Every spring the NBA fights an ugly perception that its referees favor large market teams — the Lakers, Celtics, Heat — and the game’s icons like LeBron, Durant, Kobe.
There’s an inherent feeling before small market team X takes the floor against the purple and gold in the playoffs that it’s only for kicks. Ultimately, commissioner David Stern, it’s assumed, has already deemed what the league’s preferred NBA Finals’ matchup.
This perception is constant, immersed, damaging and looms over every blown whistle, result, call or no call in the NBA’s postseason.
LeBron’s non-call after he bumped Kevin Durant in game two of the Finals was not interpreted as a referee swallowing his whistle, letting the players decide the outcome in the game’s defining play. There was an instant outcry among fans, questioning the league’s integrity.
Unlike the NBA, the NFL didn’t have a referee problem. Until this year.
Now after Peyton Manning — you know, the guy who has as many MVP awards as neck surgeries, four — throws three interceptions in what was a debacle of a first quarter for the Broncos, the discussion about the game is not focused on his horrendous start, the subsequent Denver comeback attempt or Atlanta’s 2-0 record.
No, instead we’re talking about the guys in black and white striped shirts — the replacement referees.
Why? Because if Manning’s opening quarter was abysmal than the referee’s was catastrophic.
Football has become America’s most popular game in part because it’s easily digestible on TV.
Give America a comfy couch, something unhealthy to stuff in our gullet, a flat-screen with HD and we’re a content bunch.
But as the replacements bumbled through Monday night — and really, the first two weeks of the season — I was tempted to watch Guy Fieri add another couple points to his cholesterol eating his way through another diner.
Was I the only one who considered breaking my football addiction for a night? Was I alone in my exasperation watching a bunch of part-time replacements try and figure out what comes after second down?
Coaches and fans yell at referees every game. But never before have I seen the faces of John Fox, Ken Whisenhunt or Andy Reid with exasperated looks that convey anger, frustration and pity.
Baltimore quarterback Joe Flacco went as far to say that replacement refs are “affecting the integrity of the game,” following his team’s razor thin 24-23 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Comments from a sore loser, or is Flacco simply saying what we can all see clearly with our own eyes?
The NFL owners and its commissioner, Roger Goodell, run on the principles of holding the game’s standards to the highest degree. But the lockout has forced a bunch of guys to step off the street to call the world’s most complicated sport.
A league, which revenues have soared past the $9 billion mark, has not been able to come to terms with refs who are seeking benefits they put at $16.5 million over the next five years of a new contract.
Does this math add up for anyone? The country is in the middle of an election, with sides divided between the left and right.
In this situation, however, I think we can all agree. It’s time to replace the replacements.
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