From one fan’s perspective: Just play the game, let the referees officiate

FROM MY FRONT PORCH

From one fan’s perspective: Just play the game, let the referees officiate

SAM HOUSTON

Sam Houston is the publisher of the Hood County News. He is also an actor, author, playwright, performer and entertainment producer/promoter.

This past week, I watched a little bit of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. One of the most popular sporting events in America, tens of millions of people tune in for the games because of the excitement, the upsets and the competition. It is one of the biggest wagering events of the year, and emotions run high among the viewers and the teams.

Me watching the tournament sort of brought me back to my roots. As a young man, I was a huge college basketball fan. Back then, few games were televised except once a week, NBC broadcast a national game with Dick Enberg and, I think, Billy Packer. We did get the Big 8 games (now Big 12), not aired live but rather the day following the game being played. Eventually, the Big 8 got it together and managed to get sponsorship so the games could be telecast live. I was a die-hard fan of anything college basketball, and lots of my Saturday and Sunday afternoons were spent with my black-and-white TV watching college basketball.

Years later when I moved to the Dallas area, I got attached to the Mavericks. I loved Dirk Nowitzki and the style with which he played. The future Hall of Famer also impressed me with the way he handled himself on and off the court. Dirk was clearly dedicated to the team and winning, and those characteristics made him very appealing to the fan base. I became a diehard fan and had season tickets until I moved from proximity to the arena.

I still watch the Mavs, though I have lost a lot of my “fandom.” Dirk has retired. The team currently has a great player named Luka Doncic who can score, rebound, pass, and has a feel for the game that few players have ever matched. His statistics are remarkable and historic, but I seem to like the game less and less every time I watch. I wondered why I had lost my zest for Mavs basketball, and when I tuned in the NCAA Tournament, I figured it out.

In the old days when I played, the game was very structured and disciplined. As a player, when you committed a foul, you had to raise your hand so the scoring clerk could identify who the foul had been called on. If a player threw his hand down in a display of disgust with the referee’s call, shook his head dramatically, or heaven forbid spoke out to the ref, it would draw a technical for poor sportsmanship.

My coach drilled in me that when a foul was called against you, keep a poker face and raise your arm respectfully and look straight at the referee. He advised that in such situations, the call had been made and would not be reversed, so there was no reason to argue with the referee or give him a word or look which could affect the next call. Was I ever the victim of bad calls? Once in college, I got three personal fouls in three minutes, and I didn’t think that was possible unless you intentionally tried to foul! Yet, I still raised my hand and kept my mouth shut.

Watching the college game this week was like night and day from watching the pros. In the NBA, it seems like almost every player, on just about every call, must put on a big display and go and lobby with the referee as to why the ref made a mistake. Sometimes calls are so obvious that a blind man would know the call was correct, but still, players and coaches go to the ref begging to plead their case.

Why has the NBA let this get so out of control? I go to games to watch basketball, not to watch a debate between players and the referees! It makes the game slower, and frankly, I believe it is a little symbolic of our nation as a whole. People seem to want to complain and protest every time authority asserts itself. There seems to be a real breakdown in taking personal responsibility for their actions when authority exerts itself, no matter how warranted that authority might be.

Authority is in place to keep the game orderly and insure fair adherence to the rules. It is the same reason the legal system is in place, the police, and our other units of governmental authority. Makes me wonder about the kids who watch the NBA regularly. Do they think they can debate with their parents and teachers like the NBA players do with the referees?

In this instance, NBA players are not very good examples, and one of the worst must be Luka Doncic of the Mavs. He has one of the highest totals of technical calls levied against him, even to the point of being forced to sit out a game as a suspension. I think Luka would find something to complain about if the game was called to absolute perfection. His behavior is a distraction and limits the fans’ enjoyment of the game.

Thank goodness I got to watch a little college basketball this week, where the entertainment was in watching basketball skills instead of debating skills. Now if we could just get the coaches to sit down and coach instead of playing to the crowd and lobbying with the referee!

Thought for the day: A referee is a majority of one, and the sooner players and fans realize the completeness of his authority, the cleaner the game will be.

Until next time … I will keep ridin’ the storm out.

sam@hcnews.com | 817-573-7066, ext. 260