Sports related

[quercus alba]

Every year we bitch and complain about how one sided the officiating is, especially in college basketball. I usually chalk it up to homerism and not pay much attention to it. Couple weeks ago, Kansas shot 35 free throws to West Virginia's 2. I can't stand bob thuggins and usually enjoy seeing his teams lose but as I watched the game, I could see how blatant the favoritism was. This weekend I watched Arkansas at Missouri. Missouri really needed this game to get to the big dance. I tried to be be objective but it sure seemed to be two different standards being called. Even the announcers noticed it. A Missouri win would definitely make the SEC look better and probably bring in extra revenue.

I bring all this up to ask the following question, are the refs instructed to favor certain teams or protect certain players by the powers that be or is it strictly coincidental (a hundred times a year)?

I personally think league prestige and money have far more influence than any sense of fair play.

[BarryBobPosthole]

NCAA refs in the sports I watch seem to all have issues. I think favoritism for teams has less to do with it than what a particular team of refs focus the most on. West Virginia gets away with far more physicality than almost any team I can think of. The issue is consistency in how officials might view their approach to basketball. Run into a team of officials that thinks they get away with murder likely has more to do with lopsided fouls than liking Kansas. NOBODY likes Kansas.
My main complaint with collegiate basketball refs is they call the second halves totally different than they do the first halves. WTF? Happens all the time.
In football, college refs get caught up in the games. If one team happens to make a comeback, its like they’ll be allowed to hold on every play, run pick plays like they’re legal, and the refs protect their QBs more. Its like they want to be involved in a huge comeback game amd do what they can to let it happen.
Mostly, I hate it when refs become part of the game. And the sport with the best officials? MLB of course. Baseball rules make it clear that human judgement is part of the game and if you want to win, you’ll understand the biases of the umps and use it to your advantage. Thats a part of the game.

BKB

[quercus alba]

I watched Xavier play awhile back and the refs were consistent and unobtrusive. They allowed contact with the big guys and didn't call hand checks on the guards. They allowed the players to determine the outcome of the game. After watching the SEC all season I had forgotten how entertaining a good game could be. Same thing with duke and the tarholes, excellently called games. Same with the big twelve games, the officials were excellent. The SEC refs are horrible. If 50 free throws aren't shot they feel as if they haven't done their job. There's no flow to the game, the best players stay in foul trouble and in almost every case the home team gets away with murder. It's almost broke me from watching it.

Then there's Kansas. The Jayhawks get more breaks than Duke. I don't understand the bill self love but it's pretty apparent to me. Too apparent for it to be coincidence.

[Penguin]

Depends I guess.

I do know that when I watched my Badgers going up against Duke in the championship game I witnessed highway robbery. And I predicted it when I saw Krzyzewski flag down the officials and have a confab when the halftime buzzer sounded. Sure enough the way they called the game changed completely and it was slanted for Duke. I was mad as hell. But I have seen it a dozen times and after all what can you do?

I wondered how a Duke fan could celebrate after seeing a game stolen like that.... it didn't bother them a bit. So was it my imagination? I honestly don't know.

Will