RULES, MECHANICS, TECHNIQUES:

Basketball
A Tale of Two Halves: The Frontcourt and the Backcourt Easily Defined; Managing Barn Burners; Keep Your Presence by Standing Tall; Chalk Talk: Additional Technical Foul Mechanic

Baseball
Do You Have 'Stars' in Your Eyes? Don’t Let Reputations Color Your Calls; Bat Rules Work Hand in Glove With Others; The Hidden Ball Trick; Passing a Runner; Five Minutes With ... Darren Spagnardi

Softball
Eleven Ways to Shorten Your Games: You Can Complete a Slow-Pitch Contest in 45 Minutes; Mechanics: Thinking Outside the (Base) Lines; Chalk Talk: Umpires' Positions on Infield Fly; Five Minutes With ... Jim Craig

Soccer
In and Out of the Game: How to Deal Effectively With Substitutions; Calls and No-Calls; Tripping: Watch the Whole Play; Chalk Talk: Penalty Kick: Indicated by the Assistant Referee

Football
NCAA Targets Clipping, Leaping: Committee Wants Less of Both; Listening: The Most Underused Sense; Chalk Talk: Umpire's Positioning on a Punt; Picking Up a Flag

FEATURES:

Taking Out the Trash
Nothing gets tempers flaring in sports quite like taunting and trash talk. Whether a player physically looms over a fallen opponent, mutters a warning not to "bring that weak-ass play around here" or spikes a football on the Dallas star on national TV, taunting and trash talking have no place in sports.

Contact
We're not talking full-blown shoves and punches. It's all that other player contact — the bumps, brushes and blocks — that makes you stop and think about whether or not to call a foul.

Bible Readings
In a 40-year officiating stretch, Jon Bible has hit some mighty high peaks — seven College World Series assignments as a baseball umpire and three Big 12 championship game assignments as a football referee. And he's also skimmed some deep valleys — his firing from the NFL in 1996, being called a scab and losing friendships for working the 1984 AL Championship Series as a replacement umpire. It's been a wild ride, but Bible has few regrets.

Sports Officials Canada
After nearly 30 years of effort, Canada now has a national officiating organization, dedicated to the betterment of all Canadian sports officials. But the need to rely on federal funding, communicate everything in two languages and represent officials from 57 different sports creates some unique challenges.

COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS:

Publisher’s Memo
A Dressing Down

The Gag Rule
One of Eminence; Outraged Over Judge’s Ruling; It's Going Too Far; Too Much Talking Trash

The News
Referees Recorded in Locker Room; School, Association, State Act Quickly After Assault

Back to Basics
Survival of the Fittest

Getting It Right
Officials a Big Part of Big 33

Tools
Hydra-Alert Dehydration Watch; Smitty Lanyards; It's the Will, Not the Skill; NCAA Rulebooks Online

Profiles
Run for Your Life

Take Care
Calm Yourself Down and Relax

For the Record
NCAA basketball tournament officials; Major League Baseball roster

Classifieds
Camps/Clinics; Equipment/Apparel; Cyberspace; Nutritional Products; Leadership Resources; Computer Software; Miscellaneous

Last Call
Getting It in Gear