Excessive Fouling

[Yunforce]

I already know that there is a shortage on refs and they have been taking a lot of heat in all sports lately. I do appreciate the people willing to spend their time (although paid for it) officiating so the games can actually happen. Also, I am not a very knowledgeable basketball guy.

I went to see a friend’s son play tonight. The two teams do not have very good records and are not basketball powerhouses so I assume the level of play was subpar. Anyway, The game became very hard to watch due to the amount of stoppages in play becauses of fouls. Again, I do not watch basketball religiously but I do think I understand charges, reaches and over the backs etc... The refs called at least 40 fouls in a high school game and I had a hard time understanding what they we seeing.

Is this common in DE high school basketball? 40 fouls between both teams? Maybe it was the quality of play but I began believing the refs liked the sound of their own whistles a bit too much. There were plenty of upset parents as I assume they actually wanted to watch kids perform rather than a foul shooting contest.

 

[BackinBlack86]

Just as an FYI and because it annoys me when I hear fans yell it.. There is no over the back foul. You can jump and reach over the back to get the ball as long as you don't make contact. If you make contact it is a foul and usually called as a push foul.

 

[Uncle Bumfuzzled]

Bummy went on about the officiating in the Howard-Salesianum JV game on Tuesday night. It took like an hour and 20 minutes to play a 24 minute game. I am sure officials attempt to control the action so it doesn't break out into mayhem. I think that this may be the driving force as sportsmanship has kind of fallen off over the past decade. (ref the player brawls breaking out at a few DE HS FB games this past season.) As the fans are so much closer in Bball, I think the refs are also, in a very real way, involved in crowd control.

It is a conundrum, whatever the hell that means.

By the way, that is not an indictment of the fans at the Howard-Salesianum game. For the varsity game, which went into OT, the fans shared a spirit of collegiality. They were laughing, cheering, and interacting with each other very positively. Yes, both sides questioned calls...as usual...