Questioning Partner's Call

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Afrosheen

Again, I don't understand how this is a question of being out of position. If I have enough evidence to determine that my partner possibly kicked a rule, I'm going to go up to my partner to make sure that he's got the rule right. If it's a judgment then yes, positioning matters, but if it's a rule then I'm going to ask him to let me know his understanding of the rule and still give him the right to either keep or change the call. We are a crew, but if I'm working a game and it's going to be on tape, I'm going to be as accountable as my partner is when it comes to the rules, and the minimum obligation that is to be met in every game is for the crew of officials to make the game is officiated by the correct rules. If my partner makes a bad judgment call, fine, we'll talk it over in the locker room; but if he possibly kicked a rule, there is no question that I'm going to have him confirm to me his understanding of the rule and give him the opportunity to change the call before moving onto the next play.

Are you going to go to your partner every time they call a travel? Are you going to say something if your partner calls closely guarded violation? What about 10 second violations? What about a held ball? You could do this all day and those things I just referenced and will likely happen in a game. Why was this situation you referenced so special? You did not have any direct information to add to the situation. You just did not trust your partner and then questioned his knowledge of the rule. If you had some information that would change the call, OK, but that is not what happened from my understanding.

Originally Posted by Afrosheen

Again, let me repeat for the nth time before I get bonked again, that I approached my partner in an overbearing fashion which created the fallout thereafter. I'm merely here to ask how to respectfully confer with your partner over such matters and thankfully I have at least the video of a similar situation during a D1 game to look over and learn.

edit: I'm noting that I'm on the same page as Coach Bill who posted prior to this one.

You could have approached your partner in the nicest way, that still does not give you the right to come to your partner and question their judgment by coming to them in your situation. Once again, if you had information that might have helped get the call right, like knowing the ball was touched in a way that would help in making the call. But you had none of that and only asked them a question. If you are going to come to a partner, you should not be asking questions, you should be giving information. I even tell partners if you are going to help with a call, come with information like, "I saw the ball touched.......so it cannot be a violation." When you ask a question if someone understands a rule, that is not being helpful in the heat of the battle. If you really did not see anything and are unsure, go to your partner at halftime or after the game to see if they understand the rule. But while the game is going on is the wrong time to do a rules clinic IMO.

Peace