NBA officals protest

[miami_fan]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=1746204

In an act of protest, NBA referees turned their jerseys inside-out Friday night and wore No. 62 -- the number assigned to a disciplined colleague.



Refs Scott Foster (l) and Mike Callahan wear the number 62 during the Rockets-Blazers game.


Referee Michael Henderson's bad call at the end of Wednesday night's Lakers-Nuggets game was publicly acknowledged Thursday by the NBA.


Henderson was taken off three job assignments and summoned to the league office, the referees' association said.


"An unprecedented job action was taken against one of their colleagues, so an unprecedented response was necessary," said Lamell McMorris, a spokesman and negotiator for the National Basketball Referees Association.


Referees at all 10 NBA games Friday night were expected to take part in the protest, although officials Eddie F. Rush and Nolan Fine worked the Grizzlies-Bucks game in Milwaukee and did not. The third member of their crew, Rodney Mott, wore his shirt inside out with No. 62 magic-markered on the back.


The NBA released a statement from deputy commissioner Russ Granik saying any referees taking part in the protest "will be subject to appropriate discipline."


McMorris said Rush and Fine were "intimidated" by refereeing supervisor Ronnie Nunn.


"From what I understand it was typical bullying tactics by the NBA. Ronnie Nunn came in and threatened them, told them if they wore their shirts inside-out they'd be fired," McMorris said.


NBA vice president Stu Jackson did not return a call seeking comment on McMorris' allegation.


Henderson, in his second season as an NBA official, mistakenly whistled a shot clock violation after an attempt by Denver's Andre Miller brushed the rim and was rebounded by a teammate.


The officials huddled and ruled it an inadvertent whistle, resulting in a jump ball. The Lakers won the tip and made the game-winning shot with 3.2 seconds left.


"This was an unfortunate call at a highly critical point in the game, and we very much regret the error," NBA vice president Stu Jackson said his statement Thursday. He was not immediately available for comment Friday night.


McMorris said Henderson's three-game punishment was unprecedented.


"It's inconsistent with the performance evaluation standards that the league introduced to initiate communication between supervisors and referees," McMorris said. "This has never occurred for a bad call."


The referees are currently in the final season of their five-year collective bargaining agreement with the NBA.


"They're in it together. They've got pride," Clippers forward Elton Brand said of the protest. "I guess they're trying to get their point across

I know that earlier that NFL disciplined an official last season because of mistakes. I can't recall the specific circumstances of that one. I can not think of another instance where a league has taken public action against an official. Usually we hear things like "Oh the refs have such a tough job it is only human if they miss a call or two" or how publicly criticizing the refs challenges the integrity of the game. That is supposedly the reason players and coaches are fined when they rip a ref. I am still waitng for refs to join players, coaches at press conferences to discuss questionable calls at the end of games. That sure would have been interesting at the end of the AFC Championship Game

[dawgfan]

There's got to be something more going on here that we don't know about. Suspending 1 ref from an entire crew for blowing a judgement call? Why suspend the 1 guy, then make it a public issue by announcing it?

I understand the sentiment of the refs being held accountable for screw-ups, but it's not like he misinterpreted a rule or got into a needless confrontation - he missed a judgement call.

[mckerney]

Heaven forbid they actually be held accountable for their job performance.

[EagleFan]

You have to read between the lines on this one. That ref is actually being punished because he called an offensive foul on Shaq early in the game...

[MrBug708]

LOL