If you have ever had a conversation with my dad about sports, you would realize two things if you brought up the Milwaukee Brewers, you are there for another hour talking and if the NBA were discussed he would give you two simple words: "Who Cares." He is one of those guys who once the lockout happened, he left the NBA game pretty much all together. Sure like any Milwaukee resident he cared about the Bucks playoff run this spring but it didn't really affect him when they bowed out. But one of the main reasons he left was due to the poor officiating that seems to take over games like we saw last night in Orlando's defeat of Boston.
Without a shout of a doubt, the Magic clearly beat the Celtics and sets up a very interesting Game 6 yet the officiating still needs to be looked at. The refs threw out 5 technical fouls and kicked Kendrick Perkins out of the game, which resulted in one game suspension originally. Thankfully, the NBA got it right and took away one of Perkins' technicals. Still, this doesn't excuse how the refs feel the need to be the stars of the game.
During this series, the Cleveland-Boston series, and Phoenix-Los Angeles series, I have found myself looking what else is on because there is no flow to the game. The refs feel the need to call every ticky-tack foul they see inside and really do not let the players play. The only game I can remember where you could call it a physical game was Game 1 of BOS-ORL other than that, it looks like an elementary school playground where the teachers will get pissed if little Johnny bumps into little Tommy leading to a timeout in the NBA's case a foul. I realize David Stern wants to get away from the mid-90s where it looked like a bar room brawl, but seriously can we find a happy medium?
Probably not, I think most refs are so set in their ways that you will get the same sort of effort. No one will drastically change the way they call a game therefore it's something we have to live with. Does it suck that only in the NBA does it feel like the league has its hands in the decision-making process? Yes, trust me I loved the 2000-2001 Milwaukee Bucks who got royally screwed against the Philadelphia 76ers because they wanted to showcase Allen Iverson vs. the Lakers, no one wanted Milwaukee. I know it sucks, but I think complaining about the refs gets us nowhere as writers or as people because the outcome is still the same minus Perkins' case. I know I want a happy medium, but I am satisfied to know I will never get it.
-Charlie
No comments:
Post a Comment