Re: Clipper game

["Cecil Wright" <cecil@hfx.eastlink.ca>]

----- Original Message -----
From: <Douglas342@aol.com>
To: <cecil@hfx.eastlink.ca>; <celtics@igtc.com>
Sent: Saturday, December 29, 2001 8:13 PM
Subject: Re: Clipper game


> In a message dated 12/29/01 6:58:01 PM Pacific Standard Time,
> cecil@hfx.eastlink.ca writes:
>
> > Basketball officials are no better nor worse but they are certainly not
> >  above being criticized for mistakes or in some cases...attitude.
>
> OK, I'll give you this one.  But I complain not about the mistakes, but
about
> the inevitable litany that they ONLY make mistakes by making calls against
> "us" and by NOT making calls against "them."  They screw both teams mroe
or
> less equally.  And Antoine, maybe you aren't getting the calls you should
> get.  Got a hint for you:  stop complaining every time you feel wronged.
I
> thought Kevin McHale was a great, great player, but I doubt theat he ever
got
> called for a foul he agreed he had committed.
>
But that is part of your original point wasn't it?  That the refs aren't
singling out our guys.  I think in Toine's case, he gets nailed cuz he has
given them grief in the past.  Heck, nobody is worse than Rasheed Wallace or
Rodman.  And Toine is showing that he is one of the most versatile players
in the league, yet gets zinged for rimhanging for a second.

I hate when I see Jordan and Malone and other veteran players get calls just
because they have been there a long time.  I appreciate their ability but I
do not feel their longevity has earned them unwarranted breaks such as
Jordan gets when he pushes off or Malone gets on the block-charge call for
example.  I've seen Reggie Miller shoot a jumper and pretend to draw contact
from a defender with his embellished yelp and crash to the floor.  He draws
a foul from some guy who is hustling, takes a potential fast break from the
opposition, and the official who makes that phantom call expects to be
respected for his performance?  Nope.

My motto as an official is all players are volcanoes waiting to erupt.  But
it ain't my job to incite the eruption.  I gotta cool em down.  Sometimes
you do it with laughter...sympathy...acknowledgement...agreement and
understanding.  And sometimes there's a need to become deaf for a moment or
two.

Unquestionably, there are some refs who will send a message of who is in
charge.  And that is when some of the arguable Ts are called.

Cecil