[w_sohl]

I also spoke with Mr. Rush in July, and also with Ron Garretson and about seven other NBA officials that I could name. The star treatment does exist to some degree in the NBA, just not to the level that the general public likes to believe it exists. (It even exists some in college and high school)

However, what I ment by my post was that they are the best at determining Advantage/Disadvantage, thus knowing better than anyone when to blow the whistle and when not to. This is why it may seem like the game is a little dirtier than the college game. Players obviously are much stronger so they can play through quite a bit more contact. This is what I beleive seperates a NBA official from all of the other officials, because I sure know how hard it can be to bite my whistle sometimes.

Besides, as one NBA Official told me, "You just got to have IT, I don't know what IT is, but you need IT to work in the NBA."