When you grow up in sports, you are taught from an early age to forgot about officiating.
You've all heard the tired, old cliches ad nauseam. Only losers complain ... good teams overcome bad breaks ... referees are human, they make mistakes ... yada...yada...yada
To be fair, there is some truth in any cliche. After all, losers do tend to whine, good teams do overcome bad breaks, and officials are most certainly human.
But, is any of that an excuse for a professional sports league to ignore bad officiating?
All major sports leagues have an interesting, dysfunctional, almost abusive relationship going on with their followers. No matter how badly they treat you, the fan, they know you are coming back, leaving little impetus for change.
Like a woman trapped with a bullying boyfriend or a child cowering at the hands of a tyrannical father, they know you are trapped. You love their game and you are going nowhere.
So with billions of dollars flowing in, where's the impetus for any change?
When it comes to officiating the arrogance of the NBA is astounding, especially coming on the heels of the Tim Donaghy scandal. The general public already feels that the NBA's referees are corrupt but instead of addressing a problem that already exists, David Stern has taken "the ignore it and it will go away" stance.
The playoffs are just four days old and several of Stern's teams are already incensed over the reputation-based officiating that pervades The Association.
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Problem is, Perkins' bucket was an obvious offensive goaltending call that was observed by the 18,000-plus in attendance and millions watching on television, but not the three people that counted.
The whistles remained silent. Silent despite the fact that Perkins grabbed a fistful of net and hit the ball while it was still in the cylinder.
"I just feel bad, obviously we got a stop, obviously it was goaltending," Nuggets coach George Karl said. "The ball wasn't even out of the cylinder how can you not see that?"
Watching it I could come to only one conclusion, Steve Javie, Zach Zarba and Bill Kennedy were using hockey rules -- everything goes when the game is on the line. Either that or they were intimidated by the Oklahoma City fans in attendance.
In fact the non-call was so egregious that the NBA actually admitted a mistake, something it rarely does.
"Although a player is permitted to touch the net while the ball is in the cylinder above the rim, Perkins also touched the ball while it was still in the cylinder which is a violation and constitutes goaltending," the league said in a statement issued Monday.
Too little, too late for the Nuggets, who are staring at an 0-2 hole unless they can win in OKC Tuesday night.
But Denver was far from the only team bitching about officials. There were enormous free-throw disparities in the openers of the Bulls-Pacers, Heat- Sixers and Mavericks-Blazers series and surprise, surprise, the home team was on the fat-side of the ledger each time.
Chicago went to the line 32 times against 17 for Indiana in Game 1 of that set and Bulls MVP candidate Derrick Rose outdid the Pacers all by himself, marching to the charity stripe 21 times. Asked about that after the game, Indiana interim coach Frank Vogel was coy but not bashful in his frustration.
"I don't know if I'm allowed to answer that question," Vogel said. "When [Rose] drives to the basket, he's impossible to draw a charge against. The league rule says that you should jump straight up, and if he jumps into you, it should be no call."
In South Beach, things were even worse for the Sixers and Doug Collins, who are trying to deal with superstars LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. The Heat attempted 39 freebies to just 15 for Philly. Collins, a veteran coach with a much larger bank account than Vogel, stepped closer to the line, mocking the NBA's ban on criticizing bad officiating.
"My grandkids would lose their college fund," Collins quipped when asked to address the disparity. "I'll have to dance around that one. I can't respond to that."
Portland's Nate McMillan evidently doesn't like dancing.
His Trail Blazers lost to the Mavs in Game 1 thanks in large part to a 29-13 edge at the stripe to Dallas. Dirk Nowitzki was perfect on 13 free throws, all of which came in the final quarter where Dallas had a 19-2 edge, curious since the Mavericks made just one bucket in the paint during the second half, indicating they weren't exactly driving to the hoop with any kind of aggression.
"The free throws, I just don't get that," McMillan said after the game. "It's hard for our guys to know how to play out there when it's called a little different. I felt like we were attacking, and guys really didn't know how to play with the fouls that were being called."
McMillan was docked $35K for his honesty.
Last I checked the NBA can't fine me so I'll be blunt. All too often middle- aged men are deciding playoff games and not the athletes themselves.
That must change. However, like an addict, the NBA has to admit there is a problem before they can fix it.
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