I used to be in a high school officials association where everything was by the book. Rules, mechanics, policies . . . everything literally by the book! Can you imagine?

True, things ran smoothly — they really did. But the way some of my partners used the rules and mechanics — by the book — were in the book. It's just that they are rarely used — and should be rarely used. Yet some of those guys showed very little common sense in their officiating. The result: tons of problems that could have been avoided.

You'll see just what Jeff means when you go inside.

BTW: Our Editor-in-Chief, who refereed a few thousand basketball games himself, stood up and cheered when he read Jeff's piece.

I had no clue who he was!

As the time out expired, I learned that my partner didn't either.

Evaluator's grade for us on dead ball officiating? A solid F!

And did!