May
3
It All Makes Sense!
Filed Under Chicago Bulls
Wow! It’s amazing how people can turn nothing into something nowadays. In one of the stupider things that I’ve seen in a long time, The New York Times reported in today’s paper a study claiming racism in NBA calls. Specifically, a University of Pennsylvania assistant professor and Cornell graduate student recently conducted a study of NBA foul calls over a 13-season span through 2004. According to the study,
“white officials called fouls at a greater rate against black players than against white players”
and
“black officials called fouls more frequently against white players than black, but noted that the tendency was not as pronounced.”
The NBA criticized the study, saying that the researchers used information from publicly available box scores showing only the referees’ name and containing no information about which official made the call.
When initially hearing of this study, I wondered whether it examined the ratio of white to black players during this period. And the same goes for the ratio of white to black officials. I also wondered how the study defines racism. Is it based on one’s hate for another? Or is it systematic racism, where one race is given the short end of the stick not overtly but more on circumstances and percentages (like the fact that there are more African American players in the game than whites, and off my head based on watching NBA games over the years, probably more white officials than black officials). The actual New York Times story on the study provides more pertinent information relevant to these questions than the condensed Associated Press story.
OK. I just checked out The National Basketball Referees Association Web site (send your letters of disgust concerning Joey Crawford here) and counted the number of white and black officials in the league. I roughly counted 33 white officials and 24 black officials.
Overall, this study is nothing special and a waste of time, and begs the question: aren’t there more important things in the world that could be investigated?
The sad answer in today’s world: hell no!
Here’s my opinion. NBA officiating isn’t predicated on race. It just leaves a lot to be desired, as does the quality of play in the league. The game is called as if the players are on the football field rather than on the basketball court. Flopping reigns supreme as does offensive players pushing off and throwing themselves into defenders when going to the hole. Well, at least NBA officials aren’t as half as bad as the zebras in the NCAA Tournament.
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