Refs and Fouls

[Theresa Lee <tjoyce@mit.edu>]

I was watching Inside the NBA on TNT last night and an interesting thing
came up. Hill was talking about how the refs sometimes will call a foul on
a player, but then switch the foul to "a lesser player" to avoid a star
fouling out of the game. the refs will then come tell the opposing coach
what they did.

It seemed an uncomfortable moment when this was revealed. In fact, Hill
mentioned that it happened to him in a game involving Magic Johnson. It's
sometimes blatant, but he stated that all NBA teams know it's done and
accept it.

So the inevitable question arose: "How do you think that Joe Sixpack will
react to this?"
To this Hill replied, "well I don't know about Joe Sixpack, but if the
average NBA fans watches enough games, they probably would not be shocked
at this."

It shocked me, but it doesn't surprise me. It shocks me that this came out
the way that it did, but Hill is right when he says that most of us notice
it. Actually I notice the phantom phouls (not real fouls) given to Jordan
if the ball doesn't fall.

The refs are a part of the NBA-entertainment. It's like seeing the "man
behind the curtain" in Oz. A little of the shine has worn off.

tjl