Is there a specific mechanic that any of you use to ask for help from your parter on things like OOB? When I used to do baseball/softball we had a specific mechanic to use when requesting help on a checked swing (and a slight variation to indicate that you wanted your partner to echo your original call).

Hold arm up and keep that stupid look on your face.
 

Hold your hand up for a violation and look towards the partner's side the play came from or where the ball came from, then they should give you an obvious signal one way or the other. Then you repeat that direction yourself.

This should be pregamed before you do it. But most officials that have been around the block, know this mechanic or at least should.

Peace

I always keep my arm up and step around the players to get eye contact with my partner. Like Jrutledge said, If its pregamed, then no prob, but the key is that your partner is always there for you. If he hears your whistle and is gone, then your'e screwed. Always practice the art of communication, verbal and nonverbal...

A lot of our mechanics have short-hand names that we've come to recognize: "bird-dog", the "long switch", etc. The short-hand name for this mechanic is the "blank stare"! :eek:

Chuck :)

Good one!!

Nah,too easy!

Good replies.

Hand in the air, eye contact, hand in the air, eye contact, hand in the air, eye contact, hand in the air, eye contact, hand in the air, eye contact, hand in the air, eye contact, ....

If partner shrugs, either point a direction or go two thumbs up. :cool:

The dreaded shrug. Now everyone knows we're been guessing all game long. :-)

My pregame: "if the ball goes out on my line, but I'm clueless because I was looking off ball, point a direction or signal a jump when you see me with that "help me" look on my face. If you shrug, we both look like dummies (well, more than we aready did)."

Z

Yeah, they will probably guess that, but they don't know if we were lookin' for help with a tip.
We rarely catch any flack with two thumbs up. Then they know we admitted that we just don't know and that we aren't guessin'.

or "Deer in headlights look"
or "Frog in spotlight look" (for those from the south)

And a shrug from the partner makes both look silly. Might as well pull a coin out of the pocket and flip it.

I put my hand in the air and yell out "help me!" By the time I have given a blank stare, everyone already knows that you don't have it, so why not just ask for help?

No real harm in this...get the play right.

Need a laugh?
 

Tonight I was trail, and the play quickly moved right in front of me. The ball went out and I didn't get a look at the foot of the player who tried to save it. Naturally it was right by the table between the coaches. It flew out off his hand, and I raised and looked at my partner. He shrugged, so I proclaimed loudly and confidently, "I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA!" The fans liked the call, anyway! AP!

This may seem like a silly question...but here goes :D

Is the shrug the proper response if the partner doesn't know? Or should the partner go with the jump ball signal if he doesn't know?

8th grade games, years ago. Partner had called and canceled
so I was calling with the varsity coach. Ball goes out of bounds right in front of him. I had a pretty good look at the play but it was definitely his call. He blew the whistle but made no signal. I paused....nothing, so I pointed at him. He shrugged. I signaled blue (visitors)
ball. Home coach jumps up. "No, if you're not sure, that's gotta be a jump ball." I told him that I was sure enough. We talked about it later and he restated his position that if I wasn't 100% sure it should be a jump ball. I told him that if one waited to be 100% sure, nobody would ever call anything. We took this discussion one step farther. There are surely a lot more fouls that are committed and not called than fouls called that were not fouls, right? He agreed. That, I told him, is why I don't mind calling a foul when a player "reaches in" (ouch)
or whatever, even if I can't be absolutely certain of the contact. He disagreed here. Nope, can't do that. What does everybody think about this? I see games where it seems that the only call is jump ball after 2 players wrestle each other to the ground. I have learned over the years that there are many things that you can play through, but I don't think that my game will ever be totally without
educated guesses.

Home coach jumps up. "No, if you're not sure, that's gotta be a jump ball." I told him that I was sure enough. We talked about it later and he restated his position that if I wasn't 100% sure it should be a jump ball. I told him that if one waited to be 100% sure, nobody would ever call anything. We took this discussion one step farther. There are surely a lot more fouls that are committed and not called than fouls called that were not fouls, right? He agreed. That, I told him, is why I don't mind calling a foul when a player "reaches in" (ouch)
or whatever, even if I can't be absolutely certain of the contact. He disagreed here. Nope, can't do that. What does everybody think about this? [/B][/QUOTE]Sorry,JAR,but I agree with the coach.
1)If you aren't 100% sure,it's a jump ball.
2)If you're not certain of the contact,it's not a foul.
3)If you're not sure of ANY call,don't make the call.

As officials,we're supposed to be doing a fair and equitable job for both teams.In all of the cases that you cited,you have injected yourself into being a factor in the game,by awarding one team and thus penalizing the other team for something that may not have happened.The "fairer" option is always to call the jump ball if you're not sure which team should get it OOB,or let the play continue if you're not sure if there's really contact involved that is outside the rules.

Biggest lesson of my first camp experience: Don't call what you don't see. Don't guess!!!

Just my two cents.

Sorry,JAR,but I agree with the coach.
1)If you aren't 100% sure,it's a jump ball.
2)If you're not certain of the contact,it's not a foul.
3)If you're not sure of ANY call,don't make the call.
[/B][/QUOTE]

We may just be playing a word game here. There have been a lot of comments on other threads about being decisive, selling calls, and yes, even about having court presence.
Let's look at it this way. Don't we all have calls every night that we thought were easy calls that draw a huge negative reaction from players and coaches. Yes, sometimes this is due to lack of rule knowledge. Sometimes they are just being difficult. But sometimes we are wrong. Recently
there was a quote that an official had made that went something like, "I'm just saying that's what I saw, I'm not saying that is what happened." When I say that I am not 100% certain of every call, I am acknowledging that I am sometimes (often?) wrong. I personally find it no more distasteful to be wrong on a call than on a no-call.

Don't call what you can't explain...

I agree with that, too, but that was not what we were talking about here. Example: JV boys game, kid had a steal and a breakaway layup. I whistled it off and called a travel. Coach stood up bugeyed. "You want to explain that call to me?" No problem. Between quarters I talked to him. "He took a little extra step in there, coach."
I demonstrated it for him. He was obviously not convinced, but made no further argument. I was about as certain of this call at the time as I had ever been. I later looked at video of the game. Guess what? No travel. The play bore little resemblance to the demonstration I gave for the coach. We can be wrong even when we are 100% sure. With that in mind, if I'm 99% sure that it was a foul, I think that I have to make the call. At what percentage do we draw the line? That is up to each individual. It is really impossible to name a number that means anything in this case, anyway.