Traveling

[drofficial]

Thanks JRutledge,
The philosophy that you outline is no doubt the one adopted by most officials today (call the OMG, everyone saw that, obvious travel call). But that is precisely my point: that philosophy is doing serious damage to the beauty of the game of BB because offensive players can such an advantage. Even on the specific plays where they travel and don't gain an advantage, it still gives them more leeway/freedom on what they can do - which ultimately puts the defense in a nearly impossible position, which leads to the absurd number of foul calls (about 1 per minute at all levels - is there any other sport that has that ridiculous ratio: can you imagine a footbal game with 50 penalties - how fun would that be to watch or play or officiate).

So it become a vicious cycle. We dont call travels; therefore we have to call more fouls. Then, since we are already blowing the whistle all the time for fouls, we don't want to interrupt the game with "ticky tack" travel calls. But if the travel rule were enforced, then we would not have to call all the fouls.

One other thought, per my earlier comments, the violation in which the players picks up the pivot foot before releasing the ball for a dribble is NOT one of those "did that just happen" plays. It is very easy to see if you simply pay attention and concentrate.

[JRutledge]

I totally disagree that there is serious damage done to the game because a minor violation that is hardly seen is missed or not called. For one I have yet to see an official get all those anyway.

I also do not think that calls that are not made are as consious or deliberate. I think many are just tough to see and you do not want to call what you "think" happen or cannot explain it. I see too many officials, especially at the HS level just call any action that is funny a travel. Or call the carry where they only see a hesitation, not the positioning of the ball. I do not know how many times I see a legal jump stop and all of a sudden a whistle. I do not think this is runing the game at all. It think the game just fast and hard to see everything. We are human after all and we make mistakes. I think too often people like to sit on their couch and complain about what they think they see and do not look at it from the perspective on the floor. I just saw a game of mine online and wanted to see my calls and if they were there. I saw some good things and I saw some bad things even in my game. I try my best to get all the obvious things and sometimes I missed some plays or was not as deliberate as I wanted to have things called.

The game is fine. Video has helped many of us get better with these calls. I know I have been helped to see myself on tape more often with all the formats games are broadcast.

Peace