Overkill
 

I worked with a partner tonight with whom I had almost no experience. He's no kid, but he's younger than I am, and really bubbling with a childlike enthusiasm for the job. I found him to be quite competent, obviously having more experience with 3 man than the rest of us, and the calling of the game itself went nicely. But, from the get-go, it was like he was miked and filming a documentary. When we walked on the court, he gave a tweet and announced: "Sheriff's in town," with a big grin. He then proceeded to get out his magnifying glass as he viewed the warmup.

"Tuck in that drawstring." "Get those pins out of your hair." etc.

"No, no," pointing to a headband, "You have to turn that Nike symbol over."

The girl looked at him like he had two heads. He turned to me. (I was the R)
"Are you going to allow that?" "Allow what?" (making sure that's what he was referring to....it was) I told him one logo was allowed. He assured me that on a headband it was not. I told him I wouldn't bet the farm but I thought I was right and I certainly was not going to deny it.

But the clencher was at the start of the fourth quarter. I saw him speak to both coaches, obviously relaying information. He was telling them how many timeouts they had left. After the game I asked what that was all about, and he said that it was "in the manual."

Is it? Is this an FIBA thing? I believe he said he had "international experience."

Don't think it's a FIBA thing. I think FIBA is more lenient than NFHS/NCAA when it comes to clothing/garment rules. Also I'm pretty sure there isn't any FIBA manual telling you to inform the coach of the TO's he has left. At least I've never heard of it.

You just worked with, "That Guy!" :(

Tell him to switch to decaf.

It is nice to have an enthusiastic partner, but not one who is spastic.

Who Was That Masked Man ???
 

Transfer from Texas?

Nope. I had the night off.

Rule 2-7-11

The officials shall conduct the game in accordance with the rules. This includes:

Notifying the head coach when a team is granted its final allowable time-out.

There's a difference between notifying the coaches "how many timeouts they have left" and notifying a coach "they don't have any remaining timeouts."

i.e - You wouldn't say, "Coach you have three timeouts remaining." But, you would say, "Coach, that was your last timeout."

Well I guess at least he had one thing right but sounds like a rather unhappy experience.

I believe that is exactly what RD was trying to point out.

I was thinking more like Nevada!:D

I am one of those, who, in the last minute of a close game will check with the table and tell both coaches what they have left, whether they are out or not. I believe some here say that that is too much/not necessary/ maybe even a bad idea. (if you happen to tell them wrong information, it is worse than no information at all)

But does anybody know of anything written anywhere which says to do this at the start of the 4th quarter? And as a lesser side note, if there is such a requirement, it sounded like a duty of the R, which he was not.

I work with a guy about once a year that is not as strict with everything as the guy in the OP, but he is extremely loud. I am all for being verbal and communicating, but he makes sure the entire gym hears everything. He also gets in a hurry a lot when reporting and just generally looks frazzled.

This is a problem?

If it is a close and we have a timeout, I always check the table to make sure score is right and then notify each coach that they have x amount of timeouts left. Just a courtesy.

You're that guy too then. You're the guy that when dressed in a baseball/softball umpire outfit, insists on approaching a pitcher after they've warmed up and saying, "See that guy on 1st and that guy on 3rd? You have runners on first an third. There's one out. The temperature is about 82 degrees and the wind is about 8 mph out of the south-southwest."

Don't Be That Guy.

No, not a rule. Definitely. But what your annoying partner did and what you said you do are only different by degrees. Both are still wrong.

Do you tell them how many team fouls they have?

Nope. It is an accepted practice here, and every official I have worked with will do this in a close game. I really don't see the big deal.

They keep track on their bench. There is no reason to tell them before they get to zero.

What is the harm in it?

If you tell them they have one left, but the scorekeeper screwed up and they are really out of timeouts, they call their one timeout they think they have and now you get to issue a technical. Guess who gets blamed?

We aren't there to keep the book for them.

Ii also look at the score keepers on the bench and confirm, just to make sure.

I'm in the "don't say anything" crowd too... but the concern you're raising is not really valid. It IS our job to tell them when they are out. I'd have a hard time T'ing up a coach for calling a timeout when he didn't have any, if I had not done my job and told him he did not have any.

It's called being Overly Officious. Or injecting yourself into a situation where you are not needed.

There is no reason to be over at a team's bench to give them information they didn't ask for.

Coaches where I work don't want officials up in their faces for no reason.

Fair enough.. I just talked to 10 coaches and everyone of them like it. They all said it is always good to communicate, especially in late game situations.

Communication has absolutely nothing to do with telling coaches how many time-outs they have.

I have no idea what level you officiate most of your games, but I know, for me, the higher the level, the less coaches want officials bothering them.

Must be a regional thing.

The odds of this happening are extremely slim, but there's really no reason not to avoid the problem by simply waiting til he's out before saying anything.

That said, if that's what's expected....

I have a hard time believing there is any assignor or supervisor who tells his officials it's expected that they check the time-outs and inform the coaches.

High School...3 man and 2 man. 13 years. They all said they like knowing at the end of the game. We don't have assignors.

I didn't say that we shouldn't tell them when they're out. I fully agree that we should inform them when they are out of timeouts.

You still give the T even if you forgot to inform him that he is out of timeouts. You not informing him doesn't allow him to evade the penalty.

You talked to 10 coaches in that time frame?

See above. I am all for letting them know when they're out of timeouts. I never said otherwise.

Agreed.

Maybe I'll do it in my next evaluated game and see if it's mentioned.

So you contract directly with the schools? That might explain why you do it that way there.

tomegun and I might not be the most popular officials in that type of system. :cool:

I'm just saying it is something we do here, and yes I talked to 10 coaches in that time frame.

Gotta keep your employers happy. :D

I might be lucky if more than 3-4 local HS coaches even know my name.

Yes. The schools/coaches schedule with the officials directly. Like I said in another thread, I already have my schedule for the 2013-14 season. In the Metro areas they do have assignors, but only in the OKC and Tulsa area.

I'm sure they were glad to have you call them during their day to give you validation.

The reason I talked to them was the majority of the people here didn't do it. I was wanting to know if it was something they liked or maybe we needed to stop doing it. I am always willing to listen and take in what other officials are doing. What works here may not work were you are at, and what works were you are at may to work here.

If I would have took up officiating 14 years earlier than I did then my career would have started out in Altus. I would probably not have lasted too long in that type of system.

How do you get evaluations of your performance? (and please don't say from the coaches :eek: )

No. The state association sends out evaluators who have a standard form with criteria. I got evaluated last week and just got my copy from the state this morning. It has five sections. Uniform and appearance, physical condition, attitude and personality, game control, and mechanics. Under each of those there are categories. For instance under game control it has Pregame, sharp whistle, sells calls when necessary, good communications-coaches, table and players, knowledge of rules and interpretations, proper positioning, and judgement. Room for comments on one side of the form. Then they rate us for each category. Superior, good, average, fair, poor.

This is sent to the state association and they send me a copy. Now the coaches are required to go online and rate officials, but they also have to put if they won or lost as well.

I was at Altus Tuesday night. Small world.

I lived there from '87-89 so I witnessed Thurman Thomas and Barry Sanders play college football and OU make the NCAA title game with Lawton's own Stacy King on the team.

Best thing about those years is the Dallas Cowboys were absolutely putrid so I didn't have to deal with their fans.

Back on topic, I wish our state organization was more proactive about evaluating officials during the season.

No, this, of course is legitimate. I have no problem with the blast of the whistle as we entered the court. I have read here, have I not, that some others do that as well. But nobody does it around here except this guy. As for the pins, if I see them, I tell them to take them out, but they're not something that I squint a lot looking for.

I see the similarity. We have guns too, and you will be hunted down! :eek: