I must have basketball officiating withdrawals or something, cause I keep thinking about it. Of course, it doesn't help that my brother keeps asking me questions about, either; but I'm not complaining, I really do enjoy it - perhaps that's a sign for next season.
Anyway, our latest conversation was about not letting games get out of hand because you let things go early in the game. Apparently he opted not to call a technical foul on a player who was complaining about the officiating early in the first half. And of course, emotions continued to escalate from there. I read a great article on SLAM ONLINE from a 9th grade basketball coach that got ejected in the second quarter. His reaction to being ejected may surprise you.
http://slamonline.com/online/blogs/too-real-for-the-league-by-matt-caputo/2009/02/ejected/
He also provides example videos of games that got out of hand due to "no calls" early, including a YouTube video of a classic brawl between Reggie Miller and Michael Jordan - and they didn't even penalize enough players, which made things worse (Jordan should have been T'd up, too!) I also posted a comment.
I really think this is true in life, as well. My mom used to always say that "a stitch in time saves nine". I had no idea what she was talking about as a kid, but I certainly have come to appreciate that as an adult. Laziness and procrastination always leads to bigger problems later than if you just taken care of business when the problem started.
There one more thing, people need to stop worrying that others won't like them if they call them out on things. The best NBA officials are absolutely hated by players in the league, but are also the most sought-after for the big games. They may not like you for making the right call (no matter what it is), but in the end they will respect you for it ... and isn't that more important than being liked?
Should be a great NBA playoff season this year, and I'm looking forward to it. It made me think about one of my favorite press conferences of all time ... Allen Ivenson talking about practice! It's even funnier with a word counter showing you how many times he says the word "practice", like this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUYjD7A75HQ
And this press conference is funny, too, when he was traded to the Pistons.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB1UrcIn9bo
Yesterday, I was asked by my brother Sebastian about the proper administration for offensive fouls. The specific question was whether or not the defensive player is awarded free throws when it's not a "player control foul" (meaning that the offensive foul was committed by the player "holding or dribbling a live ball inbounds".) For several years the answer to that question was "yes", which is what I told him. However, a few years ago I remember that NFHS (high school rules) introduced the "team control foul" call; however, since it had been a few years since I've officiated a high school game, I was sketchy on the details. Here they are:
http://www.ref60.com/2008/12/team-control-foul-mechanics.html
Essentially, the "player control foul" has now been replaced with the "team control foul" - meaning that all fouls on the offensive team (regardless of whether the player has the ball or not) are called the same way (with a fist thrust) and are awarded the same ... the other team gets the ball with no shots. This makes it so much easier for basketball officials, because now they don't have to worry about whether or not there was "player control" and then if the team is in the bonus or not ... now you just go the other way.
NCAA, FIBA and NBA/WNBA has been using the "team control foul" mechanic for a while; so it appears that this is another step toward high school basketball being officiated more like the college/pro game. This is always appreciated by those that jump back and forth from officiating college and high school games; and if you ask one of them, they would always say that the college mechanics were much simplier. Less is more! The less complicated the mechanics, the better that officials can call a great game.
So I hope that answers Sebastian's question 100%, and along the way can help someone else. Don't know the next time I'll be officiating a basketball game on any level; but when I do, I'll be ready with this call.
Almost! But not quite. I'll remain an Adidas guy for now; but I absolutely love the "Chalk" commercial with Lebron James. It's just a nice, feel-good clip; and they did a great job taking advantage of Lebron's famous ritual of tossing chalk in the air before each game.
Every time I see it, I get just a little swell of emotion. I like commercials that are inspiring, featuring athletes that are even more inspiring. Great job, Nike.
Needless to say, I'm very excited about the NBA season finally starting. There are so many interesting stories to watch for this year, along with more exciting players to see than I can remember. But without further ado ... here is my first installment of NBA Notes for this year:
- Being a web programmer, I have to mention this first ... the new NBA website is sensational! The design matches their brand much better than before, and the layout does a great job of not getting in the way of the content (scores, stats, news, and all the info that NBA enthusiasts come to get!) The only problem I've seen is that the scores are not as up-to-date as other sources are; perhaps this can be fixed later by replacing their Flash components with Silverlight apps (he,he). Anyway, nice job, NBA (or whoever actually built the site.)
- I'm very pleased about my Lakers. As most of America knows, having Bynum back is huge. And now that Kobe has a league MVP under his belt, he seems more focused than ever to work towards another ring (and become a Finals MVP!) I'm very happy.
- How 'bout the Hawks, eh?!! So far I'm impressed with how they're able to win games in the 4th quarter and/or on the road - two things they didn't do well last year. And out of all the games they've played so far, I've been the most pleased with how they played in their first loss against the Celtics. Without their star player J-smooth, they were only a "desperate, fade-away, luck shot by Pierce" away from winning against the champs in the Garden. Yes, folks, the Hawks are for real this year.
- It was weird hearing that coach PJ of the OKC Thunder was fired last night, after I just finished watching them on ESPN last night. That being said, he looked more like a college coach (like when he was coaching Setan Hall) than a NBA coach. But I was still sorry to hear the bad news, he's one of the good guys in basketball; perhaps one of the TV networks will pick him up, he's a great analyst.
- I have a co-worker that thinks the Spurs will not make the playoffs this year. He honestly thinks that their are 8 teams better than them in the West. My opinion is that he's crazy ... or he is? If the playoffs started today, the Spurs would be the 8th seed, with Dallas and Golden State close behind. Everytime he mentions it, I keep telling him it's a 82 game season and that's early; but I have to admit he's making a compelling argument. In the end, my money's on Coach Pop and Mr. Fundamental that they'll find a way.
- If you're into basketball AND into the internet, you'll like what SLAM Magazine is doing. In addition to their website, they have a Twitter page and a MySpace page. I'm not much into MySpace yet, but I do know that every night their Twitter page is very active; I even got a reply from them on one of my tweets!
http://simplesilverlight.wordpress.com/2008/07/30/silverlight-and-the-nba/