Middle School Game Report (MSGR)
 

You may remember the middle school game reports I posted when my daughter was in 7th-8th grade. Now my son is in 7th grade and so it begins.

7th Grade A team - the good guys won 40 - 32. It was a 2-point game until the last 2 minutes, when the Bobcats scored two 2s and a 3, then tacked on free throw with 3 seconds left.

I thought it was well officiated. I agreed with most everything except one call - one OOB call in which I was setting in the right place, but the official could not see clearly (due to no fault of his own - two man crew).

A side note of interest - the good guys have three influential players, A23,
A32 and A33. A question arose concerning how many fouls A23 had. The official book had 2 fouls at half time, I had one. A23's parent also had one. Of course the official book stands, as it should. In this case it was the home team book. After the game while visiting with an assistant coach, I recommended they change their players numbers to 21, 33, and 45 or something along those lines.

Any input on the player's numbers would be welcome.

I'd think the school would be alright with the number changes if you are paying.

They have options as they have twelve A team players with numbers 2, 3, 4,
12, 13, 20, 23, 32, 33, 41, and 53. (That is what I can remember) The shirts look to be interchangeable. Other jerseys #s are also available.

Paying will not be necessary.

You're suggesting that they change to less similar numbers to avoid the chance of one of the "good" players accidentally being charged incorrectly with a foul?

1. What are the odds of this happening?

2. If there is a mistake, couldn't it just as easily be in your favor?

Probability 101 ...
 

Bingo. We have a winner.

1. Middle school officials, middle school scorers, and player #s 23, 32, 33. Sounds like it could easily happen to me.

2. No. With the premise being alot of activity with 23, 32, and 33, a mistake of too whom the foul gets charged, always end with one of them getting an extra foul and one having less, which then can turn into, setting a top player needlessly and progress to same top player fouling out. Much better to have 3 top players available with foul counts of 4,3,3 at end of game than only two top players with fould counts of 3,2.

If you give the "good" players totally different numbers, then wouldn't one of them probably have a number similar to a "not as good" player? What a mess that might cause!




If this is all you have to worry about, I would say you are in pretty good shape.

...shake those officials hands next time you see them...if they only missed one call in a 7th grade game (or any game for that matter)...those are some darn good officials.

...you sound like the proud parent of one of those "influential players"...;)

Little, Skinny, Scrawny, Undersized
 

I don't think I was issued number "0" by my very first basketball coach because that number was so much different than the other kids because I was so good. :o

Wrong again, you and JAR are not doing very well. Junior did not play.

What is up with you incouraging parents to approach officials and tell them what they think?

Fixed it for ya! No charge!:D

We're not doing very well??

Who is the one sitting around fretting about the possibility of fouls being improperly charged in a 7th grade basketball game.

"We're" - for who else do you post?

Not a possibility, fact. I have seen other posts about fouls wrongly scored/marked and whether they can be fixed and what is required to fix this sort of error. (SamIAm keeping stats was not on the list).


Not fretting, looking for possible solutions. (Wrong twice more - you stink at this.) An additional issue that could come up with the numbers is, if the players are listed "three in a row" in the book, a simple marking error could account for fouls being marked for the wrong player.

(As of this point, this horse seems to be motionless. That is how I will treat it.)

I post for no one else, but you lumped us together.

I fail to see why it is not possible for the scoring error to be in your favor.

Why couldn't the mistake result in a foul count of 4,3,2 instead of 5,3,1?

I actually have a similar story. A local jr. high had twin girls, who happened to be two of the "good" players on the team, #'s 24 and 42. Late in the game, the official charged a foul to 42, which was actually on 24. 42 was nowhere near the play. Just so happens it was the fifth foul on 42. After much discussion, the call stood. 24 actually picked up her 4th a little later, but went on to finish the game. I suspect the offended parties failed to mention this when they told the story later. The twins and their team hung on to win the game.

The kicker is that after the game the twins' father went to the opposing coach to complain. "Well, we won even though you cheated!":eek: