Friday, May 22, 1998
Referees need to be officiated for sloppy calls, overt
violence
COLUMN: Missed calls, unwarranted technicals plague basketball
games
Tonight is crunch time for a certain team wearing uniforms at
the Great Western Forum.
Yes, the L.A. Lakers need to win tonight to get back on track,
but it’s actually another team who need to look at the videotapes
and see what they’re doing wrong. The team which needs to reread
the rule books is the team of the NBA officials.
The Lakers have realized that officiating has hit an all-time
low.
"Hopefully we can get certain breaks, from certain people,
wearing certain shirts," said Shaqzilla.
This year’s playoffs have been marred by inconsistent calls, and
things aren’t improving. Game after game, officials end up deciding
the outcome. In game two, Eddie Jones, integral to the Lakers’
success, was limited from playing his aggressive type of ball by
ticky-tack fouls.
"You do get cautious," Jones would say, explaining why they were
playing soft and out of character.
The officials have the power to shift the momentum and to mold
the atmosphere. A good official makes the game appear as if they
are not actually there. But the refs have made it so the Lakers
cannot play their game – or Utah’s game either.
"You have to play the way (the Jazz) play – kick, scratch, be
dirty, hope the referees don’t make the calls … They get away
with a lot of cheap things," Nick Van Exel would say after game
two.
But the Lakers cannot play the way Utah does because the
officials watch the Lakers closely, as if they have been paid off
by the Jazz.
The Jazz, who are hands down the dirtiest team in the NBA,
continue to fly down the lanes with feet and knees flying. It makes
you wonder why an official would call a non-existent hand-checking
foul instead of penalizing Karl Malone for reenacting Enter the
Dragon.
Jeff Hornacek and John Stockton have flagrantly thrown their
elbows more times than the Lakers went to the foul line in game
two.
It’s about time for a change.
In the Eastern Conference Finals, the officiating has been
suspect at times, but not as wretched as in the West officials who
appeared to be coached by Jerry Sloan.
What created such a bad situation in the NBA, where the
officiating has become as problematic as Los Angeles Parking
Enforcement?
Three words come to mind: Internal Revenue Service.
A few years ago, the IRS began to investigate NBA officials for
not claiming some of their revenue. Several officials had
downgraded their plane tickets from business to regular class, then
pocketed the money. The IRS says that you have to claim such
revenue in your tax return, but some officials did not, thinking it
wouldn’t matter.
But after years of downgrading, the officials grossed thousands,
and the IRS was ready to make an example of the NBA officials to
other officials in other sports.Most of the cream of the crop in
the NBA were either forced to retire, or have been suspended until
the cases are settled.
Nothing was made of this occurrence, but these missing officials
are now hurting the NBA. The missing officials were the seniors who
could deal with the player’s egos and reffed without bias. Now when
star players complain about a missed call, they will get a call on
the next trip down, even if there was no foul.
The old officials loved the pure game and would not take the
berating which occurs today. If Karl Malone kept complaining to the
officials in the past, he would be given a technical. Now Malone
can practically jump in the official’s throat to protest a
call.
Fans do not pay money to watch the refs control the game. True
fans don’t care if a foul is called on Jordan, as long as there was
a foul, because it is part of the game.
The Jazz have created an angelic image around themselves, where
as the Lakers are seen as young and wild. The officials have
obviously bought into the angelic image, but what the refs have to
realize is that what make appear to be good might be the devil
reincarnated.
Hopefully, tonight, the officials will finally see the devil
wearing Jazz clothing.
E-mail Rocky at [email protected]