Re: Refs 2

["James A. Hill" <jahill@leasingservice.com>]

I don't think there is any question that the officiating has been miserable
this year and not much worse then last year actually.  But I doubt that poor
calls are "directed" towards the boys in green.

Sure I think Walker gets a lot of non-calls, though not as many as the last
few years, but he used to try and show up the ref's and that will work
against you every time.  That will change with time.

I think that there is more to it then some evil agenda.  The players are
getting taller, faster and more athletic then ever before.  The ref's are
not.  Isn't this why they added a third official?  The ref's call what they
see (within the star program of course) and our guys are young and not as
adept at fouling without looking like they are fouling.

How many times did we see Bird hold the other guys jersey when he tried to
jump and not get called for it?  There is an art to clutching, blocking out
etc... that more experienced players have learned.

The same as taking a foul has an art to it.  If the contact looks to be
created by both players "at the same time" then there will be a no call
usually.  The key is to make it look like the other player initiated the
contact.  Sometimes when Pierce drives to the hoop it looks like the
defender and he "run into" each other rather then the defender blocking his
progress.  Now it should be a foul anyway but I think if its close to an
offensive foul also the ref's just don't call anything.

The ref's need to be replaced with taller, faster and perhaps ex-players so
they can keep up with what's on going on.  It would make sense to have the
new development league also be used for ref training with remedial
excursions by ref's with poor records.

What surprises me most is the lack acceptance by the league office that
there is even a problem with the current ref's.  If they refuse to
acknowledge the problem then nothing will be done.

<Jim


Rich D. opinioned:
Snip...
But the last 1 1/2 to 2 weeks have been absolutely terrible. Sure, no one
call changes the game, except maybe in Detroit, but the abundance of bad
calls, particularly in the 4th quarters, swings the momentum and eventually
the outcome of these games. It's like the refs get reminded between the 3rd
and 4th quarters, "Oh yeah, we're not supposed to let the boys in green
win."
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Jim Hill
mailto:jahill@leasingservice.com