I spend far too much time reading the comments from readers of game recaps and editorials. The one interesting thing I’ve learned, should I choose to believe the post-article rants, is that the teams involved rarely are responsible for their losses and, I guess, for that matter their wins.
It’s true. According to most readers, regardless of team, location, region, and possibly even sport (though I speak here of the NBA only), all games are decided by refs.
Best of all, as a Phoenix Suns fan, evidently it is my God-given right to believe it is indeed true.
It must be true because I read it everywhere from people in all walks of life. Even from someone in Beijing who thinks Steve Nash is the “chosen one” for the refs to unleash their pent up fury.
In an effort to prove his point that refs decide games, a good friend of mine sent me a link to Bill Simmons, the Sports Guy, after the recent Suns-Pistons game.
This particular Simmons' article rates the teams in the West.
Under the Suns, he writes something to the effect that the biggest weakness they seem to have is their absolute inability to get the big calls in big moments.
He goes on to actually blame the Detroit loss on those three questionable calls late in their game against the Suns.
Now that I have the proof I have been looking for, I feel better instantly and a flurry of e-mails and instant messages bounce back-and-forth between me and my friend about how much we despise the officials.
Before you know it, we’re back at game four in last year’s real NBA finals (round two of the Western Conference) against San Antonio and the whole Horrible Horry incident. It just goes downhill from there.
Shockingly, this isn’t unique to my hometown team.
Further in his article, Simmons predicts that San Antonio will lose to the Lakers in round two, thanks to the 65-10 Lakers’ free throw advantage. Simmons seems to believe that superstars benefit most from the officiating. If that is true, then it appears Kobe Bryant just may be able to win games alone after all, albeit with the help of a few folks in black and white stripes.
The Suns lack of calls seems to perplex him because he believes the Suns have the required stars in Nash, Shaq, and, now, Amare to benefit from this conspiracy theory.
What can we Suns fans say? Ever since the coin toss in 1969, it’s our legacy.
Now, let me clarify here, once the fire and venom leaves my system and the pain of a loss is dulled by the therapy in blaming the refs, I don’t truly believe refs decide games.
9 Comments
Loading more comments...
This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete