Grant Wahl is a writer for SI.COM. He has a column titled "Mailbag". In it this week he responds to the following question (men's college basketball):

With the shot clock now in use, why does the five-second rule still exist? It should only be a violation if the player is just standing still, not if he's dribbling.

With the following response:

I have no qualms with any rule that rewards good defense and promotes action in the game. (Though if we did follow your suggestion we would be able to eliminate one more marking -- the hash mark -- from the court.)

My question is, as I again show my howler monkey ignorance, is the sideline hash mark still used?

As usual,a writer that doesn't know the rules.The sideline hash mark that he's talking about just signifies the end of the coaching box in NCAA rules.It's got nothing to do with a closely guarded count.There is no hash mark in NFHS rules any more. You might see courts in high schools where they haven't been removed though.

JR Shoots.........and SCORES!!!

Guess what I did?

Another e-mail,Mark?

Good guess JR. Take a cookie out of petty cash. If this stiff replies, I'll let you know.

I sent one, too. In mine, I pointed out the merits of this site. I neglected to tell him about Mark "I shoulda been a postal employee" Padgett.