LA Superstars Sit Out: Do Basketball Officials Have Too Much Power?

For this weeks post, I have altered my methodology slightly in order to become more engaged within the blogosphere. Instead of the usual editorial discussing a recent sports issue, I have written comments pertaining to two other insightful blogs. Hopefully, this will encourage and direct some traffic towards my fledgling blog and improve the overall authority of my website. While the topic for this week is about related events that occurred at the beginning of February, these are events are of utmost importance because many believe it delegitimizes the sport of basketball. During my allocated research time, I discovered two blogs from Slam Online and AOL’s Sports Blog which I found to be particularly appealing due to their thought-provoking observations. Firstly, about two weeks ago, high school hoops hero O.J. Mayo was suspended from two upcoming basketball games after unjustly receiving two technical fouls from referee Michael Lazo. On the professional scene, Kobe Bryant was forced to sit out without pay for the LA franchise’s one match in Madison Square Garden against the New York Knicks. Bryant was punished for elbowing Spurs’ Manu Ginobli in a prior game. My comments are available below for your reading pleasure, as well as the permanent links to the related blogs.

The unwarranted suspension of OJ Mayo (as shown on the left) for the upcoming two games is very much unreasonable. In less than a minute, referee Mike Lazo had penalized Mayo with two technical fouls for rather questionable reasons. Mayo was obviously infuriated by Lazo’s officiating and approached the referee presumably to demand an explanation for his bogus calls. In doing so, the high school hoop star made slight contact with Lazo who in turn came crashing down to the hardwood floor. The flop was exaggerated, to say the least. This incident displays the excess power basketball referees hold in this sport. It is nonsensical for a single individual to possess nearly absolute authority on such important decisions. This power needs to be better distributed. The implications from Lazo’s crooked calls are noteworthy, as it could jeopardize Huntington High’s top spot because of Mayo’s absence in upcoming games. Moreover, if evidence is found that Mayo intentionally bumped Lazo, he could be suspended for up to a year. Also, this event has somewhat tarnished Mayo’s image for no legitimate reason. In my opinion, it appears that Lazo disliked the 19 year old to begin with. Lazo wished to use the immense power included in his job description to his advantage, and perhaps even make money from the incident even though Mayo is still an amateur. Although he currently does not have much money to offer, as an extremely high profile athlete, Mayo is sure to become an instant revenue generator in the near future from endorsements and eventually the NBA.

Technology is undoubtedly improving the monitoring of sports, and basketball should capitalize on this advantage in order to foster an environment of fair play. However, this is still only high school basketball. The NBA needs to initiate a movement towards better officiating by categorically following other sports in their use of technology to settle debatable calls. The NFL boasts some of the best referees in sport, which can be partially attributed to the fact that they rely on technology for some of their calls. Tennis is yet another example of a sport that uses technology to make close line calls; as such athletes and critics are for the most part silenced by the digitized replays.

Permanent Link: Slam Online

In my opinion, Bryant was unfairly and harshly punished for elbowing Ginobli on the face. The Spurs are not known for playing the cleanest defense, and in addition to that, this type of foul happens quite frequently in basketball. The foul happened in the final 2.7 seconds of the game, as Bryant (depicted below) was attempting to make the basket and also draw the foul, but by no means strike a player in the face. Furthermore even Ginobli concurred that the foul was inadvertent. Interestingly, the two partakers in the incident believe that it was accidental; while Stu Jackson found it unsportsmanlike enough to render a one game suspension, claiming it was an “unnatural motion.” Great basketball players often make such unnatural motions, and this in fact, contribute to the entertainment factor of basketball. It is another reason fans watch the game. The punishment was a tough blow on Bryant since Madison Square Garden is his favorite place to play. As the teams lead scorer, Bryant’s absence was definitely detrimental to the outcome of the game, resulting in a Laker loss by five points. Not only did the NBA commission perform a disservice to the Lakers, but also to the fans. There is no doubt that people love to watch Kobe play, even haters secretly enjoy his exceptional talent. Fans were expecting to witness the superstar in action, but were left disappointed due to the poor decision making capabilities of Jackson. This incident also leads one to question the consistency in officiating of the NBA. In a recent game versus the Miami Heat, LeBron James of the Cavaliers clotheslined Dwayne Wade, but was called only for a flagrant foul. Perhaps, if James was suspended for this, it would somewhat legitimize Bryant’s punishment. However, upon analyzing the situation - James would be playing on national television the next day, which translates into high viewer ratings, so obviously he could not be suspended. Clearly, officials have too much weight in determining NBA rules and regulations, because unfair calls can cost important games. With the advancement of technology, the NBA, like the NFL, should turn to some of this machinery to contest debatable and controversial calls which will prevent the transformation of basketball into a cheap sport.

Permanent Link: AOL Sports Blog