There have been a couple of posts about whistle swallowing and in vs out
of conference officials.
 
we have a hoops team in our conference that plays what some older
easterners call "Riley Ball" where the team does a lot of hacking and
pushing.  This has two effects
1)  The officials get used to seeing that behavior during the course
    of the game.
2)  The coach has developed a talent of complaining about the un-evenness
    of the foul calls.
 
These two factors may help that team in a late game critical situation.
It is interesting to watch the level of fouls decrease even though the
play does not change.
 
One evening we had a new (to us) ref who wasn't buying the "Riley Ball"
plan and when the coach started griping, the ref told him, "Well, then,
adjust to how i'm calling the game" and that was that.
 
To some extent ice hockey is similar and it takes a while for the players
and officials to adjust, the players to how the game is being called, and
the officials to how the game is being played.
 
 
 
         charlie shub   University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
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