More access to referees for fans and media?

[Mark Padgett]

From the report:

• Beginning with this season's playoffs, make available any complaints the league receives about referees to the teams to avoid suspicions of bias.

What the heck does this mean? Are they going to set up an 800 number for fans to call to complain every time a call doesn't "go their way" and then send a record of all those calls to the teams? Then what? Have every team call back every complaining fan and say, for instance, "Yeah, you're right. He wasn't calling it both ways." This is just plain ridiculous.

• Provide more access to referees for fans and media.

Riiiiiight. Have officials hold "fan conferences" in the arenas after games to explain why "they didn't call it both ways".

Representatives of the fans already exist to ask these ridiculous questions. They're called "the media" and they seem to already have access.