And there's the problem right there. The NBE doesn't enforce it's own rules. There's no consistency in play-calling that I can discern. What might be a travel now is a legal crab dribble 2 minutes later. And good luck to anyone that tries to figure out what a foul is.

I dunno...I watch plenty of NBA games and don't have any problems with the playcalling and discerning fouls and violations. Are there a couple of calls I wonder about? Sure, but that's true for me when watching and NCAA game or a high school game.

I actually thought the E stood for "embarrassment." To me, it does, as I don't consider it entertainment. Its an embarrassment in part because, contrary to what some on here think, the officiating is engineered toward a certain outcome. That may or may not include specific games, but the documentation is all over the place for the league orchestrating things like extending series, changing playoff crews to favor a style, etc. I don't blame the individual officials much, but I do question whether they can be true to their convictions when they call the way they are specifically told, ways that are often anti-competitive.

Sure, college supervisors tell me what to wear, when to be there, how to handle certain situations, but all guidance is with the understanding that the teams play the game and advantages within the rules are on them.

What's sad is that some of these so-called rules are filtering down to the lower levels.

Vince McMahon in his marketing genius turned the tables around and had a slogan, "Get The F Out".

Why do some people think the NFL means No Fun League??

Because of the league's recent crackdown and restrictions placed on end zone celebrations. That and the league makes it a point to fine player for minor uniform infractions. They take the uniform police seriously.

I am not a big fan of the NBA, but not because of how they enforce their rules, but because of the overall style of play. I also do not like that there are a bunch of players in the league that just cannot play.

But to say that they do not enforce their rules is laughable. For one I do not watch a lot of NBA games, but I see more traveling called that I can understand then I do in many NCAA games. And the NBA has rules that I have come to find out are very specific for certain parts of the game, like what happens in the post and how the defender is allowed to put their forearm on the ball handler.

The same criticism could be say in every league. The difference is that the NBA players are not like Payton Manning and did not grow up middle class, so everything that the NBA does gets a bad rap when the very same things take place in other leagues. I cannot even watch baseball half the time because they cannot enforce a simply rule to speed up the game and allow players to take all kinds of time which delays the game. And do not get me started on strike zones and other rules that almost never get enforced, but the NBA is the only one that does that? Give me a break. Again, not a personal fan anymore, but all pro leagues are about entertainment. And they all have rules that reflect that very thing or they would not survive.

Peace

...the SEC?

I don't get it.

John,

I can say, with FIRST hand knowledge that this statement about being "informed" of what to call is blatantly incorrect. Yes, there are supervisors and a director of officials and we have guidelines and rules (who doesn't), but I have never been told to call something that is not specifically covered in the rules. All levels are "informed" on how to referee. In college it's so sporadic, bc one supervisor has a pet peeve about this and another about that so you better call it the way they want if you want to maintain yourself in that perspective league.

"the officiating is engineered toward a certain outcome."-All sports officiating is geared toward a certain outcome...one team will win and one will lose

"That may or may not include specific games, but the documentation is all over the place for the league orchestrating things like extending series, changing playoff crews to favor a style, etc."-So your assertion "may or may not" have any credibility and is based on nothing more than your opinion? I assume you have the proof and the documentation of your claims? Changing crews? Were you involved in the decision making process in the crew assignments? Further, crew changes happen at all levels of the sport. I can tell you on numerous occasions while working even high school playoffs I was involved in many crew changes. Are we to assume there was some type of collusion or mailicious intent involved with that?

"they call the way they are specifically told, ways that are often anti-competitive."-Referees at all levls are specifically told how to adjudicate certain situations, that is why we have a rules interpreter; to put everyone on the same page and speaking with one voice. I can tell you that there is NOTHING handed down by the league which is not supported by a rule. I would go a step further and tell you that these "directives" are much more consistent at the professional level than at any other, simply because there are not multiple assignors providing their staffs with personal philosophies on how to referee certain plays.

I was mixing jokes.

Bs
 

I would love to see this documentation and so would many federal prosecutors. What you are suggesting is that the NBA league office is committing felonies and that the officials are complicit in these crimes.

The NBA rules, like all professional sports leagues, are somewhat driven by entertainment as that is how they generate revenue and survive as a league. That may mean allowing an extra half step for a spectacular finish or some other rule that a basketball "purist" may not like. If you don't like, watch, or support the league then that's every individual's peragotive.

But to suggest that the league is fixing outcomes and that the documentation is all over the place is a very strong statement, and a foolish one IMO. And in doing so you, whether you want to admit it or not, are also questioning the integrity of the officials which I find beyond distatsteful on an officiating message board. To me it is no different than the ignorant fan at any level of basketball who think that officials have some bias against their team or are the reason that they lose games.

+7

+1000

And that's where I disagree. The problem isn't the rules; it's the rules that aren't being uniformly enforced. Joe Benchwarmer might get called for taking that extra half-step, but if you think LeBron et al are gonna get called for the same violation, well, you just haven't been watching the NBE lately.