RULES, MECHANICS, TECHNIQUES:

Basketball
Speed Trap: Avoiding the Pitfalls as You Climb the Ladder; Don’t Call It ‘Poaching’; Assessing Your Season; Get Off the Court; Chalk Talk: Three-Person: Pressure in Backcourt

Baseball
Charting a Collision Course: Rules Require Runners to Slide Legally; What’s Taking So Long?; Chalk Talk: Two Umpires, Bases Loaded, Fly Ball to Left-Center; Five Minutes With … David Wiley

Softball
ASA Allows Gloves or Mitts: Rule Changes Also Cover Foul Tips, Double First Base; FPC305 Catalyst Bat Added to ASA’s Non-Approved List; It’s Out of Here; Chalk Talk: Two-Umpire System: Bunts or Chops

Soccer
That’s Using Your Head: How to Judge Contact During High Balls; Cautionable Offenses; Chalk Talk: Respect the Required Distance; Timeout for Trivia: Five Minutes With ... Adolfo Reginato

Football
2006 NFHS Rule Changes: Illegal Touching In, ‘Fumblerooski’ Out; Manual Committee Makes Changes; Faceguarding: Sometimes It’s a Foul, Sometimes It’s Not; Five Minutes With … Brad Cashman

FEATURES:

Celebration Nation
Choreographed and pre-packaged for maximum viewing pleasure (or disgust), player celebrations in the pros are often lacking in exuberance and spontaneity. They’re designed to taunt, to force the spotlight on the individual and to make the highlight reel of the evening sportscast. It’s the new culture of sport and officials at all levels have to deal with it.

Replaying Charlie Range
For many, he’s known as the referee who brought instant replay to college basketball, but Charlie Range’s career was built on a level of confidence and control that for years made him the most-recognized referee in West Coast hoops. Now, after a season-long send-off in the Pac-10 last year, Range is putting a low-key capper on his career back in the conference he started with.

Let's Talk
When you’ve got to say something that won’t be well-received, few people look forward to face-to-face heart-to-hearts. Delivering unwelcome information is tough, but you must be direct or you won’t be effective.

You Are There: Death on the Diamond
Nobody was sure whether to go on with the game or to grieve. The umpires’ sense of duty and their sense of loss were both profound and profoundly conflicted. Seven pitches into Cincinnati’s 1996 baseball season, home plate umpire John McSherry collapsed as he walked wobbily from the playing field at Riverfront Stadium. Within an hour, he was pronounced dead.

COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS:

Publisher’s Memo
Judgment Paradigm Shift

The Gag Rule
Standing Up for Great Calls

The News
Sun Belt Conference Backs Officials; Referee, Arrested But Never Charged, Sues Sheriff’s Department

Back to Basics
Are You a 9 to 5 Official?

Getting It Right
Jackson Back Working After Losing Eye

Tools
NFHS Court and Field Diagram Guide; McDavid HexPad Protective Wear; The Art of Refereeing; Gerry Davis Umpire Pants

Law
You Can Be Sued for Slander

Profile
The Call of Silence

For the Record
Arena Football League roster

Classifieds
Camps/Clinics; Equipment/Apparel; Cyberspace; Leadership Resources; Miscellaneous; Speakers

Last Call
I Used to Be a Jerk