From: kompella@cs.ucsd.edu (Vachaspathi Kompella)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.basketball.pro
Subject: Re: Barkley's big mouth
Date: 22 Jan 93 08:55:43 GMT
Organization: CSE Dept., UC San Diego


In article <1993Jan20.153756.6497@uvmark.uucp>, davem@uvmark.uucp (Dave Meeks) writes:
|> In article <43762@sdcc12.ucsd.edu> kompella@cs.ucsd.edu (Vachaspathi Kompella) writes:
|> 
|> >One of the results of the Barkley jawing was a statement in very bad taste
|> >by the ref who said, "This will cost you some money."  But that is still a
|> >lot better than, say, an unwarranted technical foul, or a ticky-tack foul
|> >against Barkley.  After all, refs are humans, and if you goad a human long
|> >enough will he not bleed, and then will he not revenge?
|> 
|> Well, just as a note.  Barkley ran after him after the game.  So, the ref
|> could not give him a technical, or foul, or anything else.  The ref had no
|> business threatening Barkley with such a bogus display of power.  If he was
|> going to fine him, or have him brought to the league, or whatever... Fine..
|> He has the right to report a player to the league officials for action.  
|> But to act as if he were judge and jury, and that HE had the ultimate say that
|> Barkley was going to be fined is beyond his power, in my mind.  He has the
|> ultimate power ON THE COURT, off the court he should not interact with the 
|> players or presume to be in a position to threaten a player.  What happens 
|> next, Barkley and a ref meet up in a bar and Barkley says he sucks, so the
|> ref tells him "that's going to cost you some money"???
|> -- 
|> David T. Meeks            || "New shadows tugging at the corner of his eye
|> VMark Software, Inc.      ||  Jostling for attention as the sunlight flares
|> uvmark!davem@merk.com     ||  Through a curtains tear, shuffling its beams
|> davem%uvmark@merk.com     ||  As if in nervous anticipation of another day"

Again, drawing the unfair parallel with real courts, the real fear is in what
the judge will face out of court, not in court where he/she has the power.
You're right, the refs have no power off the court: that's where the NBA
authorities have to step in.

I agree that the NBA authorities have not done a stellar job in defending the
rights of players, but that is no reason not to protest in the appropriate
way.  Eventually, people will take notice.  To run after the ref and tell him
he did a lousy job is not appropriate, IMHO.  That sets a precedent for unruly
behavior.  Formal complaints don't set a bad precedent, and eventually do
result in procedural changes, or rule changes (e.g., the Trent Tucker business
last year).

You should try refereeing a match (I don't know if you have, but it's damn
tough).  If you watch a match closely, esp. with the benefit of a TV camera
close up on the action, you will see many things that the referees miss:

	a) 3 second violations
	b) fouling with the big guys shoving each other around for position
	c) stepping over the line when inbounding the ball
	d) traveling (just watch my favorite Laker, Sedale Threatt -- he
	   always takes a step before he starts his dribble, and this is
	   very common)
	e) coming in from out of bounds and receiving the ball (esp. when
	   cutting in under the basket)

Fouls are just about the hardest thing to catch.  I'd bet a major sum of
Monopoly money that referees guess about fouls a large percentage of the
time.  E.g., on reach-ins, on blocks, on post-ups, things they see through
their peripheral vision (very often they catch a retaliation/reaction to
a foul, and blame the wrong guy).

Anyway, with all that to watch for, they shouldn't have to take the crap
that players dish out for missed calls.  If you want the perfectly refereed
game, make a case for instant replay.  Otherwise, live with the bad calls.
Of course, there should be an evaluation of referees at some stage, and
possibly some should be tossed out for inconsistent/poor calls, if they
are consistently bad, or even if they are biased for or against any
player/team.

-Vach