Hockey officials rock. The league has jerked them around. Bettman neds to be kicked out of position.

Youare wrong here, the NBA officials are the most scrutinized officials in all of professional sports. They are held more accountable than any sport for their calls.

NBA officials ARE the most scrutinized, but it shows in public the least.

I think that if you have a major sport, with nationally televised games, calls at times need to be explained, and silence is not the best option. I guess that is why most observers feel that the scrutiny is not there, because the league will not own up to anything with respect to its officials. Players and coaches in that league are publicly accountable, refs should be as well. It goes with being on the big stage. and I think the lack of openess hurts the league in terms of credibility.

Oh, really, when was the last time you heard a AD, publicly trash the coach for a bad play call? When was the last time you heard a coach publicly trash a player for a bad shot? I can see it now; player takes a bad shot, makes the shot, then the coach gets on TV and trashes the player for taking the bad shot.
I have to disagree with you on this one, caoch.

I'm not following you here coach.

Occasionally the NBA issues statements that a particular play was handled properly, or a particular play was not handled properly and some action is to be taken. This is pretty much SOP for all leagues, pro or not.

What else could the league do for the sake of "openess"?

Agree with Barakat's analysis, don't agree with his lengthy discussion with the media. All that needed to be said to the media was "In retrospect, the call, while correct by rule, might possibly have been avoided."

We are held to the highest standard
 

First things first, I'm quite sure that the ACC Director of Officials is quite upset over losing the opportunity to use Rainmaker in his conference. That will teach him a lesson!!!!

Secondly, the tradgedy in all of this is: How did the rest of the game go??? He may have called a tremendous game, obviously he's a Top Flight ref; but all we'll hear about is this one call.

My guess is, however, that losing the ACC Final will be the end of his punishment and he'll be back in place next year.

Officiating is competitive, you have to choose which battles to fight. Do you want to be right, or do you want to work??? This was an unfortunate situation, I bet the manager felt horrible; but without having seen the game - the T probably wasn't necessary.

And here I thought that's what we were there to do - call the game correctly.

Now, that being said, we're also there to make sure the rules are enforced so that neither team gets an unfair advantage. Whether or not the "violation" itself was a big deal or not, I don't know - I didn't see it.

But I'm in agreement that if you think the guy should have let it slide, you tell him in private. You can't rip him publicly and then say "Oh, sure, he did his job correctly, but I didn't want it done correctly. I wanted us to look good on ESPN."

If I was the official involved, I'd probably keep my mouth shut. But I'd never, ever forget.

Plus, Larry Rose apologized afterwards and said if he had to do it over again, he would not have blown the whistle.

from the Raleigh News and Observer:

Rose regrets making call
By CHIP ALEXANDER AND LORENZO PEREZ, Staff Writers


ACC basketball official Larry Rose offered an apology Wednesday for the technical foul he called against N.C. State during the semifinals of the ACC Tournament in Greensboro.

Rose called a delay-of-game technical on the Wolfpack with 14:56 to play in the second half Saturday against Maryland. State led 53-43 when the call was made but later lost, 85-82. The technical came following a television timeout, when a Wolfpack manager left the bench to wipe up a wet spot on the court as play was about to resume.

Fred Barakat, the ACC's supervisor of basketball officials, had scheduled Rose to referee the ACC championship game Sunday. But then Barakat replaced Rose with another official.

Rose had called the ACC title game nine previous times, the most of any official currently working for the league.

Rose, contacted Wednesday, said he was "surprised" by Barakat's decision not to let him officiate the championship game.

Asked about the technical, Rose said, "Legally, by the [rule] book, I was right. But if I had to do it all over again, I would not do it.

"I'd like to apologize to the whole N.C. State community and the whole N.C. State organization."

The Pack sets up folding chairs on the court in front of the bench area during timeouts for its huddles. As the timeout is ending, team managers take the chairs back to the bench area and use towels to clean the floor.

NCSU had been warned by the officials in the Maryland game and urged to clear the court quicker after timeouts. The technical foul was called for "unauthorized personnel leaving the bench during a live-ball situation."

Maryland scored 10 straight points after the technical to tie the score at 53. State senior Marcus Melvin said the call gave the Terrapins, who had trimmed a 19-point halftime deficit to 10, "another burst of energy."

NCSU coach Herb Sendek said Wednesday that he had discussed the situation with Barakat but refused further comment.

"I'm not in the position to comment on any of the officiating," Sendek said. "I have had a conversation with Fred Barakat. That's all I'm at liberty to say."

Barakat, an associate ACC commissioner, told The Greensboro News & Record that Rose made a "horrible call" and needed to use more common sense. Barakat noted Rose had warned NCSU several times about delays after timeouts during the game but said Rose had a "short trigger."

Barakat, in an interview Wednesday, would not discuss whether Rose will face further discipline for the call.

"We made a decision -- [Rose] did not work the final game," Barakat said. "Whether we'll do more than that will be handled internally."

In other words "This time I won't hang my man out to dry in the media."

Hawk coach, when the NBA officials blow a rule they get out the check book. I think that will get anyone's attention. I don't know if other leagues do this. If this would have been a NBA official they would have turned the shirts inside out. The call was correct. He had warned them. I can understand him not making the call but why is the burden on him more so than the team? What if he made the same call in his first game this year? Do you know that the players are supposed to be seated also? I have seen two officials address this during a game, Donnee Gray and Dave Libbey. Maybe more have done it but I know plenty haven't.

On another subject, I noticed that there weren't many officials doing the second round that jump around, peak and lean. Most of the guys working the second round games on my TV looked very relaxed and worked for angles. Besides tugging on the pants once or twice or 100 times they just stand there and officiate.

I personally feel that Larry Rose took the blame for something the conference should have taken care of before. During media time-outs, teams should be ON THE BENCH, not on the floor. Perhaps Fred Barakat needs to have a meeting with conference officials before next year starts to let them know the rule can and will be enforced.

I have to disagree with you. EVERY play in EVERY game and EVERY call that EVERY NFL official makes is scrutinized. EVERY crew receives reviews of their calls from the league office EVERY week. They meet EVERY Friday night and Satuyrday to discuss the previous week's game, review the tape and the league reviews. Also, the head of NFL Officiating appears on NFL TV EVERY week and explains calls that were made the previous week, even so far as to say if a call was wrong. Finally, it's not unusual for 3-5 NFL officials to be released after EVERY season.

Easily the most scrutinized of all professiaonl officials.

It's no different than the NFHS rule that now allows teams to move out onto the floor for timeouts. What NC State did was not contrary to the rules. They are allowed to do that. They just have to have the floor cleared before the second horn.