Swatting at the ball...

[TRexSmarts]

Lighthouse, maybe you can help me understand this?

A lot lately I have been hearing announcers talking about when a player swats down on the ball, that the ref is going to automatically call a foul compared to if the player swatted upward to knocked the ball loose. My question is what is the thinking of refs calling these "assume" calls that if the player swats down on the ball that he must had gotten the hands compared to swatting up? Or is this just a big assumption by the announcers? If it's true though, why do refs consider these differently?

TRexSmarts

[lighthouse]

Good question. TL, the officials call contact, and it makes no difference which way the hands are moving. As I think about it, it's probably more likely that contact would occur slapping down, and would be more visible. The refsare so focused on the play, that they never know who the foul is on until they make the call and blow their whistle. Unfortunately, announcers have caused officials headaches. And have caused fans and players to have a misunderstanding of the rules and how they are applied. Your example is a great example of this happening. Some color commentator needs to say something intelligent, and something like this comes to mind.

My opinion is this. It would be a much better game if the TV and Radio companies would have an official at the table who could answer questions, and explain rules correctly. The reason this doesn't happen is, they want to entertain, instead of informing.

[TRexSmarts]

Thanks Lighthouse.

TRexSmarts