The shortened NBA season has reached its 2012 Playoffs. After the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers were both eliminated in the second round many Southern California fans have moved on to other forms of entertainment. I am a fan of basketball in general so I will definitely be watching the remainder of the playoffs this year. While watching so many games an avid fan like myself began to notice certain trends going on this year in the NBA. One major theme that came up was the referees being too heavily involved in the game. Fans watch the NBA for the players and their abilities, not to see the refs over officiate the contest. Specifically after watching the last Miami Heat and Boston Celtics game, where the referees called five technical fouls on the Celtics, I was pretty dissatisfied with what I saw. This game made me consider two things: NBA referees should let the players decide the outcome of the contest by not letting their
own emotions get involved in this very
emotionally-involved game. The second is the league office obviously has an agenda on how they want the games to be played. The league office often has referees watch video clips of plays they would like them to keep a close eye on and this sometimes leads to the refs over officiating and can affect the outcome of games. I am not going to go as far as saying that some of the results of games in the NBA are fixed but if the league continues this, the fun and exciting game of basketball will soon be so altered that the NBA will lose its most important aspect and foundation of the league itself, its fans.
A. Tarifi - KIN 577
As a fellow basketball official, I agree with the lack of quality officiating as seen in the NBA. However, I do understand the league's efforts to change the poor behavior that has become the culture among professional basketball players, like the trash-talking, hard fouls, complaining, etc. I think that there needs to be a cap on the amount of aggression and at times violence that these athletes are constantly exhibiting, and that is why we see refs "throwing" technicals at the seemingly harmless gestures. I agree with the intensified regulations especially in the playoffs because I think that the players get out of hand with the "hard fouls" and I don't think we should excuse their poor behavior to being competitive in trying to win or being too emotionally involved in the game. It's a horrible precedent to set for younger kids and even coaches and parents. I think the NBA is doing a good job in trying to improve positive behavior among these professional athletes.
ReplyDeleteEunice Park
KIN 577