So I guess Violet Palmer got ditched again and is not officiating in the playoffs.

I am a male official but everytime I see her officiate, I feel nothing but a sense of admiration for her. I'm sure the things she had to go through to be where she is now is a testament to how strong this woman is. She may make a few bad calls from time to time (who doesn't?) but she couldn't be where she is now if she isn't a darn good official.

I was reading up on some of the NBA refs profiles in their website (www.thenbra.org) and I saw that some male refs with as much experience as she has are getting playoff assignments for the first time this year. I believe she's been in the NBA for 10 years now.

Any ideas why she's not reffing the playoffs?

I don't really know since I watch no more then 2-3 NBA games a year...but could it be that she's not as good as those that are????

She'd have the be that worst ref in the NBA by a large margin to ever be fired. She can stick around for as long as she wants just by doing an OK job.

Actually this was her 8th year.

Maybe she does not rank very high. I think she is a good official. She is not the only one that has been working for some time and not working playoffs. She will get her time.

Peace

It might very well be because she's a woman. It might very well be some other reason. It could easily be some combination of several reasons. She's a great ref and she's breaking ground. Whether the NBA today is sexist or not, sooner or later they'll have to give a woman ref some play-off games. In the meantime, who cares? There are a lot more important sexism battles to fight.

Violet necessarily isn't working the playoffs this year because she's less qualified.

To my knowledge, with the addition of an alternate official at every location this year, the "starting" crews are all comprised of playoff veterans. Even the officials who worked the first round last year (without naming names) for the first time last year haven't been given games this year.

Violet may be an alternate this year, but unless someone goes down at the game she's at we'll never know.

How is Violet less qualified?

I didn't say she was...just stated that she's not being excluded from the playoffs because of a lack of ability.

If the NBA evaluators thought she was good enough, she'd have been named to the playoff roster. Obviously they didn't. In their eyes she was less qualified than the people that they actually picked to do playoff games. And they're the ones that count-- not us.

Oh?

Why exactly is she being excluded then?

The bottom line is that the NBA thought that she wasn't good enough to make the playoff roster. End of story.

I don't really know since I watch no more then 2-3 NBA games a year...but could it be that she's not as good as those that are???? [/B][/QUOTE]

Where in the world do you find the time? I don't even get to watch that many and even if I had the time I'd still probably find something else to do.

I think Violet has some weight issues that the league wants taken care of. Same with Blane Reichelt...for a guy who is in his 24th season, he's only done 16 playoff games.

...or maybe he should just find some pants that don't require a belt. ;)