I traveled
 

Have you see the do-good commercial where the player tells the coach in the huddle that the ref got it wrong, and he touched the ball before it went out of bounds? So he tells the coach he has to be honest and admit it...

So if you're the ref, and coming out of the time-out a player tells you he touched the ball and you got it wrong, what would you do? Overturn the call and give it to the other team? I guess it just seems like such an unreal situation, I don't know what I'd do if I encountered it.

I'd do nothing...the only way I'd consider thinking about listening is if a player said it right way and never after a timeout like in the commercial.

Mabey he and the bookie exchanged signals...I would also do nothing.

No, I'm not changing anything.

He should just take a page out from a soccer playbook when the ball is kicked OOB for an injury. Take the throw-in and pass it directly to the opposition.

It's Just Not Cricket ...
 

My daughter's fiancé is from Australia. He's been here in the United States for about a year, attending school to become an electrician while my daughter is attending medical school. Last weekend the three of us attended a cricket match, my first experience with cricket. As it turns out, news to me, Hartford, Connecticut, is a "hotbed" of cricket because of a large Western Caribbean population, whose parents, or grandparents, came here as immigrants to work the tobacco fields (shade tobacco used for cigar wrappers, best in the world, sans Cuba).

When a batsman hits the ball, on the ground, past the oval shaped perimeter boundary, marked on the field by a series of flags, it's a "four", and the batter's team is automatically awarded four runs, kind of like a ground rule double in baseball. Last weekend, the grass on the field was kind of high due to all the rain that we had. A batted ball barely reached the boundary area, stopping within inches of passing, or not passing, the flag. The fielder immediately signaled to the umpire that the ball actually had passed the boundary, thus awarding the batsman an automatic "four". I looked at my future son-in-law and he said, "Now that's cricket".

"Sorry young man, if I missed it, I missed it."

Last weekend, MS spring league, I called an OOB and a kid from the team who was going to get the throw-in came up to me and said he tipped the ball before it went OOB. I thanked him and awarded the ball to the other team. At the next break, I informed his coach and the guy went over to the kid and shook his hand.

That's what sportsmanship is all about. It was very refreshing.

I'm having déjà vu. Didn't we discuss this one months ago?

Sportsmanship Be Damned ???
 

OK Mark Padgett. Riddle me this. Kid hits a three pointer at the buzzer to give his team a one point victory. Same kid immediately comes over to you and says, "Mr. Padgett. It wasn't a three pointer. My foot was actually on the line. I guess that we'll have to go into overtime."

What's your call?

If It's Worth Doing Once ...
 

All over again?

http://ts1.mm.bing.net/images/thumbn...117833713e52be

My call would be to my wife to see if she wanted me to pick up dinner on the way home.

I'd say, "How do you know your feet were on the line? Shouldn't your eyes have been on the target?"

Actually, Billy, I see one key difference in your scenario.

If a player is going to say his foot was on the three-point line, I can't see a whole lot you can do about that.

Let's say a player insists the other team should have the throw-in. If you grant him the throw-in, he could take a five count or commit some violation that's going to give the ball to the other team, as he sees fit. So, I ask, why waste the time if he wants to turn it over, anyway?

That scenario is not even realistic. Even if you decided to not listen to the kid's plea, most likely, he's not going to be the kid even throwing the ball in. If he is, and he decided to try and hold the ball for five seconds, a teammate or the coach will call timeout before a violation. And he's not going to try and violate again just due to the peer pressure of his teammates getting pissed off at him because of him trying to be altruistic. And if he just tries to blantely make a throw-in violation, that would be another reason for his teammates to get pissed off at him.

Maybe. Some would argue that bringing an error to the ref's attention is an unrealistic, altruistic act (thereby making this whole discussion pointless in some eyes).

Ulimately, our job is to look for and deal with unfair advantages. Is a requested turnover an unfair advantage? If not, then why deny such a request?