The Ghost

Being that I saw the play you are referring to, the play was not in that officials "primary" are of the floor. The play was in the center officials "primary" the the Lead official having "secondary" coverage. The whistle was late due to him giving the center a chance to see the play (or get straight lined as we used to say, which it looked like he did) and then Lead came with the call. Right call. Better late and right than early and wrong. First games I got a chance to see in the tournament since moving here and retiring from the game. Really thought that the refs did a great job. Good no calls when some contact had nothing to do with the outcome of a play. Much better than we used to get in Tennessee! :flame:

Well, being from the "old school" of officiating, we did not have any instant replay available, even in Division One, until recently. Even now, there are conferences that have no replay capabilities (although it is changing from what I can gather). Mainly the reason high school cannot go to it is because of consistency. Granted you have more technology available during the tournaments (usually), but the officials would have no idea how to use the equipment correctly (most of the time). During the regular season it just would not work due to the technological barriers to most schools. It is not that difficult to look at a tape and decide good or no good. The trouble I see is having the angles (clocks ect) available and the replay capabilities. :thumb:

Now, let me say straight up that I do not want this to turn into a giant "I know it better than you" debate. I read a few comments about a game yesterday and felt that a little insight was necessary from an old stripes perspective. Now with regard to a block charge: I thought about this for a while and decided this; the reason fans think the stripes get every (well not every but alot) of these calls wrong is that they are watching the ball, not the defenders. When I went to camps (oh that seems a long time ago), the people that were there instructing us (you see/saw many of them on TV every night) always told us to watch the defender, not the dribbler. Watching the dribbler will result in most (not all) of the "block/charge" situations to be called blocks. If one cannot see the defender, one cannot make an accurate call. The defender is allowed to move to "maintain his/her defensive position". If the defender beats the dribbler to the spot (that is his/her feet are down), there still can be movement in the upper torso area of the defender. Also remember this; the offensive player still has to be "under control" and not using his/her forearm to clear out. So, remember; officials that have the proper perspective (ie he/she has attended a quality camp), most likely the officials are getting the call right 95% of the time. But you have no idea who those people are? I'll give you a hint; if officials are calling the majority of the contact by the dribbler/defensive players "player control" fouls; chances are they are one of the better ones. Now that does not apply to all situations (there are teams out there that just don't have the speed to "get to the spot" and you might see alot of blocks called), but for the majority (oh who am I kidding 90%) of the "good" officials, they get the calls right. Just trust them! :flame:

When I was in the stripes, if the coach refuesed to leave, I had the timer tell me when one minute had elapsed, then it was game over. Never had to do it, but we did get into the seconds left a couple times! :ylsuper:

Throwing money at the problem is not the answer. Retired as I may be, I know this. Training is the only answer to getting more qualified officials out into the games. There is no substitute for taking a little time away from the summer and learning what one might not know. It helped me way back in the day, when there were not many camps to go to. If the state would mandate that all officials have to go to a camp outside the state every two to four years, you would see a dramatic increase in well officiated games. There will always be the guys that are just out there for the money (as pitiful as it may be) or for the glory. Some people just love getting yelled at! :banana:

Then you would be getting back to the situation of "contracting" officials like they do in Indiana. I have friends that still officiate and they have contracts years ahead of times for certain schools and games. Talk about a biased system. Somone talked earlier about letting officials rate each other. That would be a hoot. Some people would lose friends if they are honest with people. I had to tell a guy once that he was in over his head and not to do a game (it was a preseason scrimmage). Hardest thing I ever had to do, but it did make my decision easier when I dedcided to hang it up. I knew it was time to go when the speed of the game had picked up and I no longer could get in position. Desire was still there, but the wheels were shot! Some people never quite learn that however! There are a few D 1 guys out there that need to hang it up for that fact alone! :fire:

Yea....he is somewhat on the side of confidence, but let me tell you....he is a better officials than some of the names I have seen on this post. When I used to call he was a young up and comer. Now he works some of the bigger games in the COUNTRY...not just this state. You do not get to that level without knowing what you are doing. There are some very fine officials on this post. There are also ones that just worry about what LOOKS like the correct call, not what IS the correct call. The reason some officials get that "I'm bigger than the game" reputation is that those of us who called (call) what is there, not what "looks funny". Someday when we can take the coaches votes out of who goes to District, Region and such, the climate may change so that the people that know who the good officials are can let them get where they belong. And I think there were 20 + there that game..... :fire:

Long ago I had a coach tell me the same thing....he did hit the bus before his team did..... I always hated giving both technicals...but just like Tom Cruise said in "Risky Business"......"Sometimes you just have to say what the **heck**"! :laugh:

I said nothing about "hearing contact". Alot of times back in the day, things "looked" ugly or it "looked" like a player walked. The meaning is it had to actually "be there" for it to be called. Sometimes there is a blocked shot, and the force of the block causes the player to go to the floor. That "looks like" a foul, but really is not. Hope that clarifies what I ment. :banana:

Officials that know what they are doing can evaluate contact. When I used to run the floor, if the ball was blocked and then a little contact was made (emphasis on the word "little"), I almost never called a foul. Now, there are people out there that do not know how to evaluate the contact that is made....if it "looks like a foul" they call it. It should be a foul before it is called. and Yes...women can block shots, play "D" and do all the things that the guys can do. The question to the officials has to be...do you have the guts to not blow the whistle when it just "looks like a foul" and take the crowd booing and the coach eating on you..... :flame:

I cannot say for sure, but most likely, if the KBA has been sold, they can still have at least some of these tournaments here in Lexington. Many cities use HS facilities (like Lexington used to for the HS state), which is better (IMO). You have seperate facilities and more space. :banana:

I heard (totally unconfirmed) that another facility was either being planned or going to be opend in Lex sometime. If I find out any details, I will pass them along. Rumor has it it is a former UK player that is in the mix! :thumb:

It's not a "new rule". Displacement of a player has always been a foul.

Well, I used to ref a little myself and I have one from a game that worked to perfection: I was working with a younger official and the tap was tipped out of bounds. He got the call right and some guy from the front row yelled out "they missed one already". Now, in a freshman game (that will tell you how long ago it really was as I am really old now) there are few people there, so I took note and went about my business. He rode the kid for the whole first quarter. I was puitting the ball inbounds for the start of the second quarter (they guy just happened to be on the first row mid court) and started to talk to me and complain about the kid. I told him this: "Sir the best thing for you to do is quite down and cheer for your team and worry less about what we do". He said "I'm leaving here soon anyway". I smiled and said "I know you are"! He there proceded to ride me for about on minute and then was removed from the gym! Funny story and true as well! But the bottom line is that parents should encourage his/her children to respect what officials do and learn themselves that nothing they do can make the game better. It only makes the officials that actually pay attention to that stuff distracted (and believe me some of them do not need any help with that) and sometimes do an even worse job. I never paid attention to the crowd unless someone got really vulgar and then I just went over to game administration and had them take care of it. Worked well for over 20 years! :ylsuper:

I was thinking all of these things! GREAT POST! Just to add a little to the ref section: You are exactly right about the speed of the game the the danger within. Two officials just cannot be effective in the game of today/the future. It also allows some officials that would have retired to contiune to officiate a little longer (although it didn't keep me in I am REALLY OLD)! One more thing: removing the foul count won't help that situation. That's what one of those 6 assistants is for. But I will tell you this; I never failed to warn a coach when I officiated for saying something like that. Next inference WHACK! :flame: