Quote:
Originally posted by Mark Padgett
Quote:
Originally posted by BktBallRef
Sure there are biased officials.
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Name one.
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Tommy Smart.
Mark, I'm not saying that I know of professional officials who are biased. I don't personally know but 3 or 4 who work on a D1 or pro level and they're all men of integrity. But I have worked with officials who were biased against a player or team. You want an example, I'll give you one. Tommy Smart.
Last season, I was officiating an adult rec league, 3 mna. With under 20 seconds to go in a 2 point game, the team that was behind was trying to foul. But one of my partners, whom we'll call Mr. Social because he's always firting with the scorer, would not call the foul. The contact was very physical. One of the players who was fouling got pissed and started yelling at my partner. This continued for several minutes after the game was over. Mr. Social did nothing. I tried to calm the kid down but it was no use. However, if Mr. Social didn't have the balls to pop him, I certainly wasn't. Three days later, I have the same team and Mr. Social. This particular player arrives for the game just prior to halftime. He enters the game and we immediately have a play involving him. I'm C, opposite table, and the play is directly in front of me. My partner is T. As the play evolves, I whistle a foul on this player. A millisecond after my whistle, Mr. Social blows too. I take the call, report and head back, opposite table. The next time down the floor, we have a similiar play. Once again, Mr. Social whistles the foul, except there is no foul. He amkes the call and the half ends about a minute later. At the half, I tell him, "You're making us both look bad when you make a call like that. We need to stay in our areas." He replies, "Hell no! I'm gonna foul that SOB out for what he did the other night!" And he did.
Now, granted, all this guy officiates is rec ball. But he's still an official, who made calls against a player based on his feelings towards that player. So, don't tell me I had the misfortune of calling with the only biased pofficial on the planet. These types of guys are out there. Fortunately, most don't advance very far, but they do exist.