We've had discussions before about how the NBA is mostly entertainment and getting less and less like real basketball. One example is the totally illogical rule about letting teams inbound at mid-court in certain circumstances, etc.

I was rereading one of my favorite sports books, "Calling The Shots" by Earl Strom. Here's a quote:

>A couple of years ago, Atlanta was playing Chicago and an Atlanta player undercut Jordan as he went in for one of his flying dunks on a fast break. I called a flagrant foul. Some guy called out from the Atlanta bench, "Ah, you're just protecting the superstars."

"Damn right I am," I told him. "You eliminate these guys from the game and we're all out of work."

Dominique Wilkins looked at his teammate and said, "Amen."<

Earl was also a strong advocate of it not being the job of the official to "level the playing field". He felt that superior skill was supposed to be rewarded. This is a principle I try to utilize in my officiating.

Although the book is somewhat hard to get, I recommend it for everyone who is interested in basketball officiating. It's published by Simon & Schuster and has a forward by Dr. J. The parts about jumping to the ABA and why Darrell Garretson is a wuss are particularly interesting.

BTW - my definition of a wuss is a guy who gets out of the shower to take a leak. ;)

I really have no idea what Darrell does, and frankly, I don't want to know.

whew! if it is you or the book describing D.G. then this guy is the meanest wuss i have ever met. he invented @ss chewing and beat the tape.

Earl and Darrell DID NOT get along!

If you think Earl and Darrell didn't get along, you should read what Earl had to say about Richie Powers.

Actually, I liked Richie when he was working. He invented the "Richie Powers Travel" call. When there was a tough charge/block call, Richie would call a travel. This way, the defense got the ball, as they would on a charge, so they weren't really pissed, and the offense wouldn't get called for a foul but would only have to give up the ball, so they weren't really pissed either.

Brilliant.

Provincial me! I thought this was called the "Ed Haessler Travel!"

Juulie - as you know, I have worked with Ed (and his whole fam damily). All his calls are "travel", even when he does baseball. :D