On Canzano's suggestion, I found a place to email the NBA about my disappointment of their solution of the labor issues the referees are going through. If you are angry, this may not be a productive way to vent, but it seems it is the only official way to do so. "I have been a season ticket holder for 5 years with the Portland Trail Blazers, and in 5 years I have not once left a game before the final horn. Last night I was compelled to leave at half time because the game was running so long due to unnecessary whistle blowing by completely inept officiating. I was frustrated, irate, and felt cheated and ripped off. Based on the last 3 games with your stand in referees, at this point I am going to begin boycotting the NBA, will not be subscribing to NBATV, will not be buying any branded merchandise including the hundreds of dollars of apparel and video games I usually buy annually, and will be leaving my seats open so that you lose advertising revenue until the referee issue is addressed. Additionally I am sharing this email and my displeasure with my coworkers, local fan message boards, and my family in an attempt to reduce paying customers and thus your revenue as much as possible. With absolutely no visible oversight of the officials by the Association, exorbitant fines of coaches (Van Gundy) for speaking out about the officials you are forcing the teams to play with, and a complete lack of confidence that you are working to pay proper officials what they deserve has utterly ruined what has been a life long passion for my family and myself. Fix this now, lower my ticket prices for what is now a near unwatchable product, or lose me forever as a fan and revenue source. I have NEVER been this disappointed by a product I have spent this much money on loyally year after year, EVER. Angered Fan Lake Oswego, Oregon"
It is painfully evident how much officiating impacts that game. I wish it were not so... but basketball has to be one of the most impacted sports other than the ones that are entirely judged like skating etc... I didn't see the game last night but from what I heard on the radio there were some crazy calls.
I'm not overly concerned about it. Things will get better and eventually the regular star treatment refs will be back.
The last game had the two worst call I have ever seen. And I mean ever. The offensive foul on Brandon when some Denver player ran into him was beyond bad. It was "that just made my brain hurt" bad. Then the offensive foul they called to foul Oden out. Oden moved his shoulder like 6 inches. The reason K-Mart got contact was that he had both hands full of Oden's jersey. Shit like that can cost a team a game. These clowns need to go back to rec league.
I have to admit the refs have been really bad. When this first happened I didn't really give a shit because of all the ref bullshit the last few years with Donnaghy and stuff, and figured it was a nice opportunity to clean house. But I admit I was wrong. These refs are bad. Really bad. The main thing that made me realize how truly bad they were is the fact that if you think about it, if 11 guys from your team foul out (66 team fouls) you would not have enough players to suit up. In some of these games, they have come within 10 fouls or less of meeting that mark. I saw one the other day where some team got 57 called against them.
As soon as we all say we won't complain about reg ref's officiating Stern will bring them back. =( It is part of his master plan.
Every year people bitch about the regular refs. And they bitch a lot. And now we want them back? Fuck em. Fire em all. Train the new guys to do it right. It will take a while, but they will catch on. There is a learning curve in everything.
I agree w/this. Last year we got screwed by the "regulars" in the play-offs, don't you guys remember that?
I dont really think the refs have been that bad. They call too many fouls, but its preseason where there are always more fouls. The regular refs were terrible, so are these guys. No difference to me.
I was ok with pretty mucch every ref but Violet and Leon last year. Wojnarowski article here for those of you who can read him without getting violent. http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AoOXStuH2QVckOfrHoZZTgO8vLYF?slug=aw-replacementreferees101909&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
