Over the past week or so I have come to the conclusion that We are too hard on NBA refs.
Think about what these guys have to see... 3 refs vs 10 of some of the best athletes in the world. We get fooled by slight of hand when ONE person is doing something, now we want these refs to see everything 10 guys are doing at all times? They have to watch feet for traveling, the way someone is dribbling for violations, what people are doing without the ball from their feet to hands, who touched who and was it legal touch, etc.
We have trouble seeing things when we see REPLAY that has been slowed and played for us MANY times (and a lot of times pointed out to us what's going on), now you want the naked eye to be perfect... okay, not perfect but it seems like We expect these people to see things that even people who are actually playing can't.
You can't even compare it to other sports (like football) because they don't have to see everything like an NBA ref does... they have to see all the small details. Have you ever been to an NBA and actually seen how fast the action is out there? It's not like anything anywhere!
Sure they miss some calls that are obvious and they also allow things by the most notable guys but that happens in all sports.
I'm not saying these guys can't/haven't changed games for personal reasons, I'm just saying, if you really think about what these people have to SEE WITH THE NAKED EYE, I think we all expect too much.
Just think about the game, think about all that's happening out there at one time. Think about it without the aide of television angles and replays. Think about how much you see or miss if you have ever been courtside. These HUGE and super quick guys... those bodies in the way of action, guys who have spent their lives perfecting ways to skirt around the refs line of sight, they can move every part of their bodies at speeds that's hard to see on film much less normal speed. Sure these guys are better than We are at recognizing things out there but think about how easily the eyes are fooled with simple things. They may be better than us at it but they are still humans with the same sight we have.
I don't care what you guys do but I'm starting to look at things differently when it comes to refs. I'm going to try to stop taking all the wrong calls so hard... unless it's a blatant call. I'm going to force myself to think of the game differently when it come to calls made or not. I feel dumb for even getting so mad at a ref when I have to see something that had to be SLOWED down and isolated from MANY different angles to even see it, how did I expect them to see it. It's all a case of wanting them to have super sight, sight better than video at times!
I'm not telling you what to do but I'm asking you to think about all the action going on on court at all times and think about giving these guys more of a break or do w/e.