I learned later in life that most people, including a younger me, have just a basic understanding of what the actual rules of any sport are, and no clue about what is and is not considered a foul or rules violation. In basketball, for example:
1. Charges - How often do you hear someone say "He moved his feet" or "He wasn't set"? As long as you get into a legal guarding position, you can then move to maintain it and still draw a charge. Given this apparent lower bar you'd expect way more charges to be called, yet there are just a few per game at all levels. I have no explanation for this other than officials just like to call blatant charges.
2. "Reaching in" and "Over the back" - Again, you hear fans yelling this all the time at games. These are not fouls in and of themselves. Rather, a foul is simply when you make enough contact regardless of the style in which you do it.
3, Traveling - You can carry the ball, bounce it over your head, stutter step, even fumble and run to recover it without being called for traveling. The most travel calls occur in HS when a kid who catches a pass steps first then dribbles. The ironic thing is that if you play a pickup game, you see everyone do this, yet all the accusations of traveling are of the aforementioned mythical variety.
- Jeff |
