ref gossip tree only slightly less quicker then an ejection. People have lost assignments b/c of a blarge. Coaches? I can speak on some authority on that. Most coaches would rather have the call go one way or the other. Sure one might be upset, but isn't that the case with about 90% of all our calls. Players? Well you may be correct there, they have a hard enough time remembering to keep their shirts tucked in!:D
Also, by having a blarge, you are doing exactly what you say you are trying to avoid in blue. You are deliberately letting a wrong call stand since only one of the offiicals can be correct.
NCAA-W handle the situation differently than NCAA-M and NFHS. IMO, the best way to avoid this situation is:
"Double whistles are good, double signals are bad".

:confused:

I heard a story of a substate game (winner advances to the state tournament) last week where one official blarged himself! From the account I was given (I was not at the game), the defender stepped in front of the ball handler and may or may not have taken contact. The defender fell to the ground and the calling official blew his whistle, signaled a player control foul with one hand and a blocking foul with the other. I guess it took about five minutes for the crew to piece everything together before they reported a blarge.

And this guy was working the game based on recommendations from coaches...

That is actually too funny.
Sort of like a coach asking for a "45 sec" TO. They held one arm out and touched their shoulder with the other hand!!

Actually that is pretty sad. A bad signal at the spot is one thing, but taking five minutes and ending up with a blarge by one official is ridiculous.

I agree, if it happened as told. I'm guessing the length of the conversation has increased with each telling, though. I'd love to get the calling official's perspective (or even one of his partners) before passing judgment too harshly.

Although the idea of a single official coming to a blarge seems ridiculous regardless of what else happens.

+1

I've been personally way to close that. First year working a varsity at small rural school north of me. I'm trail and a girl takes off on a dribble from the opposite baseline headed towards the near side via underneath the basket. Girl steps in and bam. Lead signals a foul with the fist - and should of just stopped there. Next thing I know he's got one hand on his hip and the other behind his head. I think he ended up going block. It just happened to be her fifth which only added to the fun. Being green I stayed as far away as I could. :eek:

I had a partner who had a one-man blarge in a college game this year. He's Lead on a drive to the basket. Crash right in front of him. His whistle (no one else blew) and he signals charge. Hand behind the head, pointing the other way. Then before he leaves the spot, he bangs his fists on his hips. He reported only the block.

I was Trail, and it was clearly a PC. Oh well.

This illustrates my position on the issue. This guy apparently anticipated one thing, then apparently saw something else, but his hands were slow to get the message.

According to the logic of the blarge case: "Dammit, I screwed up the signals, I gotta report a double foul."

And the one man crusade is at it again....

Wrong. The blarge case clearly refers to two distinct officials making different calls on the same play.

Whatever prospects your crusade has, you won't help them with this kind of reasoning.

The point was what happens if one official found himself in the position of the above example. He anticipated a PC foul, but the defender got into position more quickly than expected. The contact occurs, the official makes the PC signal, then immediately realizes his mistake. He changes to the block signal.
But now he can't do that because meanwhile his partner made the correct call. (signal)

So everyone thinks this was the intent of the case play?

And everyone thinks this is ok?

Well this is obviously the bad part about this board. I never hear these kinds of discussions in any other officiating discussion. I have never heard anyone but JAR make this claim that a call means anything but a signal. I guess it takes all kinds.

Peace

Consider the above example. One signal was made. A mistake was realized. The call was changed, accompanied by a different signal. It happens, usually without a second thought.

The two terms are not interchangeable.

It's not that discussing the rules like we do sometimes on this board is bad. Sometimes it's good to discuss the "finer" aspects of the rules to get a really good grasp of the rules...especially at this time in the year when most people are wrapping up their seasons.

But we've gone down this road so many times. On this board, it is literally JAR vs. the world. This crusade is even sillier than an insistence of using a belt or not. I even agree with him that by very definition, a blarge is impossible. But NFHS has given us clear direction on how to handle this. It has a universal application of when it comes into effect. One official calls a charge, one calls a block, we have a blarge. This is the same in NCAA-M and the NBA.

Well I do not know how you can call something without giving a signal of some kind. But for some reason you found a way to be more confused by it. How is that working out for you?

Peace

I disagree. I have before signaled the wrong direction for the OB play. I corrected myself and pointed the right way. Do I then use the APA for the throw-in? No, I don't.

This is one guy who changed his mind because he knew something pertinent after his initial signal.

Exactly! And that's exactly what he should do. And this is perfectly acceptable to everyone, except in this one ridiculous example.

Jarlandia---population-1

Lah me........:rolleyes:

If we let plays start, develop and finish - a current term, but used for years in some form - we will become better play callers. This may or may not help with a true blarge (two officials), but it can certainly help with a one man "blarge"/confusing signals/two contradicting signals on the same play.

Yes! How many times do you see officials say "white" and point in blacks direction. The official know which one is correct and he doesn't have to use both and go AP.

The Chiquita Banana character is the patron saint of blarges.

http://www.mltcreative.com/Portals/55581/images/262.jpg

I did work with a partner who 1st gave the Charge signal, then changed his call ( correctly ) to Block when reporting the foul and the coach questioned the 1st signal, partner explained he gave the wrong signal, but had the correct call, Block. No problem with the coach and not too much of a problem with the crowd.