It's All a Matter of Perspective

There are SO many things I wish I could explain to the fans while Refereeing a Game. Explain why a certain Foul was called or contact was NOT called as a Foul. Clarify a Rule, etc. the help them better understand the game, what and why the Ref's did what they did, but there are so few opportunities to do that during a game. And unfortunately, on too many occasions when I have tried to do that, my attempt to be helpful is met with some caustic remark by a disgruntled and unknowledgeable fan so that I ask myself why did I even try?

Too often, when questioning a Basketball Referee Call I made a Coach will say, "I've never heard that Rule before!"

And so I wonder......how may fans or Coaches, for that matter, have actually read the Rule Book before they go watch or coach a game?

I recently worked a Youth Game- 7th & 8th Graders. Some of the them are hopeful of playing Varsity High School Basketball, and perhaps beyond. But first they have to play high school.

So it is understandable that Youth Leagues adopt National Federation of High School Rules, right?

It is my opinion that the sooner an aspiring hoopster learns the Rules the better it will be for the youth & future coaches. Better to be called for a Rule Violation that loses the game in a Saturday Youth league than find out about it the really hard way and cost the team a State Championship, right?

So when I work a Youth game I apply High School Rules.


Here is a VERY simple Rule when a ball is In-bounded......

The defender CANNOT reach across the Out of Bounds Line. PERIOD.

Reach across and touch nothing? 1st Time is a Delay of game Warning. 2nd Time & it's a technical Foul.

Reach across & slap the Ball the 1st Time & THAT is a Technical Foul. NO Warning required.

Reach across & slap the player and THAT is an Intentional Foul. NO Warning required.

BEFORE I hand the ball to the Throw-In Player I look at the Defender, point at the Out of Bounds Line and say, "Do NOT reach across the Out of Bounds Line, OK?" They always nod & say, "Ok."

So I had a kid reach across the line on an inbound play. I called a Delay of Game Warning and reported it to the Scorekeeper.

Not long afterward the same kid, again after I told him not to reach across the line, reached across the line and slapped the ball, so I called a technical Foul.

The Coach asked for an explanation. As I trotted over to offer the simple explanation I could hear fans from the team holler about a "Bad Call", "Lousy Ref" and other typical claptrap. Yes, the Refs hear what is said, We just chose to ignore such comments unless they are excessive. Then we eject the person.

I explained the call and the Coach says, "Are you sure about that? I've been coaching 20 years and I never heard that Rule!"

I was not surprised......

"Yes, Coach, It's in the Rule Book."

"Are you SURE about that, Ref?"

"Yes."

"Is that some NEW Rule?"

"No. Been in the book for a long time."

So...... I do not mind if a Coach or Fan disagrees with me on a Foul Call. After all, it is a subjective call by the Ref. I expect the person / team & Coach that the Foul call was made against to object. Your perspective and mine is quite different. I might not have made the best call, but I made what I thought was the proper call from my vantage point and what I saw. You see what you want to see from a biased perspective. Them's the breaks!

"Perspective" by Brett Jordan via Flickr

But IF you want to holler that the Ref does not know the Rules......please make sure YOU really know the Rule! There might just be a lot of them pesky Rules you never heard about before if you never studied the Rule Book or had to pass a Test to Referee......

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No One Likes the Referee Calls. Get Use to It!

It's all a matter of perspective......good or bad Referee calls, I'm talking about......

If the foul or Violation is called on your opponent you think it's a good call! And your opponent thought it was a bad call! Perspective.

Oftentimes I'll hear a Coach in a High School Game, after I make a call on the opponent, shout, "Good Call!!" To which I reply, "Aren't they ALL 'Good Calls,' Coach?" Most Coaches will nod yes, or even chuckle & say, "Yes they are." One Coach said, "Yes, but some calls are more good than others!" Another said, "I wish you'd make more "Good Calls" on them and fewer on us!"

Sometimes that “bad call” your complaining about is the Ref adhering to the rules. Odds are, unless you’ve studied the Rule Book as much as the Refs do, there are probably some pesky rules you don’t know. Like I've said in my post If Your Gonna Yell at the Ref… it's best to know the rules.

Folks, it's EASY to play or spectate and make the game calls. It's HARD to actually be the Referee. I joked with Coach Jon Mott, who use to be the Globe High School Boy's Varsity Basketball Coach after he volunteered to refereed a church basketball game with me a few years ago. I asked him, "Did you even blow the whistle?" He said, "Yes, 3 times, but you also blew the whistle on the same calls." Then he said, "I wanted to blow the whistle a couple of other time but by the time I tried to blow the whistle the play was gone and it was too late!" Trust me, I have Refereed games for Globe High School and Coach Mott does not have trouble yelling, "That's a FOUL" from the bench when he's coaching a game. But even after all of his years of experience "refereeing from the bench" it's still tough to be the Referee on the floor and make the call.

Sometimes a Referee can get caught up watching a well-played game, so well played he gets distracted by the quality of the game itself and he sees something happen and thinks to himself, "Someone should have called that! Oh no, I'm THAT SOMEONE!!" The call is missed and it's too late to make it. It’s the same thing that happened to Coach Mott when he put on the black and white stripes. Don’t forget, Referees are fans of the game too, and we are human!

Have you ever watched a B-ball game and hear the announcer's say that was a perfectly called game? Nope. Not gonna happen. Too much happens too fast for 2 or even 3 Referees to see it all. Sometimes a big fellow, and there are usually a few of those in every game, steps between the play action and the Referee and the Referee's vision is completely blocked out just the instant a likely foul occurs and he misses the call. Too bad. Even the best Referees in the world- NBA, NFL, MLB, and NCAA often blow a call. Critical calls, too! Just keep playing.

"Stephen Curry" by Keith Allison via Flickr

NO ONE LIKES THE REFEREE CALLS. GET USE TO IT! Sometimes the Referee isn't real happy with the call he just made, either, just like you're not happy when you fire up an "Air Ball." Mistakes happen.

Billy Kennedy is a former Arizona High School & Junior College Ref currently in the NBA. He got his "Big Break" into the NBA during a NBA Referee Strike a few years ago. In a game with the Detroit Pistons, Doug Collins (I think he was the Detroit Pistons Head Coach) Billy made a call that Collins did not like. "I've been in this league for 20 years as a player and a coach and I've NEVER seen a Ref call like that before!!" Yelled the Coach. Billy's reply? "Coach, I've been in the league 2 weeks. Get used to it!!"

At the end of each game, every Referee makes some good calls and some bad calls. Hopefully a lot more good than bad, but they made what they thought was the proper call from their vantage point and what they saw. You may not have seen what they saw, or have the rules knowledge to know whether or not it was a “good call” but the calls have made. “Get used to it!!”

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