thats a struggling and sad call.

What about the "come in" signal the ref does to incoming subs. If done right it can resemble the cheesy "bring it" type hand-action you see before fights in martial arts movies.

It's far from struggling and sad - but it has to be done right.

Mine is the and one call, with the ref circling his arm around from back to front and Marv Albert yelling out "Yes....and it counts".

I believe that junior refs should become more animated with their hand and body signals. Now with Zero Tolerance, they can eject coaches in style and say "Your outta here punk!". If the refs can't be consistent at least they can be entertaining!

Great call Lionel, the ejection signal is used all too rarely here.

Here's another of my favourites: it's a loose ball, there's a mad scramble, bodies diving everywhere, the only person who can bring sanity to the situation is the ref, they run right over to the pile of bodies, peer in and come up with the two thumbs up for a jump ball, plus two or three short blasts on their whistle.

It's umpiring gold.

I like it when ref's don't blow there whistle and allow a game to be played.

So by that logic, the refs don't need to be there at all.

I love refs and as per other threads on here, they're an indispensable part of basketball and they do a good job here in SA.

This thread is designed to celebrate the ref and their killer hand signals: the "wave the basket off", the double "come in" when both teams have subs about to enter, and the graceful, languid "time out" followed by the point to the bench to which the TO has been assigned. They're all cool.

Satish, I see what you mean about blocking fouls.

It looks like another candidate for the starring role in the Bob Knight sitcom.

Another cool call: the foot violation (point to foot), followed by the shotclock reset (whir hand above head).

John Kerry calling a blocking foul.

Everyone loves calling blocking fouls:

Thanks Isaac, and Paul - no doubt you've had those blocking pics sitting on servers just waiting for a thread to use them in.

Darth Vader would make a good ref, IMO. I would think that a player's inclination to backchat would be diminished if your ref has a big-ass light sabre at his disposal.

Nah nah nah... your all right but there are too many to choose... the best are definatly in pressure situations and you can tell the refs that love their basket ball!

1. Offensive foul, waves away basket, post player hooking signal, back to offensive position

2. 1 second left to go, offensive team down by 2 with a player driving at the basket one on one, defender steps across, ball goes up, time expires, ref on baseline holds off slightly few short blows of the whistle, its a foul, block, 2 are good and one to come....:P i love it

3. The big wind up quater court down on one knee charge call that not even the fat guy in the back row would possibly argue just because it looks so good.

All referees should take acting classes, even tho we might not think they make the right call, at least entertain us, Hollywood style.

whatever became of Hollywood Mal Cooper. Is he still around? I dont recall him reffing last year.

Yes Hollywood was great at the calls...Geoff Weeks and his waving off the basket is pretty damn good too (especially at the end of a period or game...he looks like he is ready to take off).

My out of bounds call used to get pretty good....especially if in trail and a fast break caught me out, and I was stuck down the other end....for some reason I would almost get down on one knee pointing to the line to indicate out....I still dont know why I did it....caught up in the game I guess :)

I believe Hollywood retired after having his hip/s replaced

Ball carrying????

Great posts Satish Dogra

nothing beats the good old double foul. mostly because of the initial confusion as to what on earth is the ref calling. i know the double foul was a personal favourite of caroline gillespie.

as described by yogee Weeksy loves waving em off. but what really gets his juices going is if he can wave one off followed by a charging foul. if he makes this call from the baseline, he just about reaches the centreline by the time he's finished thrusting forward with the fist outstretched.

while im at it. where is michael butler as well?

Butler was sighted a few times at The Dome during the ABA season as a referee's evaluator.

Looked like he might have been a restaurant evaluator too :)

(Not that I can talk)

I personally feel stupid when using the signals for a ball returning to the back court violation (pass back) and the 24' violation.

The 24' violation signal, if done well could resemble the tea pot song and dance.

Mal was most recently seen in Geelong pickying up an ABA award on behalf of his son.

And Butler is a respected referee coach now.

Nathan,

Can you clear something up for me? Are refs required to signal two points everytime a normal basket is made in the run of play? Is it just one ref who does the signal, or both? And if it's just one, which one gets to do it?

Another cool call: sliding the fingers of one hand along the palm of the other two or three times in quick succession to indicate good hands from a defensive player.

In regards to who signals the two points successful to the bench every time a normal basket is made, it's the trails job to signal this as soon as the basket is made. Meaning only one ref makes the signal. Trail referee being the one that is at the three point line.

Trail is the official who's closer to the table and easier to see as there will be fewer players between them and the table.

And yes, there is a process that when every point is scored the court official signals it's value to the score table. (Foul shots, two point field goals as well as three point field goals.)

I don't know many refs that try and draw attention to themselves, that'd be suicidal.

That said, let us have a bit of fun too. We need to show a little bit of flare, especially in the National competitions where entertainment is a part of the game.

I think this thread was meant to be pro the ref, have a little fun with it. :)

Why, it's almost a paradox: we give the refs whistles, make them wear clothing that stands out from everyone else on court, give them a range of hand signals which act as a communication device for everyone watching the game...and then we don't want to notice them.

We want their unnoticeableness to be noticeable.

Another great call: three fingers extended, get that arm nice and low, and start swinging!

PS Spot on Nathan!

24 shot clock reset looks like the ref's are attempting to throw a lasoo and it doesn't quite work. round em up cowboys!

love the thread but just remember those hands signals become very very important when the only way the scoretable and referee's and player / ref's communicate.

does weight become an issue...hhhmmm

I don't wanna sound like a sex offender but there's nothing quite like a fit bird calling a blocking foul. Ahhhhhhhh. I know that point has been covered already but I wanted to add my support. I'd never thought about the double sub 'come in' like a 'bring it on, let's fight' but now you mention it you're spot on!! This has been a good thread, one of the best.

Double dribble would look pretty funny to someone watching a basketball game for the first time.

And I'll put in my vote for more referee theatrics. It would really add to the game and distract fans from bad calls if everyone was waiting to see how a ref could call three-seconds in the most amusing manner. As long as they don't spend more time planning the next call than watching the game, I'm all for it.

What about some novelty whistles too? Something like this:

i like the tech foul signal

What's better than the tech foul is the fake tech. Pressure situation, 50/50 decision scoretable asks for a timeout at the same time one team is screaming at the ref - the ref turns blows the whistle really loud starts raising the arms to signal TIMEOUT... The team breathes a sigh of relief and the ref has a smile.

It's a Wayne Maidment special!!

I know a ref who was being ridden by one of the coaches all game and really pissing him off, it got a bit heated and the coach was calling for a timeout but was actually signaling a tech (one of them is one finger vertically the other is the whole hand) so the ref asked him "you want one of these" signalling a tech, "yeah" replied the coach so the ref teched him.

Probably not very fair but quite funny when the ref is telling you the story later.

I think when a ref waves off a continuation, in a 'Soup Nazi' voice, they should say (while flailing their arms) :

"No basket for you - come back, 1 year!"

After watching the cricket last night I think there should be more Billy Bowden antics!!

I am a fan of Selling anything I can. If you watched the U18b1 final on Sunday, you would have seen some fine form. Billy Bowden is another method I have used this year (especially TIMEOUTS). A lot of people kept following me on my National Championships games in Townsville in July, looking for what I was going to sell next. I totally agree with it being a little bit of fun, and it does add a little bit of excitement to close games.

If you don't watch out for Nathan Durant, he doesnt only sell the call- he will sell you a side of fries and a coke, & convince you to Upsize as well :)

We have an old bloke reffing our local comp who signals blocks exactly as they are shown in the manual: hands on hips with elbows out.

Cracks us young ones up, so now we signal ours similarly, except only our thumbs & index fingers connect with the hips & our palms are parallel to the floor instead of on our hips.

We know we're cool.

We used to have a guy who threw his whole body into the crosscourt signal, very hip-hop the way he swayed side-to-side.

We also had a coach complain that the way one of our refs (1A) signals provokes the players! WTF, he's just selling his calls. So we rostered this ref and an even more animated 2A onto the team's grand final & told them to REALLY sell their calls...was funny as! They didn't ref biased or anything, they just looked really enthusiastic. Even had the spectators mimicking them.