I was at the Laker game on Wednesday. I'd heard she was bad, but I never paid close attention to her calls before that night. When the whistle started blowing constantly over the first few minutes, I noticed the ref making every call had long hair so I figured it was Violet Palmer. I've seen some awful refereeing having watched the NBA for about 15 years, but that was quite possibly the worst officiated half I've ever witnessed. And clearly I wasn't alone. The crowd was all over her and she deserved it. I'm frankly amazed some of these refs still have jobs after the Donaghy scandal. You'd think David Stern would wanna clean up that aspect of the game.
It's been a couple of years, but someone (maybe Mark Cuban) published a serious study of referees in the game and ranked them on accuracy of their calls. Violet Palmer was in the middle of the 3rd Quartile (1st being best). Dick Bavetta was the worst then. (Apparently Covers.com does referee profiles. I don't know what to get out of these, though.
Where, pray tell, do these new refs come from? Every year around February and March I actually deign to watch NCAA hoops, and am gobsmacked by how horrifically bad the referees are. Why can't people understand that it's just a damned impossible game to call?
Nice vernacular. Kelly, do you know how they are evaluated? I know they can email the legaue after games to get feedback on certain calls, but I'm interested to know the structure of their performance evaluations...
Kelly, then why is she the one who most consistently pisses me off when I am watching a game and has me up out of my seat and ranting? She is also good for more bad calls in a single game than any other ref I have ever watched. And I have never watched a game reffed by her where I thought she did even a passable job. She even has me sympathising for the other team at times her calls are so bad. She just plain sucks.
I'm not Kelly, but the reason she most consistently pisses you off is probably the same reason that she most consistently pisses me off -- I know who she is. I'm sure there are other refs that are worse, but it's hard to keep middle aged white guy #4 and middle aged white guy #37 separated in my mind.
As bad as Palmer may be, anyone watching the celtics/magic game right now should agree there are at least 3 officials worse than her
That's a good point (not that there's anything wrong with that!), and I'm sure that's why she's noticed. As Kelly pointed out, it's almost impossible to ref the game without screwing up some calls, and many of the refs simply suck. Violet simply sucks, but is more noticeable because of her sex. She is a woman, right??
And do we know any of their names? I didn't even catch their numbers but I did notice they were terrible!! I notice Violet because every time she refs Chuck is one of the first ones in foul trouble. Then its Yao. Every time. I wonder how difficult it would be to get a listing of all their games for the year. Each of the refs does 82 games just like the players correct? Edit: I had to look it up and see who was doing the Celtics game tonight.. here's the three refs... #62 B. Forte, #32 E. Rush, #34 M. Davis
I still think there is more to this - perhaps her hard nosed attitude - because it seems like when white guy #4 makes a bad call and the crowd rips him and probably the coach rips him, etc. then he seems to calm down, think about who might know which hotel he is staying at, realize its just a game and then maybe even give a call back to the team he just fluxed. So he doesn't make the same bad call multiple times, or screw the same player multiple times in a game. But Palmer seems to have attitude and will keep making the same bad calls against the same people all night - almost as if she says in her mind "ok you wanna mess with me, I will show you who is boss!" Besides her calls seem to be particularly stupid calls. Now, do I track the men who make non-calls on people slamming Yao and knocking him down? No, but if someone wanted to start a site and track bad calls and non-calls by refs it could be a lot of fun. I'm sure the NBA or a casino might buy out whoever was running it.
so do you think a woman coach could get respect from the players in the nba? do you honestly think that? so why do you think a woman referee would get respect from a bunch of testostorone-fueled athletes? i played high school basketball, and i know the reactions teams have when we had a girl ref. fair or not--that's how it is. and you know this. im not some caveman sexist--ive had this conversation with a group of people when watching a violet palmer officiated game live. ive heard girls say that they didnt think a girl should be reffing an nba game. do you think violet palmer has a job because she is a good ref, or because she is a woman? but i guess this simple but non-pc opinion means im a meathead sexist who thinks girls don't understand sports and should stay in the kitchen. there's nothing i can say on the subject that won't make me look bad, but i think there are more people who agree with me than a lot of people might think. and guys, we can have this discussion without getting personal. i'm a fan of your writing kelly--i dont want you anyone else to take anything i say personally.
Shes has been by far the worst ref since i can remember and its not like a scandal or anything she just doesn't have a clue. When shes reffing a game she for sure affects the quality of the game and also the outcome.
had to bump this thread for mentioning Palmers effort in the Boston Miami game today. Did anyone see this? Ray Allen bends down to gather the loose ball and Udonis Haslem full throttle tackles him, wraps two arms around him and ploughs into his back sending Ray hurtling forward.... and good ole Violet calls a JUMP BALL!!! JVG made mention that the Dolphins could sure use Haslem right now!!
someone blind could have made that call! basically Haslem hugged him from the back and threw him on the floor..accidentally "touches" the ball...and she calls a jump ball!!!! how can the nba seriously keep her? i mean i am all about equalilty but wow..
