By Kevin Devlin
I enjoy watching NBA games on TV, but as far as I’m concerned, the so-called professionals sometimes don’t act like professionals, simply crybabies. Without doubt, complaining about officials’ calls has always been an inherent part of hoop, but today it has reached a new level of absurdity.
Officials make mistakes. They miss obvious calls. Make bad calls. Make calls that should be non-calls. Officials also make good calls, great calls in a game played by big, fast, and strong athletes. Players also make mistakes. They travel. They palm the ball. They commit stupid fouls. They also make great passes, incredible shots, and slam home thunderous dunks that amaze.
Officials don’t always make the calls that seem so obvious. But when the last seconds tick off of the timeclock, it usually evens out for both teams, because officials don’t always call fouls and violations that should be called, and as a consequence, they occasionally fall victim to the infamous make-up call, subconsciously hoping appeasement will remedy the situation.
What perturbs me is when a player commits an obvious foul, a blatant foul, and still complains to the official(s). The player is astonished, bewildered. Who me? Can’t be? No way? The player looks up above at the replay screen, hoping to prove the official(s) wrong, even though it was a really good call, a call we can clearly see on our TV’s. That’s aggravating. What’s also aggravating is that too many players don’t think they’ve ever committed a foul in their entire lives. They think to themselves “it just can’t be.” It’s simply unfathomable. And they continue to complain-whine-cry-every single time the whistle is blown.
It’s ironic that the NBA doesn’t tolerate players criticizing the officiating after the games (they fine them for speaking matter-of-factly after the fact) but during the games, allow them to complain, complain, and then complain some more.
I just wish the players would stop this incessant nonsense, tone it down, and play the game.
