Expensive Speech in the NBA

Great Debates
1

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was fined $250,000 for repeated complaints about officiating. Players are routinely fined for questioning calls post facto. Rasheed Wallace has been assessed technical fouls both for staring at and from walking away from a referee.

Now, referees aren’t perfect. They’ll make some bad calls. But they’ll also routinely let Michael Jordan travel, Allen Iverson palm the ball, and Shaquille O’Neal stand in the middle of the key so illegally that even Bill Walton notices. And no matter the circumstances, no matter how blatant the miscall, players and coaches are in no way ever allowed to question or criticize the officiating.

The league says it’s to keep the players from getting out of control and to protect the integrity of the game. I say the integrity of the game is more damaged by unequal application of its rules or by pretending that the referees can do no wrong. The NFL, at least, will sometimes admit when its umpires have made a mistake–“Yeah, we fucked up last week; sorry there’s nothing we can do about it now.” They’ve even brought back instant replay, so that most of the particularly egregious calls can be reviewed on the field. The NBA will charge you thousands of dollars for talking about an obvious missed goaltend.

So does an enforced ‘gag rule’ help or hurt the NBA? Should the officials be subject to criticism and risk losing their authority? Or should the players just shrug off the bad calls and move on to the next game like mature adults, reasoning that all bad calls even out in the end?

Along those lines, another question as an afterthought: Should the league continue to treat its superstars more gently than the rest of the players? Does anyone know how many times Shaq’s fouled out of a game the last two seasons? (This isn’t rhetorical; I’m genuinely curious.)

2

I don’t know if the refs would lose their authority – people are going to think they’re idiots anyway.

I don’t think it’s much to ask to have something in place to discourage the coaches and players from treating the refs like complete garbage. I’m a sportswriter, and I cover a lot of high school games, so practically every day I have to listen to know-it-all fucking parents who see a foul committed every five seconds against their child’s team. These parents DO NOT SHUT UP. And it’s ALWAYS a federal case, too. I don’t know how the refs block it out.

3

IMHO, the gag rule is too restrictive. It has nothing to do with superstars being treated differently, which is a whole other topic. The thing is, Cuban was right. The film clearly showed goaltending. He was robbed out of a win.

Refs are human. That means they make mistakes. Their needs to be open acknowledgement of that from both sides. Fan/players/coaches need to accept that refs will sometimes blow calls. And refs and management need to understand that sometimes refs blow calls and it’s not a federal offense to admit that.

Read Earl Strom’s autobiography sometime. Great stories, and lots of insight as to how the reffing system has changed. Essentially, refs are now made to be completely above the game, not part of it. Notice how they can’t shoot around during breaks or even talk to players, they have to take positions on the court and stand at-ease until the game starts up again. Ridiculous.

4

Some comedian–I want to say Chris Rock or Dennis Miller, but I’m not sure–once commented that Michael Jordan could rape a nun at center court, chop her head off and toss it through the basket, and the refs would call a foul on the other team.

Re the OP: I don’t have a problem with the NBA imposing a “gag rule” on the players and coaches re officiating, because I assume someone in Stern’s office has the cushy job of reviewing game tapes for the express purpose of making sure the officiating is up to snuff. I also assume teams can complain (confidentially, of course) to the Commissioner’s office. In other words, I think the gag rule only applies to spouting off to the press. And I agree with Snooooopy–everyone thinks the refs are idiots anyway and if a call is egregious, everyone in the stands knows it anyway without someone complaining.

5

Much as it’s difficult to work up a sweat over the violated free speech rights of millionaire athletes and a billionaire boy bozo exhibitionist like Cuban, it’s reprehensible that the NBA gets away with censoring off-court criticism. The ACLU would probably be springing into action if it wasn’t afraid of looking ridiculous.

6

When I saw this thread topic, I imagined Charlton Heston holding a basketball over his head and saying, “From my cold, dead hands!”

7

As an NBA fan, I’ve never really been bothered by the gag rule. And yes, there is a basketball VP from David Sterns office who takes responsibility for reviewing officiating.

Personally, I’m just grateful for any rule that can get Mark Cuban to shut . . .the hell . . . up. :slight_smile:

8

::sigh:: The First Amendment prevents the government from interfering with a citizen’s right to free speech. It has no impact whatsoever on a private entity’s right to censor the speech of members, employees, etc.

Don’t try this at home. Don’t tell your boss you think he is a facist. You will get fired, and you have no constitutional protection against being fired.

Sua

9

The NBA rule book contains nothing that forbids rape, murder, or dismemberment on the court. Get off MJ’s back!!

10

I have a teensy little crush on Mark Cuban, so I suppose my opinion is biased as a result.

To address the last part of the OP first, I think the idea of letting the league’s superstar players get away with just about anything on the court is about the dumbest thing I’ve ever encountered. I’d think that since they are so talented, these athletes could manage to execute their play in keeping with the rules. What exactly is the justification for this? The only thing I have heard is that there is a belief that fans want to see their favorite players make amazing plays, some of which would come to a grinding halt if the refs called the fouls according to the rules of the game. The league wants to keep the fans, particularly the fan dollars, so they overlook many fouls. If rules are a priority, the NBA should enforce them equally, and if the superstar plays are a priority, the NBA should change the rules.

(I just walked down the hall and asked a guy in another office why this happened and he said it was an issue of “respect” – sheesh, for those salaries, I think they get plenty of respect already.)

I would be more upset about the gag rule if anyone were actually being gagged. As things are now, it seems like more of an “inflated price rule.” Cuban feels like he has wisely spent $250,000 for quite a bit of publicity.

In any professional sport, I believe it’s important for owners, players, coaches and fans to realize that officiating is never going to be 100% accurate and that the game has to move on anyway. And sometimes a bad call will happen at the beginning of a game, and sometimes it will happen in the crucial last moments, but the players and coaches still have to move on. What I do have a problem with is when officials try to justify a bad call based on other issues (this happens a lot in the NHL, too). It’s this waffling that drives me crazy. Don’t try to pretend that the bad call was a good call, or that it doesn’t really matter.

I like the solution that the NFL reached, by turning the instant replay into a strategic tool for the coach (each coach is given a limited number of opportunities to call for an instant replay, and they are penalized if they call for it and it turns out the original call was correct). When the NFL first started this, I thought it would be ridiculously cumbersome, but I was very happy to be proven wrong. I am only a casual basketball watcher, so I don’t know if or how a similar system could be implemented in other sports.

11

I used to ref in a city league, and it’s a really tough job. Those guys take a lot of crap, but they have to be alert for dozens of split second violations simultaneously, and they’re usually right. I also don’t think it’s true that players aren’t allowed to criticize calls. Watch Kobe and see if he doesn’t do his I-can’t-believe-you-called-that-shit-on-me face after every call. Players are also allowed to talk to refs calmly and explain why they think they missed something. If you watch the players that know how to work a ref, they can sometimes milk a subsequent call out of them. What the league generally doesn’t like is people trying to show the refs up. Sure Wallace gets some insignificant stuff called on him, but he’s earned that privilege.

I’m no Constitutional scholar, but I don’t think this is a free speech issue. I had to sign a non-disclosure agreement for my job, and I would imagine there are simliar restrictions somewhere in the contracts between the players/coaches/owners/league. Most people would probably get fined or suspended or fired if they were criticizing their employer in the press.

12

Apparently SuaSponte is a Constitutional scholar and made that point better than I did.

13

Dumbguy: Ah, but Kobe is a superstar. :wink: When the two rules conflict, guess which one overrides? So Kobe can call a perfectly legitimate charge “horrible” and “ridiculous” without being fined–not to mention that the only reason Kobe was so surprised at the call in the first place was that offensive fouls are rarely called in the NBA, and even less so on players like him.

And I’m no Rasheed Wallace fan (understatement), but what gets called on him is criminal sometimes. Yeah, he’s behaved poorly in the past…but referees should be professional enough to examine each call in its context. So when Wallace literally gets T’d up for shaking his head, rolling his eyes, and walking away, the fault shouldn’t lie with him.

deplhica: I’ve heard that another justification for the superstar rules is to keep them in the game longer, in part so that the fans get their money’s worth that way, too. I think it’s a crying shame…but then, I’ve always been sensitive to what I feel to be unequal applications of the rules.

I’m off to look for numbers on Shaq’s fouling, cos i really seems like he almost never fouls out–especially considering how big he is.

14

I believe Cuban has been fined $45,000 in the past few weeks for other complaints in the press about the officiating. So this wasn’t a first time offense, and I assume the league is trying to make a point here.

Hey, he bought the team knowing the rules. You don’t want to play by the rules in place, don’t buy the team.

15

I think you’re right for the most part. I’m a huge basketball fan, and I love the guys who play hard and make it without a ton of talent. I love the guys who rebound and defend and play just because they want to. I hate seeing Kobe and Vince Carter built up into superheroes while guys like Michael Finley and Glenn Robinson and Theo Ratliff barely get mentioned, but I don’t think it’s the league’s fault. The majority of the people who watch basketball just want to see 360 dunks, so the league and the networks give it to them. People don’t care about bounce passes or pick and rolls or weak side defense. They want flash. They pay to see Shaq take four steps in the lane and dunk, and they aren’t going to be happy if the ref waves the shot off because of some shadowy, arcane rule violation. The NBA is what people want it to be. It’s maybe not what I want it to be or what you want it to be, but there’s a long line of kids waiting to pay $60 a pop for Kobe Bryant jerseys, and like most things in this country, you get what you pay for.

By the way Shaq has, surprisingly, fouled out of four games so far this year. Chris Webber, Karl Malone, and Kevin Garnett have fouled out of none.

16

That is surprising about Shaq. I compiled the stats on fouls per minute (or rather, minutes per foul) for each person that has played significant minutes at center in the NBA this year. O’Neal commits less fouls per minute than most people, but there are a few people ahead of him. He’s played far more minutes than any other center, though, which isn’t really surprising. Here are the numbers, if anyone’s interested:

The sample size is probably too small to make much out of these numbers. It’s worth noting, however, that Tim Duncan primarily plays power forward and that John Amaechi is one of the smartest men in the NBA. :slight_smile:

Oh, and I totally agree with you, Dumbguy, about substance over flash. Michael Finley’s one of my favorite players, and I’ll take Elton Brand over Steve Francis anyday. (That being said, man but Tracy McGrady can play!!)

17

The NBA has a vested interest in making sure that the fans have at least a modicum of respect for the officials. To have an owner openly humiliate them detracts from that.

If you want a game with no officials, just have the players start calling the fouls themselves like they do in pickup games and have somebody yell “first” when there is a jump ball.

18

Oh, yeah? What will spilling all that blood do to those hardwood floors, though? I’ll bet there’s a rule against that, isn’t there? After all, someone could slip and fall.

~~Baloo

19

Exactly how “shadowy” and “arcane” is the rule about dribbling the ball? If you have the ball, and you’re moving, then you’re supposed to dribble it.

20

Freedom of speech do not apply to private businesses the way it does in public affairs. Businesses may not fire/reprimand/fine the employee for legal speech work outside of the business, but if an employee’s speech impunges on the corporation, then the corporation do have a right to limit its public exposure, and call the employee on it. If there is a by-law that inlude a gag on inflammatory speeches about refs, then it is binding.