Dunk in pregame

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by Rich

Expecting officials to know to look up a 1971-1972 case play is beyond the pale.

Bingo. Same problem with Points of Emphasis that don't make it into the rulebook, or casebook (recent example of swinging elbow contact above the shoulders). How is a rookie official (bad example, NFHS doubled down on the swinging elbow contact above the shoulders Point of Emphasis 2017-18) supposed to know about these interpretations?

However just because a caseplay interpretation isn't in the current casebook, and disappeared with no explanation, doesn't mean it didn't exist, or is no longer valid.

Sometimes the NFHS just screws up their annual edits. The captains lineup after numerous substitutions disappeared for a few years until some of us pointed it out to the NFHS. They didn't want to remove it from the rulebook, they just screwed up.

Same problem with the NFHS annual interpretations. How is a rookie official supposed to know about an annual interpretation that was published three years ago? If the rule hasn't changed, does that make it less valid?

Originally Posted by Rich

Can't show it to a coach or assigner, it doesn't exist.

Maybe not in the rulebook in your bag, but it does exist (I knew that you were speaking figuratively), maybe in your library, maybe online, maybe in the NFHS library, maybe in Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.'s attic library. Sure, not all of those are easily accessible, but officiating isn't easy.

If you know (again, if you know, because if you don't, this doesn't apply) about an interpretation that was dropped with no explanation, possibly due to space considerations, or an error, and you can still find it after much research, then it's probably still valid.

We don't know what we don't know. At least we can't be faulted for that.

Luckily for us, Mark T. DeNucci, Sr. is very old, remembers just about everything, like an elephent, and knows practically everything there is to know.