Great officials gesture
 

Did anyone watch the ending of the OSU-Wisconsin game on Sunday?

With about 1:20 to go, Ohio State had a walk on senior at the table waiting to get into the game. After a Ohio State basket, referee Mike Kitts blows his whistle to kill the play and acts like his shoe is untied and bent over and tied his shoe to get the sub into the game.

What a great gesture to the student athlete and the game of basketball.

The announcers gave Kitts kudos also.

My kudos to Mike Kitts as well!

I saw it and it really was a terrific gesture by that official. It didn't affect the game at all but it let that senior get into the game. I wonder why the OSU coach didn't request a TO? Maybe they were out of them? So what - they were far enough ahead that a T wouldn't have made any difference at that point in the game. Besides, he probably had some left.

I'm surprised one of the coach's didn't direct a player to take a foul.

I also like the gesture. But why bother with the shoe tying thing?

I worked with an official who used to carry a coin in his pocket and if this situation came up he would blow his whistle and act like he was picking of the coin and then he would show it like he really picked it up.

I think I agree with JAR here. You're fooling no one by trying to be cute and tying your shoe or picking up a coin. Everyone knows why you blew your whistle. If you're going to do this gesture, just go ahead and do it.

+1 And who would possibly object? This is a rare instance where " 'Cause I wanted to and I'm the ref," is ok, in my opinion.

And you would be willing to risk a D-1 contract on that???:eek:

We all know what he did, and hopefully the supervisor of that conference gives him the proverbial pat on the back...but there is no provision in the rules for simply blowing the whistle to bring a sub in just because the game is a blowout and it makes for a "nice gesture."

If the official did as you suggested, the losing coach would then have ammo to take to the conference office against that official. The way the official handled it, the losing coach may be mad, but there isn't a darn thing he can do about it.

Couldn't a coach go back and look at the tape and point out that the official's shoelaces weren't untied or that the official took out a coin from his pocket and put the coin on the court? You know, if there was a coach that wanted to go that route and complain about this.

I didn't know my D-1 contract was at stake. I wouldn't risk my D-1 contract on faking tying my shoe, either.

And when the losing coach complains, all the official has to do is say "My shoe was loose on my foot - I needed to tie it tighter."

The coin one I would not do...

But simply blowing the whistle to bring the sub on is a good way to get yourself in trouble with a supervison/assignor.

I never understand why officials worry about what kids play. This is on the coach and they can do all kinds of things to allow the kid to play. I agree it is a nice gesture, but I would not be doing this at all. Why open myself up for something to be scrutinized by unless this was a directive from the conference to do such a thing.

Peace

All OSU had to do was call a time-out for substitution purposes only. You are not required to used the entire T-O in NCAA ball.

NFHS - I don't have my books handy. But, in HS, if one team is ready to go and the other not, don't you need to maintain the TO length. i.e. - you can't shorten a 60 sec TO to 40 secs unless both teams are ready, correct?

So, you're saying it's different in NCAA?

I have a 52" HD LCD TV and I couldn't see if his shoelaces were untied or not.

Beside, all he has to say is "My shoe laces were loose," not that anyone is going to say anything.