#RRRR – Rule Knowledge

This is dedicated to my 41 guys – Don Landolphi, Michael Grant, Fabian Jara, Greg Cecere, and Carl Small.

Before tip-off winter encompassed a mild chill, one that tipped me off that global warming is really real.  That was neither here nor there because we were in the gymnasium, where it was packed for another Varsity Game.  I won’t get into the specifics of the time of day and the teams that were playing in the contest, but it wasn’t even close – until it was.  It’s my year one on the varsity level back home; it would behoove me to know the IAABO Boy’s rules upside down and inside out. 

Time was winding down.  The away team was down as much as 20, but were up, in spirit, as they tied the game with 20 seconds left in the 4th quarter.  Like an elevator, it’s about to go down. 

Full Time Out. White. Coach. Start the clock.

As the home team called the timeout, I knew the situation.  They were going to get the final shot, as the shot clock is off since it’s < 35 seconds.  

The home team, in white, were cooking up something serious.  The recipe was going to play out in 20 seconds or less.  Less it did.  Going the length of the floor, the ball wound up in the hands of the point guard, then swung to the top of the key to a wing, then swung to the right corner to the other other wing.  In stride, he took two steps, in rhythm, drained a shot, nothing but net. 

The coach, who’s team was up in spirit before, now had a stratagem that was defenestrated and relegated to be down by 2.  The whole time I knew he had 2 time outs – I looked at my peripheral waiting for him to call one of them; he never did.  In fact, instead, he was livid that the kid traveled right in front of me.  And on top of that, the refs, specifically me, screwed him; for there were 5 seconds left, and it should be the same and stopped, after a made basket.  

“Shaking em’ up, waking ‘em up
Raking ‘em up, breaking ‘em up
Standing on shaky grounds too close to the edge
Let’s see if I know the ledge”
– Rakim, Know the Ledge

“Ralph ,that was a walk,” the visiting coach said after he bum rushed me.  “Coach-“ I said, “I was in position for that play, he did not travel.” “Well you screwed me on time.  The clock should have stopped.” 

“I got footage of the game press replay.” – Jadakiss

His rhetoric flummoxed me.  The clock should have not stopped, as this is an IAABO sanctioned game, where time never stops after made baskets.  The girls college rules, which are what games follow in New York State, that’s when the clocks stops after a made basket under a minute in the 4th quarter.  Wrong sport coach. 

“This type of sh*t happens everyday.” – Slick Rick

Basketball is consumed all one and all the same.  There’s high school games, women’s and men’s college, there’s the professional leagues.  Mix that in a pot, there are too many rules to discern.  Imagine the officials dilemma; everyone in the stands may have watched basketball a few times over the course of the week, all while unsure of which rules need to be applied right then and there.  Nonetheless, that doesn’t change the passion of the fan, friend, family member, or spectators passion for knowing the rules incorrectly. 

And that’s why it’s important to know the rules y’all.  You never know when a coach is going to apply the pressure, incorrectly.  And even if they don’t know, you should be armed with the knowledge that you put in through experience, and studying when you are off the court or off the field. 

You are the guardian of the game.  Time to start guarding.

OFF THE FIELD

WATCH AND LEARN – Rules are being applied at every sporting event.  To see more plays, look no more than the high school near, you or on HDTV.  Chances are they will come across something you never seen before.  You will be able to tell an officials experience calling that call, or if they are proficient in the rules at all.  Being actively engaged in a game with a deep concentration to refs, can only add to your experience, making you even better than minutes before.

 THE RULES – There is no substitute for reading the rule book.  It should be the beginning, middle, and end, Was, is, and always will be the Bible of officiating your particular sport.  The feel is a must in any sport.  The Rule knowledge makes you damn near invincible.  

“I’ve been in this game for years, it made me an animal, It’s rules to this sh*t, I wrote me a manual | A step-by-step booklet for you to get your game on track, not your wig pushed back.” – Notorious B.I.G.

ON THE FIELD

FAIL SPECTACULARLY – More and more plays need to be seen.  We won’t be able to see them all, so it’s imperative you do see one that you never seen or heard of, try to make the right call.  If you don’t get it right, fret not.  The memory of messing up in real time, will eat at you for the moments to come.  Make a vow that it’ll never happen again.  After you see it 7 or 8 times, then it will look like you always knew, what to do.

“I’ve been sinnin’ since you was playing with Barbie and Ken and, you can’t change a players game in the 9th inning.” – Jay-Z

CORROBORATE THE EVIDENCE – After you do see that, store that in your internal hard drive.  Even further, look at the different variations of the rules with he different levels, and see when this particular rule applies, or not at all.  This is what separates the good, from GREAT – you have to extirpate what you have learned from a rule application, and color it in with your own anecdotes, stories, and experience.

“You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.”
– Abraham Lincoln

Another. Tomorrow.