NBA Finals: Superstar Treatment Is Nothing New To This Series.

There has been a lot of talk recently in the NBA about officiating. Now, I am not going to comment about the dirty dealing with the playoffs, because I don't even want to touch that subject, but I am going to talk about the treatment they give stars and how it's nothing new.

I can sit and watch LeBron, Kobe, and AI pull down questionable foul calls time and time again in any game they're playing. And it's not just those three, but they are the big three so they're my fall guys here.

The whole special treatment is no new thing. You can look back and see Jordan, Magic, and Bird getting it too. And look at the record books Wilt Chamberlain never fouled out of a game...a center never fouled out of a game??? So it's been an issue for a while. The officials seem to get extremely lenient at times and then they are also overbearing at times.

If you are going to call a foul, it shouldn't matter whether the ball is going to go in or not. There have been so many calls recently, and I only say recently because I have only noticed it recently, where the whistle on the foul seems to wait until after they see if the shot will be made or not.

Everyone makes mistakes and every referee makes bad calls from time to time, but by waiting so long on a foul you are going to call is just a reason for special treatment.

Traveling is another issue that has gone from two steps to adopting the AA 12-step program. That one goes all the way back to Dr. J and possibly before him. Patrick Ewing and Hakeem got more than two steps on a regular basis. So when traveling is called it seems like it is just a jab at a particular player or team.

If you watch you are amazed at the flashy dunks that are being performed, but once you watch the play again and count the steps taken you can see it all the time, and I mean all the time. It just gets sickening sometimes. 

Fair or unfair it's what professional sports have been reduced to, and I really hate to think that we should have to get used to it. If it is a foul it should be a foul for everyone, and if you aren't going to call traveling anymore take it out of the rule book.