Down goes player.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by JetMetFan

I went back and looked at the original post and, in my opinion, what you describe isn't an official interfering with a player. You say you were in transition, the player went wide, cut back into the court and ran into you. From that description it sounds as though the player was at fault. But anyway...

Well who was at fault could be debatable. I feel I could have avoided him and misjudged his movement. I clearly was in his way for whatever reason and he was not able to continue with a play made for him. I think who is at fault is ultimately irrelevant. But since I personally felt responsible on some level, I made a decision based on that.

Originally Posted by JetMetFan

You're right: there's nothing in the rules covering this situation. NFHS 4-4-4 only deals with the ball hitting the official and 2-3 gives us the right to handle whatever isn't specifically covered in the rules. However, I'm thinking the original post was made because there was some trepidation regarding the way the situation was dealt with. Even in your latest post you say one of your partners thought you handled it "fine" but didn't agree with the call and I'm going to make a guess why: what if the same situation happened with one of your partners a minute or two later for the other team? What were they supposed to do?

I post questions like this often not for advice, but to see if others would handle a situation similar or different and why. I was fine with what I did, but there was a debate on some level. Now when I say debate, it was all in fun and the comments were more about, "They bought it." And we did debate if there was a rule that applied. I asked because I could not find a rule and did not think I was totally off base to do what I did. Honestly I do not know what the others would have done if it happened to them and I would have not cared. I made a personal decision at the time based on the circumstances I was involved in. Again, this has never happened to me and I cannot think of a time where I have ever seen it happen to someone else where a player fell under the circumstances I was involved in.

Originally Posted by JetMetFan

From what I can tell we've both been in this crazy vocation for a while and have been in/watched a lot of games. I've seen the situation you've described more than a few times at every level - heck, I was almost in it Wednesday night - and I can't say I remember the team whose player hit the deck as a pass went OOB getting the ball back, regardless of the score. Sure, 2-3 gives us latitude but I'm thinking we should apply it consistently. What if, when the situation happened, it was a 20-point game but the underdog team all of a sudden hits a bunch of threes to make it close...and the same thing happens? To me, that's where the problems I mentioned earlier pop up.

I think being a good official is to think of the bigger picture. Just like we might not T something in a close game that we would in a different part of the game is not unusual. That is ultimately why we get paid to do what we do as officials. We have to make decisions that are appropriate for the game. I would think I would do the exact same thing if this was a one point game. It clearly was not and it was clear by all involved that this team could not get out of their own way (pun intended). And I do feel this is an appropriate application of 2-3 because there appears to be no ruling or interpretation to say what to do. Not sure how you can be consistent about something that is not mentioned or covered at all. Maybe there should be an interpretation, but until then I would do the same thing again.

Originally Posted by JetMetFan

I'm sure I would've laughed about it too since I run about a 4.4 in the 10-yard dash and I had a partner almost double over as a kid nearly steamrolled me earlier this season but if the player had run into me and had a pass go over his head I would've just apologized to him and the coach.

Again it was a funny event and even was called my "passing interference" call. I got a kick out of it and so did everyone else that was the official. If I felt for a minute that I was not partially involved then I would have let it ride. The only reason I did this was the pass was on the way when he went down. If the pass was errant or bad in any way I would have just let it go and rule the out of bounds. But I made a split decision and have to live with it. I will do my best not to have this happen again for sure and I have had some close calls in some cases before, but I did what I felt was right for the game at the time. I was expecting disagreement with that call and if I did not welcome it I would have never posted the situation here.

Peace