Bad Time for the Clock to Stop

[Coach Bill]

Originally Posted by kk13

This happened in my game tonight, High School Varsity Boys. Visitors make a basket to pull within 3 with time running out. They do not have any timeouts remaining. Ball goes through the basket home team takes the ball to inbound. I am the lead-becoming new trail. I start my count and I see 5.3 seconds on the clock. I get to 5 seconds the only problem is that the timer for some reason stopped the clock at 1.6! What do you do? I will wait for some responses before I share what our crew did.

The clock is running, so how sure are you that u see exactly 5.3 seconds? Did u look exactly simultaneous with the start of your count? I'm not sure you could be 100% certain of 5.3. I think it's entirely possible, that a few tenths could have ran off before u saw 5.3, and then u may have counted to 5 a half second early, and the clock could in fact be pretty close to accurate. Do you know they stopped it early, or was it after you blew your whistle? If you do know, how do you know, because I'm sure after the initial glance, you didn't look again until after your whistle blew.

[just another ref]

Originally Posted by Coach Bill

The clock is running, so how sure are you that u see exactly 5.3 seconds? Did u look exactly simultaneously with the start of your count? I'm not sure you could be 100% certain of 5.3. I think it's entirely possible, that a few tenths could have ran off before u saw 5.3, and then u may have counted to 5 a half second early, and the clock could in fact be pretty close to accurate. Do you know they stopped it early, or was it after you blew your whistle? If you do know, how do you know, because I'm sure after the initial glance, you didn't look again until after your whistle blew.

The one thing we do know is that it was wrong for the clock to stop. It won't be perfect, but you correct it best you can.

[Nevadaref]

Originally Posted by Coach Bill

The clock is running, so how sure are you that u see exactly 5.3 seconds? Did u look exactly simultaneously with the start of your count? I'm not sure you could be 100% certain of 5.3. I think it's entirely possible, that a few tenths could have ran off before u saw 5.3, and then u may have counted to 5 a half second early, and the clock could in fact be pretty close to accurate. Do you know they stopped it early, or was it after you blew your whistle? If you do know, how do you know, because I'm sure after the initial glance, you didn't look again until after your whistle blew.

The officials don't have a video replay monitor or atomic clocks in their heads. If the timer screws up, the officials can only do their human best to correct it.
ALL of the blame in such situations goes to the timer.

[Coach Bill]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

The officials don't have a video replay monitor or atomic clocks in their heads. If the timer screws up, the officials can only do their human best to correct it.
ALL of the blame in such situations goes to the timer.

I'm asking are u sure the timer screwed up? He looks up after he starts his count and sees 5.3 (so, maybe ~5.8 when he started), then he counts a little fast (~4.5 seconds), that gives u 1.3. Pretty close to 1.6. The OP never said the clock stopped before his whistle, just that he looked up and saw the clock stopped at 1.6. I don't think there was definite knowledge of any error. I don't think one can accurately mark a running clock to the tenths of a second. And, who knows what the visible count was? 4.9, 5.1, 4.5, 5.5?

If he knows the timer stopped it before his whistle, then ok, fix it. Otherwise, like you said, no atomic clock in his head, the time may have continued to run until he blew his whistle. I.e., no error.

[Nevadaref]

Thank you for clarifying. Perhaps the OP will return and answer the questions you've posed.

[kk13]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

Thank you for clarifying. Perhaps the OP will return and answer the questions you've posed.

I checked the clock WHEN I started my count. I saw 5.3. I counted to 5 and blew my whistle at which point we realized the clock had stopped prematurely.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by kk13

I checked the clock WHEN I started my count. I saw 5.3. I counted to 5 and blew my whistle at which point we realized the clock had stopped prematurely.

Good job.

[referee99]

Great job.

[bob jenkins]

Originally Posted by kk13

I checked the clock WHEN I started my count. I saw 5.3. I counted to 5 and blew my whistle at which point we realized the clock had stopped prematurely.

Exactly what you are supposed to do.

[Coach Bill]

Originally Posted by kk13

I checked the clock WHEN I started my count. I saw 5.3. I counted to 5 and blew my whistle at which point we realized the clock had stopped prematurely.

I want to know how u saw exactly 5.3 on a running clock. That's amazing!

[BDevil15]

Originally Posted by Coach Bill

I want to know how u saw exactly 5.3 on a running clock. That's amazing!

For approximately .1 second the clock says 5.3, are you honestly saying you have never seen any digit in the .1 second it was on the clock? Is it just a blur when you look at the tenths digit when its running?

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by kk13

I checked the clock WHEN I started my count. I saw 5.3. I counted to 5 and blew my whistle at which point we realized the clock had stopped prematurely.

I think the question is this - how did you definitively see exactly 5.3 on a clock that was moving.

[just another ref]

Originally Posted by MD Longhorn

I think the question is this - how did you definitively see exactly 5.3 on a clock that was moving.

I would say the words definitively and exactly are not the most appropriate. The answer to your question is: "I did the best I could."

[just another ref]

Originally Posted by Coach Bill

I'm asking are u sure the timer screwed up? He looks up after he starts his count and sees 5.3 (so, maybe ~5.8 when he started), then he counts a little fast (~4.5 seconds), that gives u 1.3. Pretty close to 1.6. The OP never said the clock stopped before his whistle, just that he looked up and saw the clock stopped at 1.6. I don't think there was definite knowledge of any error. I don't think one can accurately mark a running clock to the tenths of a second. And, who knows what the visible count was? 4.9, 5.1, 4.5, 5.5?

If he knows the timer stopped it before his whistle, then ok, fix it. Otherwise, like you said, no atomic clock in his head, the time may have continued to run until he blew his whistle. I.e., no error.

When the OP says that they did indeed put the .3 on the clock, this tells us that his best impression was 5.3 at the start of the count. Consider this, if there is a "normal" discrepancy between the whistle and the stoppage of the clock, there should be even less time left. Lag/reaction time is normal. Stopping the clock early in anticipation of the violation is unacceptable. One can only assume that he checked with the timer to be sure that the clock did stop before the whistle. If the answer is no, as you say, I don't see a lot of alternative but to say "Oh my gosh, my counting is abysmal!" and proceed from there.