Stern is anything but with the refs
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by Suckatsports
David Stern seems to be softening up in his older years. Maybe he's been drinking too much warm cocoa before bed and it's made him a big softy. Well that's not entirely true, since it just seems that he's gone soft on everyone except the players. Let's examine this recent rash behavior in chronological order.
Amare Stoudemire gets suspended. This had to frustrate everyone that loved basketball, and those people are few and far in between anymore. In fact, this simple act almost single handily killed the, what up to that point, were extremely fun playoffs. The two best teams in the playoffs were facing off for the de facto championship, also known as the Western Conference crown. When Robert Horry hip checked Steve Nash into the benches, Amare and Diaw both stood up and crossed some imaginary line that the NBA had created to reduce enormous fights. Well, see for yourself I guess...
Either way, it's not the actual scrum that brought people to their feet, but the decision to suspend both Amare and Diaw for breaking the rule, one that is vague in description but clear on punishment. David Stern came on several radio shows defending his ruling, and sticking to the letter of the law, rather than the spirit of the rule, including an unwavering steadfast punishment for "breaking the rule". Short handed, Phoenix had no shot against San Antonio and the playoffs, from that point, weren't the same.
Knicks, sexual harassment is fun. The New York Knickerbockers are a mess from the top down. They've got an almost illiterate owner, and a stubborn GM. These two have combined to create one of the most expensive and least productive teams to ever take the court in the NBA. But fear not, there's still plenty of room to flounder for this team. And that's just the on court problems.
Off the court the front office decided that their life wasn't exciting enough, and Isiah Thomas came through in the clutch again. He sexually harassed on of the female employees in the Knicks organization. And really you could stop right there, but the fact that this went to an incredibly ugly legal suit and that Dolan stood by him tells volumes about this organization. That of course is just the back story. The kicker is, that while they were in fact convicted of sexual harassment, David Stern would not levy penalties until after the appeal. This is quite a turn from laying down the hammer on the players, and while "frustrated" not doing anything to franchise itself. One would assume that the very public suit against a team is much more damaging than a player running on the field.
Referees love to gamble. Tim Donaghy made this a dark ending to the NBA season, and one thought it couldn't get any worse once the ratings for the Finals were released. There's no need to rehash the entire thing but: Donaghy bet on games, got caught, and now no one trusts already crooked refs. Everyone remembers how upset Stern was when he came out to talk to the media, and how determined he was to find out everything about Donaghy, as well as the rest of the referees. Calling him a "rogue" and including strict rules about this in the league.
Fast forward to the beginning of the week, it seems like half the league of refs is "rogue" as they have all been found gambling one way or another. Now, this is the perfect time to regain some respectability for the league and really lower the hammer on these guys: fire them, fine them, suspend them, something! No, Stern does nothing but apologize for the rules that he himself put in place. He even went so far as to say that the rules were "unrealistic, outdated and in need of a revision". Well that's some serious mea culpa there by Stern for the league, something we've never heard out of him before. In fact, they're going to review and change the rules for the refs. Well that makes perfect sense.
So, let me get this straight. Every ref knows about the rules, right? As in what they should do and not do, and it's pretty clear that all kinds of gambling during the season, and off-season is prohibited and thus induces punishment. Where is this punishment? Where's even a slap on the wrists! While Stern is right, that these rules are outdated, but shouldn't he change them after disciplining these guys in some way shape or form? Not that his first documented mea culpa isn't appreciated, but where was it when Amare made a similarly parallel mistake in getting up from the bench? The rules governing that are just as unrealistic and outdated as those covering the gambling, maybe even more so. It seems that Stern has a different set of ideas when punishing players as opposed to punishing the league itself.
But here's the odd part. Isn't all this negative publicity about sexual harassment and crooked refs much more damaging to the league image than a player getting up from a bench in front of an almost fight? I think so. His mea culpa shouldn't be to the refs, it should be to the fans.
Oh, and I'm apparently not the only one that feels that way.
Commissioner isn't nearly Stern enough [Chicago Sun-Times] NBA Commissioner Stern won't discipline Knicks [Newsday] Stern alters gambling restrictions on refs [New York Times] NBA suspends Stoudemire, Diaw for leaving bench [ESPN] Photo: Charles Dharapak [AP]
This post is cross-published from We Suck at Sports.
