The Refs Aren’t Watching


I watched the games with Mark Cuban last night; excuse this rant.

Foul calls shouldn’t be reactionary. An official is supposed to call what they see. If they didn’t see anything at all, there shouldn’t be a whistle. Jameer Nelson should not be called because Chauncey Billups goes in to the splits. The ref should make the call on why Billups hit the floor, not the end result. Dwight Howard should not get rung up because Rasheed Wallace takes an out of control shot. What goes through the official’s mind? ‘Sheed was off balance when he released it, therefore, someone must of hit him? No. Wrong. The official didn’t see a bump ’cause there wasn’t one. Hedo Turkoglu shouldn’t get called for the foul when Rodney Stuckey slips out of bounds with the ball. If Stuckey didn’t cross the line, the whistle wouldn’t have blown. Where’s the consistency? (Whoa, I swear I’m not rooting for the Magic.)

It just knocks me off my couch when I see something called only because the fouled player acts out of the ordinary. In a game of runs and momentum swings, every whistle is huge. I’ve put on some baseball umpiring gear in my day; I know what these stripes feel like. They have to have ignorance towards the end result and how the players are reacting and just focus on the actual event.

Players acting this way will never change. Is it because these referees have little experience actually playing the game? I don’t even know if that’s the case, but it sure seems that way. Maybe Cubes was on to something when he pointed out the little talked about international rule changes. This issue always seems to come about when the stakes are raised in the postseason. Just ask my neighbors.

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By Tas Melas at 11:25 am on 05.08.2008 — Tags: Referees, Playoffs

Comments

11 Responses to “The Refs Aren’t Watching”

  1. Gourmet Spud at 11:50 am on 05.08.2008

    P.S. That oughta hold the little S.O.B.s.

  2. Dave at 11:52 am on 05.08.2008

    Tas I totally agree. There is nothing on earth more frustrating and inconsistent then NBA officiating. I remember vowing to never watch the NBA again a couple years ago when the Trailblazers got fucked over against the Lakers. Then it was the Kings, then the Suns…you get the point. I hate the preferential treatment that stars and favored teams get. I hate the anticipation of contact being called a foul rather than actually seeing a foul- too quick on the whistle.

    I would love to see some consistency. Set the tone early, let the players know what is a foul and what isn’t. Allow some contact, it’s the playoffs, but be be consistent with it ffs.

    Don’t reward players for acting and flopping either, that’s becoming a serious problem in the game and I’d hate to see the NBA become European Soccer in that regard

  3. Javier I. España at 12:39 pm on 05.08.2008

    Man, they got me thinking that Orlando going to the next round isn’t that much of a deal for them…

    So what happens? Bad calls against us all the time, away or at home…

    :S

    I’ll send a mail about this…

    Javier

  4. Papa Chango at 12:56 pm on 05.08.2008

    I see tons of euro and south american games… the refs arent any better in national leagues.

    Ask Darko how he feels about the quality of italian refs.

    I do agree that referees in most sports have little experience playing at high levels (hockey and baseball probably have higher numbers od ex players than NBA) but refereeing is a time commitment just like coaching or playing.
    Rarely does someone go into refereering later in life.

  5. Michael at 1:28 pm on 05.08.2008

    I agree with the general point about poor NBA officiating, but what makes you think the refs didn’t see those fouls? Don’t remember Sheed’s shot, but Hedo did knock Stuckey out of bounds and Jameer Nelson did bring down Billups when his foot got caught around Chauncey’s foot. On the TNT broadcast they showed replays of both incidents and there was no question that the fouls occurred. There was inconsistent officiating last night, but those aren’t good examples.

  6. David Stern at 4:41 pm on 05.08.2008

    Ok, Tas… you are going to have to stop smoking crack with that Cuban guy when you are watching NBA games.

    Jameer Nelson CLEARLY tripped Billups by hooking his foot with his own as he fell and then slid across the floor… Nelso had his foot turned inward (toward his own other foot) in a manner that pretty much looked intentional in replays from several angles.

    I’ll give you that the Hedo/Stuckey out of bounds call was a more questionable one… but then again, you have to remember that you’re a bit biased due to your man-love for Turkeyglue.

    I don’t know about the call involving Sheed’s shot as I’m not sure which play you are referring to (Sheed had an off night and launched several bad shots).

  7. Sari at 7:36 pm on 05.08.2008

    At least it’s refreshing to see Bad Bad calls that don’t feature Lebron or Dwane Wade, you gotta give em that

  8. Sari at 7:40 pm on 05.08.2008

    PS. SKeets, Tas, how can you deny me of a birthday podcast? sigh

  9. Will at 7:41 pm on 05.08.2008

    Dude, reffing is just fucking hard. You should try it. It’s ridiculously difficult to do at any level, much less dealing with pissed off black millionaires who tower over your cracker-ass. I couldn’t do it.

    As I write, Boston fans are up in arms as Lebro falls out of bounds and a foul is called. Boston fans need to settle down.

    I’d love to go to some coke parties with Tas and Cuban.

  10. i hate andrew bogut even though i'm australian and have the same first name at 7:52 pm on 05.08.2008

    i don’t think anyone gets into refereeing without playing first (i certainly didn’t, and everyone i reffed with for 6 years at various levels also played).

    i think part of the problem is that the refs get too comfortable in their job, and in their relationships with players, to be objective. umpiring the same guys many times a year for 10 years - thats when the favouritism and superstar preferential treatment kicks in. the nba should maybe clear shop regularly, at least of guys who are obviously not doing the job well. as henry abbott has advocated, there needs to be more transparency in the assessment process of refs.

    i also think basketball has more of a subjective nature when it comes to officiating. if things were called properly, most games wouldn’t have more than a few seconds of play before something was called. you can’t call everything, and you’ve got to make a decision in less than half a second, and a flop or anguished sound from a player can unfortunately sway you when maybe you weren’t thinking it was a foul.

    thats not to defend the zebras. for the top league in the world, some of the refereeing is abysmal.

    break up the boys club, make assessment transparent, and fire/demote/retrain refs who perform badly over the course of 1 season.

  11. Bilal at 7:56 pm on 05.08.2008

    Damn Tas is getting ripped.

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