Dave Sez

[Dave]

Permanent link to Ban The Charge

Excerpt: Basketball is a great sport. It's fast, physical, graceful and beautiful. Many have compared a well-played game to jazz - the participants engaging in free-form improvisation while adhering to common, recurring themes and practiced set pieces. There is a growing...

[Hurb Sendek]

This is the dumbest idea I've heard in years.

[Dave]

[HoopRu]

I totally get your argument but have to disagree. Let's say a guy is 6'4" and weighs enough to go strong with it and is tall enough to post and jump over a defender. He wasn't always that tall naturally so growing up he learned to adjust to different types and sizes of players and defenders. He could always tell who had played alot versus who played just enough to adjust to the competition level in their 'hood versus the big dongs (borrowing from Crocodile Dundee, sorry)who bulled (insert "bullied" if you prefer) their way to the hoop threatening anyone who dared try to block their shot or even think of calling a foul. Seriously, who hasn't gotten into a fight in a pick-up game with one of these unskilled socially-challenged boys? Young players, ages 9-14, taking their first drives to the basket will learn what they can and cannot do according to the level of competition, coaching and their own natural attributes. Will they learn to fake, make the great last second pass, pull up and shoot, spin and lay it in reverse; or will they make contact and push scrum-like to the backboard forcing back their challenger for the elementary carom off the board? By taking away the charge, which is nothing more than an offensive foul, you will help to ease the post-traumatic stress we are all suffering from having watched Bobby Hurley, Dahntay (where am I now?) Jones and SHANE sliding on their bottoms with a clinched fist. But you will be handing the game to the less skilled and practiced player. The premium will be removed from the stutter-step and the cross-over and the game will grind to a lower gear as ... Julius Peppers, who left the Panthers to play for the Bobcats when he heard about the rule change, calls for the ball on the blocks and after shedding 3 defenders (all on the ground holding their bleeding noses)dunks thunderously; and runs back down court to lean on Greg Ostertag (now waiting for his turn to overwhelm post-up defenders) who changed his mind about retirement after reading about the rule change. A foul is a foul and we have to trust in the skill and experience of professional referees to call offensive fouls as well as to reward the canny prowess of shot-blockers (good ones can hit the ball without body-blocking the player, and if the offensive player is cheating by using one arm to fend off blockers he must be called for a foul.)