YA GOTTA KNOW THE RULES

By Dan Miller
February 13, 2007

Take it from me,a little misunderstanding can lead to years of lagging behind.

As an example, I'll explain why I believe I never developed into an effective basketball player.(This, of course, is in addition to my snail-like slowness.... not shooting with any consistency.... poor rebounding.... and inability to jump even a foot off the ground.)

I can trace the real reason back to a simple misunderstanding.
When I was quite young (somewhere around the 8th grade), a P.E. teacher, while innocently explaining the rules of basketball, said, "now remember, you can't take more than 2 steps without dribbling the ball."
For more years than I care to admit, I took that literally.

I thought that for every two steps taken (even while moving the ball down the court), the ball must be dribbled at least one time.
The sheer coordination required for doing that boggled my mind.

Even though I saw other players shuffling their feet many times between dribbles, I assumed the refs were just missing the violation.

So I became a "standing still" specialist.....
I would hardly ever move with the ball, dribbling only as a last resort.

Only years later did I come to understand that as long as you're dribbling, you can take steps, or shuffle your feet, any way you want, as often as you want.
Such a simple little misunderstanding.

So my advice to coaches and gym teachers and playmates is this....
Explain the rules clearly and simply.
Don't deprive another potential basketball great -- such as myself -- of his or her shot at the Final Four.

And while I'm confessing my personal lapses in sports knowledge....
I played and watched a lot of baseball when I was a youngster....
And I never totally understood the "infield fly rule".

Still don't.

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