NBA... what a joke

They dont care. Twitter was on fire last night and we wont even get a genuine response out of Stern. He will just patronize us with his usual lawyer speak. Roger Goodell gets boo'd at every public appearance and yet he pretends it doesnt exist. These guys are no different than our countries leaders in Washington when it comes to their ambivalence.

This isnt the first time their integrity has been called into question. They just keep plugging away because they know that when push comes to shove, the American public wont change the channel.

Ive never been in a NBA locker room.

But I spent plenty of time around the college game. And my high school coach was a former NBA player. I heard some great (and mostly depressing) stories.

Pretty much every profession is that way isnt it?

We are all just surprised when we find out pro sports are that way due to the fact that we all romanticize it so much. Im guilty of this more than anyone.

I have NOTHING against what the guys for the Heat did. Nothing at all. More power to them for taking their careers into their own hands. We all wish we could do the same.




It ebbs and flows? HAHA. Yeah right. I suppose when an NBA ref comes out and admits games are manipulated that he has no credibility? Whatever. They said the same about Jose Canseco but that guy was never caught in a lie either. NBA=WWF


Dont worry, you will get your wish, OKC and the Heat will be in the finals. It will make for the best ratings.

Ive never done officiating. I would like too at some point. In fact, I'd love to get into coaching at some point in my life. I love teaching the game. We did have a basketball rule book in the house growing up though, I mustve read the thing 3 or 4 times as a kid. Tried to memorize it so I'd win any argument on the court at recess.

The problem with officiating, and basketball in general, is that it has a subjective rule book. It really is the only sport I can think of where the rules are so differently interpreted from person to person despite it being in black and white in the rule book.

- The 5 second rule is never called.

- Traveling isnt traveling in the NBA. Hell, in high school I can remember after I complained to a ref about the other player traveling he told me "it was ok, the player only took 2 1/2 steps"...HAHAHA. How do you take a half step? 2.1 steps is traveling but good luck getting some refs to understand that.

- The hand is part of the ball but rarely to people know that.

- Over the back is the easiest call to see yet it is often the most over looked at all levels.

- Taking a charge does not require you to have your feet set, it only requires you to have "established position", of being between the ball and the basket... but again, most people dont know that. "Blocking" should be called when a defender is late in his lateral movement and physically impedes the offensive players progress. But if Im a defender and Im backpedalling it does not give the offensive player the right to still go straight thru me to the hoop. I have position. If I am moving backwards and I get bulled over, it is a charge or at the very least, a no-call.

- Chinning the ball is taught as the proper thing to do after a rebound, but these days, it will get you hit with a foul for throwing an elbow if you try and clear space (movement from the hips is the legal way to clear space, if the movement is from the shoulder joint then that is indeed throwing an elbow and deserved of a foul)

- Face guarding is an automatic technical foul but when was the last time you saw that enforced?

- It impossible to foul a shooter if your feet are set and your arms are straight up in the air, yet you will see fouls called often despite the defender doing exactly how they were fundamentally taught.

- No ref should ever call a foul on the defender if he is guarding a player shooting a fade-away jump shot. By not going straight up or towards the basket, the offensive player is relinquishing his "position".

- Furthermore, if the defender jumps AFTER the offensive player has already left their feet, the defender can legally jump straight up and regardless of any contact, should not be called for a foul.


I can go on and on for days about just how poorly the game is ref'd at most levels. These are all examples of plays that regularly get called wrong by refs due to mis-interpretation of the rules. My best friend growing up ended up being a college scout and assistant coach. When we'd watch games together live he'd always say the same thing you just did to me. He'd say that I need to ref a game. My response was always, that I understand a "missed call", that is human error and bound to happen. I have no issue what-so-ever with a "missed call". What I dont understand is not knowing the way the game is supposed to be played. There is no such thing as missing an over the back call. Its the easiest thing to see. The play isnt moving too fast. The rule is pretty simple.

The very fact that the NBA has two sets of rules, one for regular season and one for the playoffs, for how they officiate is ridiculous.

As for your personal experiences....

In Boise Idaho, I wouldnt expect high school games to be under that much outside influence. But Ive seen first hand how games can be manipulated at the AAU and inner city high school level due to outside pressure from sponsors, street gamblers, etc. Everything at the pro level is worth so much more money, we would be stupid to not think that with the stakes that high, the refs are under EXTREME pressures from the NBA office via the television networks. That doesnt even take into account the gambling world. Hundreds of millions at stake. They arent going to leave that up to chance.

All sports where money is involved are manipulated to varying degrees. If they cannot be manipulated, they dont get the major TV coverage. The networks have to be able to hedge their bets so to speak. The NBA is just the worst at hiding it. But they are far from the only ones doing it.

About the only sport I trust at the moment is UFC. And that is because I trust Dana White. But even Pride back in the day, a LOT of those fights were rigged.

This is the dirty side of sports that nobody wants to hear. It was crushing for me in high school to hear the stories my coach would tell me that he experienced. And as Ive gotten older and seen behind the scenes of a variety of professional sports, all the stuff he warned me of was unfortunately confirmed.

The "split second" argument was always the one my best friend would use. I just dont buy it.

In the heat of the moment as a player yourself, how long does it take you to know when you or one of your teammates was fouled? You know it instantly. So should the referee that is standing mere feet away.

With basketball, their are special cues a ref is supposed to look at to help him determine the call to make. It simplifies things for the ref and allows for split second decisions with the whistle. For instance:

A defender is guarding a player with the ball. The defender takes a swipe at the ball to make the steal. In the heat of the moment, only those two players really know if their was any illegal contact made by the defender.

As a referee, you are supposed to follow a simple rule. If the defender swipes in a upward motion, do not call the foul. If he swats down, call the foul. The reason? When swatting up at a offensive player that is chinning the ball in a 3-point stance, it is VERY difficult to make illegal contact. But when swatting down at the ball, there almost always is forearm to forearm contact.

That is (one of two specific reasons) why coaches teach defenders to always swat up. NEVER swat down at the ball.

That is a example of a very simple solution that makes it easy for a ref to make a instant call that is nearly always the right call in an otherwise very difficult situation. Their are many examples of these throughout the game. They are in place to take the subjective judgement out of the process. But in reality, the refs dont follow these guidelines. I know you football refs have similar cues such as when to call holding calls due to the fact that it is so hard to make the call.

Furthermore, many calls are simply not hard to make in a "split second". Such as face guarding or over the back. Refs are there to uphold the integrity of a game. Not be a part of the game. Leave the human error and bad judgement to the players on the field. Amateur refs are there to help reinforce what the coaches are teaching about the game. The best ref's Ive ever encountered were the guys that actually gave comments during the games to the players, sorta coaching them along. Telling them what they did wrong and what they should have done to not get called. Too often that isnt the case though. Coaches teach the game one way and refs call it another.





Why spend taxpayer money on pro sports? That's easy. When its not your money, people tend to be careless with it. That is one way to look at things. The other is to just assume that the politicians who approve these budgets for new stadiums are simply bribed. Isnt that what "campaign contributions" are anyways? Just a cute term for pay-off.

Think about what makes the most sense if you were a major network or the commissioner of a sport... you, myself, or anyone else would go with the money. And the smart business decision would be to manipulate things for the most profits. That is all the owners of the leagues care about, profits. They dont give a shit about the game. These arent just theories of mine, this is common sense.