Mr. Commissioner David Stern,
As an avid sports fan, and a basketball aficionado, I feel it is my duty to bring overt topics to your attention that you may otherwise have overlooked or ignored. Do understand that I wrote you this open letter with the utmost respect.
The 2010 NBA Finals have thus far been a travesty. The script couldn’t have been written any better, but in one way or another, this league has found a way to cast an enormous shadow upon itself.
With the past two NBA Champions going head-to-head, and such a storied rivalry, your office could not have been happier. One side the epitome of a team, and the other has arguably the best player in the league. The teams have combined for 32 Championships over the league’s existence, and both have hallowed pasts. This match up was the perfect time for the NBA to once again crawl from underneath the most recent shadow cast upon it and wave its flag in glory.
Unfortunately, the shadow cast by the disgraced referee Tim Donaghy has not been fought off, but brought further under a microscope. It is becoming clearer that the NBA referees do not mediate on their own accord, but simply do as their told. When told to swallow their whistles, they do so. When told to clean the game up, they do so by handing out double technical fouls as if they’re bite size Milky Way’s on Halloween. When told to call the game tightly they do so, and if anyone breathes too heavily on an opposing player it’s a personal foul.
With all due respect Mr. Commissioner, as a team the Celtics did not have one player, believe it or not, who averaged 3 fouls per game played. Perkins, Pierce, and Wallace all averaged 2.8 fouls per game played, and on the Lakers side Andrew Bynum was the only player who averaged 3 fouls per game with the next closest being Lamar Odom at 2.8. Although it cannot be proven, it is clear that you or someone in your office, are advising the referees to call the Finals in a specific way.
In no way am I saying the refs should have free reign on the game, we saw what happened with Donaghy, they do need to be monitored. However, I do not see how this style of play can be what the league office desires. David, if I may call you David, each quarter is taking approximately 45 minutes to play. Let me remind you that these are 12 minute quarters, 12 minutes of actual basketball, the other 33 minutes is who knows what! I understand, being in the media, that you must pay your bills and you do so with commercials, so there are media timeouts etc. That does not make up for that fact that a baseball game, with no time limit, can end before these Finals games do.
Honestly, David, in my eyes it would behoove you to let the refs call a legitimate game, not tightly called, not loosely called, but an honest game. From a public relations point of view wouldn’t you be losing the casual NBA viewer if there are too many boring stoppages for foul calls? The NBA is unique to other professional sports because of its constant play, and constant scoring; no other sport can boast that kind of continuous action and scoring. Use these aspects of the game to your advantage; don’t slow it down to the likes of baseball, or football with its 10 seconds of action and 40 seconds of play calling.
These Finals are being adversely affected when you see starters, and stars, from both sides riding the bench because of the “ticky tack” fouls being called. If I were a casual fan of the game, I would not be turning the game on to watch Ray Allen, Kobe Bryant, Rajon Rondo, and Ron Artest on the bench. In my eyes it would benefit you, David, and the NBA to call a legitimate game not only to speed things up a bit, but also because the players’ people want to watch won’t constantly be riding the pine. In no way am I saying give the stars the big calls, if they get in justifiable foul trouble then so be it, but it seems as though many of them in Games 1 and 2 were in foul trouble just because the referee’s were calling an extremely tight game.
With the games lasting 3 hours it is very hard for the average person on a week night on the east coast to stay up until midnight to watch the game in its entirety when tip-off is at 9. Most people have to wake up early for work the next morning, and with each quarter lasting approximately 45 minutes people must make a choice. Do they stay up to watch the game and risk being tired at work the next day, or do they go to sleep and read about the game the next morning. I hate to break it to you, but on a week night work wins with many of the viewers.
I will give your referees and your office credit in two aspects of the Finals thus far. One, the games are being called extremely tight, and in a way that has me yelling at my television screen half of the game, BUT they are being called tightly and most irritatingly on both ends of the floor. Celtics fans and Lakers fans alike can recall specific calls that didn’t go their way, but in the end you are being consistent, which is better than giving one team all of the calls. Two, I believe that you have seen the fault in your 7 technical fouls and you’re suspended rule. Kendrick Perkins has yet to receive a T in this series, and it is partly because he is trying to walk away more, but I also believe your referees understand what the ramifications would be in the series if he were to be suspended and are using more discretion with the technical foul call than in the earlier series’.
Mr. Commissioner, all I am trying to do is help you, and your office, get the NBA more recognition throughout the casual fan groupings. The first two games were well played, exciting basketball, once you got past the frustration with the inordinate amount of foul calls. I look forward to a long and exciting series between these two teams, one that will again go down in history. So please, advise the referees to be a part of the game we watch, not THE part of the game we watch.
Also, I’m not sure you can, but just in case, please don’t fine me any money for my comments about the refs.
Thanks,
Sean Sendall – follow me on Twitter
Tags: Boston Celtics, David Stern, NBA, Sean Sendall
