CA Open Championship (Boys)

[mutantducky]

there clearly is a whistle or two. When I saw it live, I thought a TO had been granted. I thought the refs were discussing whether or not to put time back on the clock to give O'Dowd the ball. I didn't know there weren't any timeouts left and The tv people didn't know and they talked about that after. Listen I know about ignoring the tech and the issues that could arise but trust me if you watched the game you did not want to see end that way. But yes clearly there could have been an issue had there been another second or two on the clock. It appears to me one of the refs see the TO request and blows the whistle but time has run out, or they just let the clock run. It seemed to have stopped at .8. I don't know. I'm just glad I saw a quality game between two very good teams.

you see how the clock is stopped at .8? I think that was the clock operator, then it restarts. ha, what a mess that would have been if that last heave had gone in.

[JRutledge]

Well in our playoffs at the Super-Sectional Level a coach requested a timeout without one and the crew granted it. The only mistake the crew made was to not give the timeout. Otherwise the crew knew the coach/team was out and granted it anyway with less than a minute. What was funny the team that asked for a timeout that they did not have, hit a buzzer beater to send the game into overtime. The team eventually lost in overtime, but I think we cannot just ignore these request just because. You never know what the result might be.

Peace

[APG]

Originally Posted by mutantducky

Listen I know about ignoring the tech and the issues that could arise but trust me if you watched the game you did not want to see end that way.

This statement reads as one coming more from a fan rather than official.

Pray tell...how would an assignor defend you if a coach were to send tape in asking why the officials didn't grant the timeout? There's nothing ambiguous about the request...the player is signaling for a timeout for 2 seconds...right in front of the new lead.

Also, what is your cut off for how much time must be on the clock before you'd grant a timeout? Four seconds? Why that? Why would you be able to see a game "end that way" with a request at four seconds rather than two? Hell, why not just ignore all requests in a tied game in the closing 30 seconds? What if it's a bad game but tied? How do you determine what's a good game and thus not worthy of being "ended that way?"

Part of this gig is being able to make calls of consequence....in end of game situations...that will adversely affect a team. It's not really in the job description to stop players/coaches from making stupid mistakes.

*I say this all with the caveat that some assignors would probably want you to ignore this...therefore listen to your boss.

[Rich]

There's a number of officials on the FB Referees page that agree with Ducky. Really makes me sad.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by Rich

There's a number of officials on the FB Referees page that agree with Ducky. Really makes me sad.

Saw that. I've talked to officials like that before. Fortunately, few of them are in charge of anything.

Worst of all is the guy who claimed if he saw it, he'd say he didn't see it.

[Welpe]

Sometimes making the right, correct call takes a level of fortitude that many do not have. Simple as that.

[rockyroad]

Originally Posted by Welpe

Sometimes making the right, correct call takes a level of fortitude that many do not have. Simple as that.

And that is the bottom line here...because of idiots on chat boards and fan-boy pages and (sadly) referee forums who go ballistic about calls like this and the T on the dunk, we have officials who either 1) do not have the guts to take any heat that might come from making a tough call, or 2) think they know best what is "good for the game" and choose not to call things.

Both of which make the job all that much harder for those of us who are trying to do it right.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by rockyroad

And that is the bottom line here...because of idiots on chat boards and fan-boy pages and (sadly) referee forums who go ballistic about calls like this and the T on the dunk, we have officials who either 1) do not have the guts to take any heat that might come from making a tough call, or 2) think they know best what is "good for the game" and choose not to call things.

Both of which make the job all that much harder for those of us who are trying to do it right.

But it was such a good game.

[mutantducky]

And sometimes we have to realize there are bigger issues at stake rather than simply following the rules. From the very beginning when I started officiating to this season, working a varsity game with two older refs who told me to get on the same page as them(we did, in the second half and it ran smooth)
that you don't always go by the book. I was officiating closer to the letter of the rule while they were letting the players dilate play and calling fouls when they should. As they told me, ref according to the level of play. The game was between two good varsity teams that were well-coached and stricter officiating was not needed. There are fouls that need to be let go. There are times when you can have a play-on. There are hand-checks, and other touch fouls that could be called and often should be called, but the good refs are going to know when to pass on them if they are not impacting play.
It would have been a travesty had the game ended on a T with .8 seconds to go. Yes, it could have very well been the case had there been an extra second or two, but as ref I'm not going to end the game like that if the situation calls for it. Perhaps the players and the refs got lucky there wasn't more time on the clock, but I'm just very glad the game ended the way it did, and the fans and players got to be involved in a great championship game. That's the end story. Not the T issue or the timeout.