From: davem@uvmark.uucp (Dave Meeks)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.basketball.pro
Subject: Re: Boston Bias again (Re: Olympic hoops referees)
Date: 30 Jul 92 13:27:38 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Vmark Software, Inc.

In article <1992Jul29.153848.7129@cbnewsk.cb.att.com> lor@cbnewsk.cb.att.com (edward.lor) writes:
>In article <1992Jul29.142243.14722@random.ccs.northeastern.edu> gary@ccs.northeastern.edu (Gary Duhaney) writes:
>>In article <l7b7c5INN1gi@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM> ma@bluedevil.Eng.Sun.COM (Shing C. Ma) writes:
>>>The most refreshing thing to me about the Olympic basketball
>>>is the referees.  No more "protect the superstar" bullshit.
>>>NBA referees are a bunch of jokers giving preferential treatment
>  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>>to superstars and pissing on rookies.  IMHO, all players should
>  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>>be treated the same, superstars and rookies alike.  The excuse
>>>of not calling fouls on superstars because fans came to watch
>>>them play and not sit on the bench is ridiculous.  If a superstar
>>>cannot play without fouling then he deserve to ride the pine.
>>
>>I'm sure you would be stupid enough to pay $40 a game to see
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>Jordan/Bird/Magic and all the other superstars sitting on the bench
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>after the ref treated them like Rick Fox, or Stanley Robberts.
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>I'm sure you would shell out $1600+ a year to see the tenth and
>>12th men playing 20+ minutes a game, because the ref called some
>>petty calls on the stars.
>
>Hey, Gary and Shing, you get any evidence on this?  According to some dopes,
>such preferential treatments are only home court calls, i.e. Boston get no 
>more preferential treatment since all teams play the same # of home games.
>

Hmm...  "giving preferential treatment to superstars" or "Jordan/Bird/Magic
and all the other superstars" is the same as "Boston"????  Ed, where is the
relation here???  As I remember, no one argued that players get preferential
treatment, in fact, it was agreed upon.  In fact, according to the "poll" 
done, it seems that just about every team gets preferential treatment at home
to some degree or another.  No one has argued that the stars don't get 
preferential treatment, nor that the rookies get.. well.. rooked...

>In other words, the protection Jordan/Bird/Magic get is also available to all 
>other players at home ....

THe protection Jordan/Bird/Magic is available to other superstars at home.
Ever see Karl Malone play?  Note the difference between home and away and
the fouls called.  How about Clyde Drexler..  Or Isiah Thomas, or 
so on...   A player like Bird probably gets more calls than a player like
Mitch Richmond.  But Mitch Richmond probably gets more than Dee Brown, who
probably gets more than Steve Alford...
-- 
David T. Meeks                    ||" We are jigsaw pieces, aligned on the 
VMark Software, Inc.              ||  perimeter edge, 
uvmark!davem@merk.com             ||  interlocked through a missing piece"
davem%uvmark@merk.com             ||" ...This world is totally Fugazi"