Blowing the Game

Get off your knees ref you're blowing the game!

This is a very common chirp at any sporting event and one that is usually yelled by the drunkest person at the stadium/arena.  Not only is it hilarious, due to the sexual innuendo, but 99% of the time it is true and 100% of the time it gets a laugh from the surrounding fans.

I have never really watched a game in which my favorite team was hurt by terrible reffing.  I mean I have watched umpires make shitty calls behind the plate but I can't remember ever letting it bother me too much.  Tonight however I am making an exception and I am going to bitch about the refs.  Not in baseball but the senior citizens who pass themselves off NBA referees.

The NBA playoffs this year have been ruined by the god awful officiating.  I just finished watching game 3 of the Magic vs Cavs series and it was painful.  The teams combined to shoot 86 free throws and about 80% of them were in the worst calls I have ever seen.

For instance the play in which Dwight Howard fouled out was an amazing block from behind on LeBron.  LeBron went up for a 3pointer and Howard came out of nowhere and got ALL BALL and yet he was whistled.  The refs then went over to the monitor to see if LeBron was behind the 3point line and while they were over there HAD to have seen they blew the call.

It just seems like every time anyone drives the lane and there is a little contact the whistle comes out.  God forbid they use some discretion and maybe some judgement rather than just calling everything.  I mean it is the playoffs for gods sake LET THEM PLAY!

Before I used to think that only superstars got calls like LeBron, Kobe and Wade but so far this postseason everywhere is getting whistles.  In tonight's game there were 8 straight possessions in which free throws were awarded.

I haven't even mentioned all of the technicals fouls that have been called.  I have yet to watch a game where someone wasn't T'd up and it usually always happens the same way.  Mr. Magoo aka whichever idiot ref can blow his whistle first makes a terrible call and a player on the court questions it.  Then BAM technical foul.  Why isn't it ok for a player to react negatively for getting a foul called on them when they thought it was good defense? 

The reffing has been so bad that they have even admitted themselves that they suck.  Mavericks fans won't soon forget the non-call that cost them game 3 in their series against the Denver Nuggets.  After the game that refs admitted that they blew the call and that their should have been a foul called.  It is just sad when games are decided because of the referees.  It truly takes away from the fun of the game.

I think that the real problem is that the average age of NBA referees is about 88.  In all seriousness though here are the names and ages of some of the most prominent referees in the NBA all of whom are working the 2009 Playoffs.

Bennett Salvatore - 59

Joe Crawford - 57

Bob Delaney - 57

Ken Mauer - 54

Dan Crawford - 55

Dick Bavetta - 69

Steve Javie - 54

If these men worked in almost any other profession they would have been forced to retire by now.  Add to this the fact that to be a good NBA ref you need to have good eyesight and be able to run up and down the floor. These guys are all senior citizens!  Dick Bavetta is 69 years old!  I wouldn't trust him to drive me to the corner store let alone ref a game 7 of a NBA playoff series.

The fact that these men are refs is ridiculous and the NBA needs to do something about it.  The league already has a poor reputation what with the whole Tim Donaghy scandal and this years playoffs aren't helping.  The games are being decided because these old guys get all fidgety and blow their whistle when nothing has happened.  

Sorry if this came off as a huge rant but it needed to be said.  Men who were too old to fight in World War II should not be officiating professional sports.  Sorry to say it but it is true.

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