You Don't Say ...
 

Things Officials Should Probably Not Be Saying In A Game

Calvin Coolidge once said, "The things I did not say never hurt me." Of course, he was not talking about basketball, but many officials would be smart to heed his sage advice as they communicate with coaches, and players.

Good communication skills are important tools to have on any official’s tool belt. Good communication with a partner, with a player, or with a coach, can go a long way to maintaining control of the game, having good game management, and having a smooth game. Sometimes this communication takes place in oral form, talking to players, or coaches, in some cases to explain a ruling, or in other cases to prevent a violation, or a foul. However, probably for reasons of tradition, there have been things that officials often, or sometimes, say during a game that do not have any basis in the rules, and should probably not be said in a game. This article will cover some of those “best left unsaid” statements.

“He wasn’t set”, is often an official’s answer to a coach who is questioning a blocking foul on his player. This implies that a defensive player must be set, and can’t move, to take a charge, while, in reality, the rules say otherwise. A defensive player does not have to remain stationary to take a charge. A defender may turn away or duck to absorb contact, provided he, or she, has already established legal guarding position, which is both feet on the playing court and facing the opponent. The defender can always move backwards, or sideways, to maintain a legal guarding position, and may even have one, or both feet, off the floor when contact occurs. That player may legally rise vertically. However, if the defender is moving forward, then the contact is caused by the defender, which, in this case, is a blocking foul.

"On the floor”, sometimes stated by officials for fouls against players who are not in the act of shooting, is also not rule based. This implies that a player cannot be on the floor, and shooting, at the same time, when in reality the old fashioned set shot, still used by some three point shooters, is a classic example of a player, on the floor, who is also in the act of shooting. Better statement: “No shot”.

"Don't move”, said to an inbounding player, by an official, before a designated spot throw-in, is another statement that should probably go unsaid. According to the rules, that player can move laterally within a three foot wide area, can jump up, and can move as far back as time, and space, will allow. Better statement: “Designated spot”, while pointing to the spot.

"Hold your spots", said by the referee, or tosser, before the jump ball, is only rule based for some of the players. One exception to this rule, and there are others, is that players on the jump ball circle can move off the jump ball circle at any time: before the toss, during the toss, or after the toss.

"You can't stand behind him”, stated by the referee, or the umpire, before a jump ball, to a player who is directly behind an opponent, both whom are ten feet off the jump ball circle, is not rule based. The rule that players can’t stand behind, within three feet, of an opponent, only applies to players on, and within three feet of, the jump ball circle. Players farther back than that can stand wherever they want, as long as they get to that spot first.

"Everybody get behind the division line”, often said by an official before free throws for a technical foul, or an intentional foul, is also not rule based. According to the rule, the nine non-shooters shall remain behind the free throw line extended, and behind the three point arc, and do not have to stay behind the division line. In some cases, this may allow players to legally converse with their coaches.

"Over the back", reported by an official to the table on a rebounding foul, is, in reality, probably a pushing foul. Over the back is not necessarily a foul. There must be illegal contact to have a foul. A taller player may often be able to get a rebound over a shorter player, even if the shorter player has good rebounding position. If the shorter player is displaced, then a pushing foul must be called, and this should be reported to the table as such.

"Reaching in", reported by an official to the table on a foul against a ball handler, is not necessarily a foul. There must be illegal contact to have a foul. The mere act of reaching in, is by itself, nothing. If illegal contact does occur, it’s probably a holding foul, an illegal use of hands foul, or a hand check foul, and these should be reported to the table as such.

"Coach, you have one timeout left", is a courtesy often extended by officials to coaches, when, by rule, officials should only be notifying head coaches when their team has been granted its final allowable timeout. If there is any miscommunication, or mistake, involving the table crew reporting remaining timeouts, then the officials, by rule, need to stay out of the conversation. Let the coaches, and table crew, communicate about remaining timeouts, other than when a team has been granted its final allowable timeout, which by rule, is required to be reported to the coach by the officials.

"Sit down", is occasionally stated by an official to a coach who is acting in an unsporting way, but who has not yet been charged with a technical foul, is not rule based. Back in the “olden days” of the “seatbelt rule”, this was a common method of dealing with coaches who have gone, or who are about to go, “over the line”. Now, with the coaching box, officials can only tell coaches to sit down after they have been charged with a direct technical foul, or an indirect technical foul, and even then, there are still a few occasions when these coaches can still legally stand up.

"You have to take out your earrings”, is occasionally stated by officials to players in the pregame layup lines who are wearing earrings. It’s only a minor difference in semantics, but it’s probably better, for legal liability reasons, to instead say, "You can't play, or even warm up, wearing earrings". This puts the decision, to remove the earrings, or not to remove the earrings, on the player, or the coach, and possibly, on the parent, and takes any legal liability off the official’s shoulders.

Finally, a thought by Will Rogers, “Never miss a good chance to shut up.”

Ideas
 

Rather than: "You have to take out your earrings”........
BETTER: "Remove your earrings and you'll be allowed to continue to warm up."

Suggestion for Another Phrase Best Unsaid: "On the Floor!!!!!"
Heard far too frequently when the foul occurs after the act of shooting has previously begun. Of course the shooter was on the floor -- but, having "gathered the ball", that's part of the act of shooting. Better to say, "No shot! or "Ball out-of-bounds." That's more accurate according to rule than the phrase "On the Floor".

Finally, two final thoughts
Should be .........And finally, two thoughts

A few grammatical things:

"Non-shooter" should be hyphenated. See also "throw-in."

Everything in quotes should have the comma inside the quotes. For example, it should be "Reaching in," not "Reaching in",.

I would finish "who are far smarter than me" with a colon (: ) rather than a period (.), since you have a list following.

My spellcheck didn't like the word "tosser." Funny, Brits sure like to call each other that.

Mucho Gracias ...
 

Thanks.

I gave that some thought, but I decided to not to differentiate between pre-bonus ("Ball out-of-bounds.") and bonus ("One and One", or "Two shots").

Merci Beaucoup ...
 

Done.

Thanks Mate (Australian For Thanks) ...
 

Done.

I've always had trouble with punctuation inside, and outside, quotations, so I'm sticking with what I'm comfortable with, even though it's probably grammatically incorrect.

I would hope we would never give credence to the nonexistent "over the back rule" by reporting a foul to the table this way. I would not be happy to see my partner report a foul that way...

Why not? It's just a colloquial term for "push" or "displacement" or "rebounding foul".

The Dreaded Frankenstein's Monster Signal ...
 

A few do. Mostly very young, less experienced rookies (who hopefully get it straightened out right away through peer evaluations), and very old veterans (who have done it that way for decades, and aren't going to change).

Over The Back, On The Back ???
 

Because only one of these, "Push", has a corresponding signal when reporting to the table. In addition, over the back isn't a foul, "over" implying no contact, while on the back may be a foul, but it still doesn't have a corresponding signal to report to that table. Another reason: Although colloquial terms are great for everyday conversations, officials should try to use formal (colloquial means informal) rulebook language whenever possible.

Because many fans think any time a tall player secures a rebound over a shorter one without contact that it's "over the back." Reporting "over the back" (a non-rule book term that communicates the wrong message) only adds credence to this myth. A push or displacement doesn't always happen by virtue of reaching "over the back." Sometimes the most common fouls in this situation are ones the involve the behind defender bumping the guy with inside rebounding position forward. Are you telling me it makes sense to report "over the back" in this instance?

If it's just a colloquial term, does that mean it's okay for us to yell "on the floor" for a foul prior to the act of shooting? Colloquial terms much of the time aren't the right terms to use.

I can agree with that.

Grammar

. . . smarter than me, could be smarter than I. The phraze infers "he is smarter than I am," and we would not say "he is smarter than me am."
The simplest test of such phrazes is to separate the two and test whether one would say them, separately and completely, with the desired verb, as one tends to say them in plural or intimating the verb by the structure.
Yes, it's a nit I just picked.:)

Thanks ...
 

Is that you Mr. Baumgartner, my high school sophomore English teacher? I didn't know that you were a basketball official. In fact, I didn't know that you were still alive. What's it feel like to be 110 years old?