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NFL Mock Draft 2009 Draft of 2009 Lacks Star Power NFL Draft 2009: Getting Started Super Bowl Well Worth Tuning In For
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| NBA | |
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Prospects On Center Stage NBA Preview 2008/09: Final Call
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The NBA Officials Of Today By Ron Jumper The days of traditional rules and regulations on the basketball court have evolved, just as much as the players have. The days of having to keep your hand on top of the ball and take only two steps are long gone. With that being said, the days of officials calling the games the same way night after night are long gone as well. Every official, in today's system, has a seperate impact on how the game will be officiated. Mark Cuban(you should read his full entry on blogmaverick.com) feels the playoff system should be operated differently. According to Mark, the league has around 33 referees officiating right now and Mark feels the league would benfit from using only the top 12 or so for the playoffs. He felt it would work because they would rarely have to call a game on back to back nights. The problem with NBA officiating is far deeper than just which ones call the game and whether or not they should have to call games on back to back nights. Referees, from Dick Bevetta to Joe Blow, try way too hard to have an impact on the game. There are too many times where a call is made to either set the tone for the game or make up for a missed call from earilier. Referees have the ability to impact a game at great lengths because of the way games are officiated. The generally loose nature of the way traveling, lane violations, over-the-backs, and palming(not to mention all the grabbing and pushing that goes on seemingly unnoticed) makes it easy for each referree to make his own distinct style of how he wants to call the game. That doesn't even go into the fact that marquee players get EVERY call. So with all of that said, the system is set up so that NBA officials have a lot of freedom to call the game to their own liking which makes it subject to criticism for those who don't feel the same way about a particular rule or situation. If the officials would get together and agree that they are all going to call the game the same way then it wouldn't be so bad a deal. Obviously, yes, officials will still miss calls but at least everyone would be be in agreement on what the right call should have been. I know there is a rule book that has all that, but honestly tell me they don't regularly take more than two steps or jump in the lane early on nearly every free throw. The NBA can't even agree on what constitutes being suspended and not being suspended. I am still in shock that Reggie Evans wasn't suspended for his grabbing of Chris Kaman's manhood. If Ron Artest had done that he would be out of the league, and then you turn right around and suspend someone known as a pretty good guy, Raja Bell, for a tough foul on Kobe Bryant, which I will admit was worthy of suspension but not more so than the action of Evans. I guess the league felt it was more important to protect Kobe Bryant than it was Chris Kaman. Can you imagine if Reggie Evans had done the same thing to Kobe Bryant? I doubt the situation would have been handled the same, which leads me back to my point in the first place. If you leave things open for their own interpretation then, amazingly, things will be interpreted differently. All people have different opinions or philosophies on how the game should be played so don't be surprised when different officials do things completely different. It's not the officials fault, for them it is no different than coaches with different systems. Think about it for a second, all coaches have the same basic principles(score points, play good defense, make free throws, rebound the basketball, and win a championship) but there are currently 30 different head coaches trying to do all those things 30 different ways. Just a thought... May 8, 2006 |
| NCAA Football | |
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Be Careful What You Wish For
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| NCAA Basketball | |
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Jumpology: My Bracket Jumpology: Scouting The Heavyweights Jumpology: Reviewing The Bracket
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