Before complaining about NBA officiating

[Jimgolf]

Now this may seem like spam, but I have no interest in this other than enjoying the debates about certain calls. The NBA channel runs a series called "Making the Call with Ronnie Nunn", first run on Tuesday nights and then repeated a couple of times during the week.

This show has several enlightening segments, including "Officiating 101", which tries to educate the broadcasters about the rules by reviewing game tapes where the officials have been criticized about a call, "You Make the Call", where the hosts are asked to make a call on a series of plays, and a mail segment where viewers invariably ask about controversial calls. The thing I like best about this show is that Ronnie Nunn is not afraid to show where his officials have made mistakes and explain why a call was made in error.

My point is that NBA fans who think their team or favorite player has been jobbed by the officials would benefit a lot by viewing this show before mentioning how a certain official cost them a game. The segments this year about marginal contact and technical fouls for "disrespecting the game" have made watching NBA games more enjoyable for me, as have the numerous slow motion, multi-angle replays of controversial calls. The one thing I've learned is that the NBA officiating crew is dedicated to getting the calls right, and they work hard at getting the newer officials to understand how they want the games to be called. They are under a more tightly focused microscope of their job performance than almost any of us, and do a great job nonetheless.

I know I've posted about this show before, but they have recently hit a stride on this show that makes it enjoyable even for those with no officiating experience.