Sometimes 100% Is Not 100%

No matter how well you know the rules, how much experience you have, or how many people agree on something, there are times where you and a lot of other people are wrong. You need to keep this in mind. Being argumentative is good. Being stubborn and/or defensive is foolish.

4th quarter of a relatively important game, and red was taking the ball out after a made basket against a full-court press put on by white. Kid throws a long pass, to a players to jumped from the front court, caught the ball, and landed in back court. I as the C, straddling half-court. The T, blows a whistle, runs from the baseline with a weird mechanic, and after a second we figured out that he called over-and-back.

The gym went ballistic. The white coach went crazy. He screamed at me, and my answer was, "I don't know what he called. I think he called over-and-back." I then just got away. Moving down the sideline, the red coach says, "Gee, got a break there, huh?" After the game, it was not discussed. As soon as the T leaves, the L told me he couldn't believe that call. We both thought it was wrong. Both coaches thought it was wrong. Fans of the white team I work with thought it was wrong.

That summer, I was asked about it again. One of my friends said the call was right. We argued about it for about a month, on and off. I finally asked another friend who knows the rules front and back, who also said the call was correct. I then went to the rule book, and alas, the call was correct.

My mistake was, and a lot of people incorrectly agreed with this, is that since both feet and the ball had not been established in the front court yet, that I could not have an over-and-back violation. I still maintain that this makes common sense, but it also pointed out a hole in my knowledge of the rules, which is probably unacceptable after 12 years. Point is, we all want to get together and get calls right. There are times when the lone dissenter is 100% correct, even when there are a ton of people who disagree, even for what seem like valid reasons. Remember that you can be wrong on rare occasions, when you are 100% sure of something. Just be smart enough to acknowledge it.