The other day I encountered a tree that was growing into the nearby garage. It’s difficult to see from the picture, but the branch is actually growing around the gutter and is beginning to dent it. Not an ideal situation, and presumably it will only get worse.
Maybe I watched a little too much college basketball over the past month, but my first thought was to wonder if this is a blocking foul or a charge.
The garage clearly established its position, and was run into by the tree – so a charging foul on the tree?
But the tree is almost certainly older than the garage, and likely much older since it has a trunk diameter of four or more feet. So from the tree’s perspective, has the garage slid in at the last second and not really established position? Blocking on the garage?
We also should consider whether the garage established position in the restricted area (the semi-circle under the hoop on a basketball court), in this case too close to the trunk of the tree, which would mean it’s automatically a blocking foul on the garage.
I think the garage is clearly at fault here. And that it’s a good thing March Madness is over.