Dick Harmon Article

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700110045/Jimmer-Fredettes-latest-frontier-2-officiating.html?pg=1



I honestly usually avoid Harmon's articles, because even for this blue-goggled fan, he's over the top most of the time. He actually wrote this one more like an article than a column, which I think helps and makes it a descent read.

I am interested to see what others think about this article. I read it the other day (I should have posted the link then, but didn't). I'm curious if my reaction to the article was the same or different than others.

Harmon is a BYU cheerleader and we all appreciate that, but some of the best articles from the local media have been written by Dick over the years. When he focuses on being a reporter, he's a pretty good one. This is an example of Harmon being a reporter.

It bothers me that he used Boylen's postgame quotes. Boylen's original statements, taken in context, were mostly using "Jimmer is hard to officiate" as code for "Jimmer should have more charges called on him." For an article saying that Jimmer whines too much, you don't support it using a coach who whines too much.



Also, it doesn't bother me at all that the refs aren't calling the little hand-check type fouls with Jimmer. Yes they happen all the time, but frankly aren't a problem because Jimmer isn't going to end up with an injury because of them. I'm pretty sure those are not the no-calls that most people are complaining about.

Hawk, the most interesting part of this article is the information that comes from the unnamed official. "Deepwhistle" had some interesting insights, many of which I agree with.



Having officiated in the past, I used to talk to the other officials and decide how tight we were going to call the game, what we would let go for both sides, how much we'd let the coaches lean on us, etc. I used to make sure that I'd tell the captains of each team generally how it was going to be called. The thing is, if the game play gets more physical or emotional than anticipated, the officials need to get together and make changes in what they are going to let go, and they need to make the adjustment going both ways. Also, I'd probably call fouls a little tighter earlier in the game to keep the physical play to a minimum, but gradually let the game flow as it went on, but be balanced to both teams.



When playing, I like officials that would talk to the players, and say things like "watch the 3 seconds" or "get your hand off of him" or "watch the physical play gentleman" because it meant that he was giving us a chance to correct the situation before there was a game stoppage, so I tried to do the same thing when I officiated.



The one issue that the official raised that is concerning to me is that the officials are supposed to call all, as he termed them, "airborne", "head shot", or "neon-light" fouls. The concerning thing over the last two games is the officials haven't been calling the airborne or the head-shot fouls against Jimmer. Neon-light is too open to interpretation to really comment on.