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Originally Posted by Junker
First of all, I'm not at all an NBA fan anymore. I can't remember the last time I actually sat and watched an entire game. That being said, those officials are getting pretty beat up around here lately. I don't think any of us are in a position to judge what they do. The game they are asked to manage is entirely different than anything any of us sees. Most of us will go an entire season without seeing even 1 player that has the skills to play at that level. I don't feel that I have any concept of what advantage/disadvantage would be on a floor when you have 10 players of that caliber. In addition, the league is a professional league and their bottom line is putting butts into seats. They want their game to be entertaining to the general public and officials are told to call the game in that fashion. What I know about NBA officials is that they are incredible at getting in position, and they probably do more with game management in a night than we do in a week. They work a ton of games and work harder than any of us on watching tape in hotel rooms and on planes. Get off their case.
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I couldn't agree with you more, Junker. Whether or not I like to watch the NBA (which I don't), I would argue that the officials who work on this level must be among the best around for the reasons you mentioned and then some.
Here's what I don't understand: certainly, officials of every sport miss calls from time to time. Granted I don't go much to the baseball, football or other sections of the forum but once in a great while...but generally I don't read about officials from other sports being so critically judgmental of their collegiate or pro breathren. I will never work above the HS level, but have tremendous respect for those of you that do. Moreover, I accept a certain amount of criticism (constructive or otherwise) from fellow officials, coaches, players and fans recognizing that it goes with the territory...but for whatever reason it seems to me that basketball officials are more likely to "pile on" those who have made it to the NBA or even D-1.
Hey, the folks that work at these levels make mistakes too and are under a far larger microscope than most of us will ever experience...it seems to me the least they could expect is some support from those of us who have a had a taste, however small, of what it is they go through on the floor.