Surpsrise stick inspection

[LaxRef]

(although technically the ref is entitled to check a players equipment at any time, and then flag him if it was short. If I was your crew chief and you went and pulled some cowboy stunt like this without first talking to me, I would be pretty pissed off at you for making the entire crew look bad since the only time we ever check sticks is between 1st & 2nd and 3rd & 4th and if a head coach asks for an equipmet check. Any additional checks by the crew will certainly draw everyones attention as well as be highly scrutinized as to why we are doing something that has rarely if ever been seen in this area.

What about this situation: A1 scores 5 times during the game. After each goal, you see him pull a string on his crosse to tighten the pocket. This is legal; even if you ask him for the crosse after this point, you can't penalize, since you can only penalize if they adjust or jam after you request the stick. When you see A1 on the field after play has restarted, the pocket always looksv ery deep. Would you consider sneaking up behind A1 and doing a surprise inspection in this situation?

[Sonny]

(although technically the ref is entitled to check a players equipment at any time, and then flag him if it was short. If I was your crew chief and you went and pulled some cowboy stunt like this without first talking to me, I would be pretty pissed off at you for making the entire crew look bad since the only time we ever check sticks is between 1st & 2nd and 3rd & 4th and if a head coach asks for an equipmet check. Any additional checks by the crew will certainly draw everyones attention as well as be highly scrutinized as to why we are doing something that has rarely if ever been seen in this area.

What about this situation: A1 scores 5 times during the game. After each goal, you see him pull a string on his crosse to tighten the pocket. This is legal; even if you ask him for the crosse after this point, you can't penalize, since you can only penalize if they adjust or jam after you request the stick. When you see A1 on the field after play has restarted, the pocket always looksv ery deep. Would you consider sneaking up behind A1 and doing a surprise inspection in this situation?

IMHO, you are "looking" for trouble in that scenario. Let the other coach call for the stick check. "Sneaking up" on anyone or anything shouldn't be a part of a lacrosse officials vocabulary.

[byualum]

Sonny is dead on...seems like an official trying to become "part of the story".

[UofMLaxGoalie11]

I think it is a coaches prerogative to call for a stick check. He may know about it, but be waiting to call for a check until the time is right (his team is man up/down, late in 4th, etc.). If you take that play away from him, I think that would be intruding too far. I think the only time you should do that is if it is putting someone in danger (metal cleats being used improperly or something like that).

[Lax_Stats]

And, with all due respect, I doubt any of the officials are going to be looking at the player in question hard enough to notice that he keeps pulling on his strings after goals. However, if in fact you did see the string pulling going on, I might try and be proactive and talk to the player with his coach present and make them both aware of what I am observing and ask the coach to do a pretty through stick check and encourage him if his players stick is in fact illegal, to get it out of the game. If the stick stays in the game and the player scores again, the second the ball breaks the plane of the goal, I going to immediately ask the player for the stick before he can pull the strings again, and check the stick. Sorry boys, but if I suspect someone is using an illegal stick, I'm not going to just sit back and let him use it!!

[LaxRef]

IMHO, you are "looking" for trouble in that scenario. Let the other coach call for the stick check. "Sneaking up" on anyone or anything shouldn't be a part of a lacrosse officials vocabulary.

So, you don't think that an official should try to stop a fairly heinous act of cheating? I mean, the guy's practically waving a flag yelling, "I'm flouting the rules of the game, and I'm smarter than everyone here! You can't cactch me! Nyah nyah!"

[Lax_Stats]

Oh, I'll catch him alright!!! I don't have one good eye for nuthin ya know!!

The job of the official is to make sure players arent cheating not let them get away with it!

[grinderpete]

I really want to comment on this but, i cannot because there is no way to win this argument. Refs are supposed to be unnoticed and not part of the game; a move like this, that is out of the ordinary, will do nothing but aggravate both teams. If this happened against my opponent, i would be very upset. Just because I have the right to call for a stick check, doesn't make it right to call for one. I will never call for a stick check, not for any reason, ever.

[laxfan25]

If I was to hazard a guess, I think one of the things that LaxRef is getting at is that in years past, the referees were encouraged to do random stick checks. That may have even been before they had the mandatory 1st and 3rd quarter ones - which they likely instituted because no one did the random ones...
What still amazes me is the number of illegals found, even though we are probably testing less than 10% of the sticks on the field. In the early years, the predominant infraction was the stick being too short. I rarely if ever see that now - now it's always the head width and the ball sticking in the pocket. Of course back in the old days they were all SAMs and Laser Hi-Walls, which look like goalie sticks compared to some of the new ones!

[Lax_Stats]

I really want to comment on this but, i cannot because there is no way to win this argument. Refs are supposed to be unnoticed and not part of the game; a move like this, that is out of the ordinary, will do nothing but aggravate both teams. If this happened against my opponent, i would be very upset. Just because I have the right to call for a stick check, doesn't make it right to call for one. I will never call for a stick check, not for any reason, ever.

I'm not really sure how to respond to the attached posting. However, it seems to me that if you are the head coach of a team and you don't use the ability given to you by the NCAA rule book to question potential illegal equipment, you are disadvantaging your own team. As an opposing team head coach, i would tell my players to pinch their heads, string their sticks to withhold the ball, and use a short shaft, and then switch to a legal stick just before the end of the 1st and 3rd when we played against you just to make a point. Hmm something to think about perhaps??

Also, as a player on a team where the head coach never used his ability to call for a stick check thus letting my opponent have an unfair advantage by using an illegal crosse, I wouldn't be too happy about playing for that coach and probably wouldn't consider him a very bright coach.

[grinderpete]

I really want to comment on this but, i cannot because there is no way to win this argument. Refs are supposed to be unnoticed and not part of the game; a move like this, that is out of the ordinary, will do nothing but aggravate both teams. If this happened against my opponent, i would be very upset. Just because I have the right to call for a stick check, doesn't make it right to call for one. I will never call for a stick check, not for any reason, ever.

I'm not really sure how to respond to the attached posting. However, it seems to me that if you are the head coach of a team and you don't use the ability given to you by the NCAA rule book to question potential illegal equipment, you are disadvantaging your own team. As an opposing team head coach, i would tell my players to pinch their heads, string their sticks to withhold the ball, and use a short shaft, and then switch to a legal stick just before the end of the 1st and 3rd when we played against you just to make a point. Hmm something to think about perhaps??

Fine if that is the type of team you are. But i am still not going to call a stick check. 2 a game is enough. I have called a stick check before when I needed a timeout and didn't have one. I had them check the goalie's stick. Like i said, just because i have the right, doesn't mean it is right.

[Lax_Stats]

The rule book says it is right tho!

However, you are perfectly within your rights to allow your opponents to play against you and your team using illegal equipment.

I'm curious, is this a moral issue?

[grinderpete]

Wrong right

[grinderpete]

Yes, totally a moral issue

[Lax_Stats]

Yes, totally a moral issue

I understand the morals of the LDS seem to be quite strict. Heck, I even had the captains from a team from Utah once ask me if I could be sure and ask the players from the opposing team not to swear during the game because of their morals. But in this case, it just doesn't make sense to me. You are entitled to ask for an equipment check. It is your right to do so. It is simply part of the game of lacrosse.