YAO assist only #9 in sportscenter

If THAT made only #9, the top 8 must've been something amazingly special.

 

It was a pass. It was an amazingly cool pass... but it was just a pass.

 

just a pass???

 

Look, Im a huge rocket fan and a huge Yao fan. However deifying every move he makes is a little out of control. Yes that was a spectacular pass and yes it was even more spectacular considering his size, etc... but its not the only touch pass the NBA has ever seen.

 

should of been in the top 3

 

I hate to beat a dead horse, but in the NBA, you have to become a media favorite, and it takes time. I haven't made many posts, but some of my few have alluded to this. They love "shark", and they loved Mike, and we should have been in the Finals in 97, but all year Stern pushed how Malone and Stockton had never been there. Yao is the best thing to happen to us in a while, not only because of his talent, but also because of his public relations potential. Soon they will be cheating for Francis and Yao.

 

That's stupid. Conspiracy theories abound.

 

It is not stupid, I thought everyone with a brain knew that cheating went on in the league. What about last years W. Conf. Finals? You are Stupid if you think there is no cheating. Stern thinks it is good to keep his "money players" in the game, and that is probably why the t.v. ratings for the finals have gone down since they reached their all time high in '95(how about that?). They are turning off real bball fans in favor of fans of certain individuals. It goes back to 1992, there was some b.s. officiating going on when the Bulls beat the Blazers.

 

Its not cheating. Its capitalism. Anyways, I tend to agree with you to a point. The profitable NBA players will always be first in the league's eye.

 

If David Stern really has control over the officiating in terms of favoring one player over another, wouldn't he want to do things to improve the ratings?

The fact that their ratings have been going down actually disprove your hypothesis of purposely catering to fans of certain players to keep the "money players" in the game. "Money players" are defined by players who make money by increasing the popularity of the sport. And this is what TV ratings attempt to measure.

It may be that things are happening that are unintentionally hurting the ratings, but I doubt that there is a dark conspiracy plan behind this.

In fact the things they may do behind the scenes are done in order to raise the ratings.... So wouldn't it be logical to keep the officials as fair as humanly possible so the fans will not be turned off from watching? The new instant replay rules is definately a step towards this direction

 

If it is such great capitalism, why have the ratings gone down from an ALL TIME HIGH IN 95 to NBC dumping their ass this year? It is not good business for the league. But, my point originally was that we will benifit from that. Yao will get every call like Shaq before him and Mike before him. Since Yao is on my side, I am all for it.

 

I agree with you that the referees may be biased towards certain "star" players. But the point I disagree on is the conspiracy theory that David Stern is promoting this bias. If we all really believed this, then what's the point of watching?

Ref's are human and the calls being made in the nba are very subjective. It's not surprising that unconsciously they may have more respect for the star players.

But I think I'm rambling here. Overall, I'm glad Yao is getting the calls.... it's nice being on the better side of the biased officiating equation.

 

it is not stupid in fact that is exactly how it is. its not liek they can cheat enough for teams to hwere teams cant win without stern and refs but i get what you are saying and i totally agree with u

 

It does seem that Stern would do things to improve ratings. I think that is his highest priority. If you say my theory does not make sense you have not paid attention or have not been around long enough. He improved ratings greatly in the early 90's, marketing Jordan, and like I said earlier there was some officiating going on when his Bull's beat Drexler's Blazers.That is fine, that is how it is in the NBA. I don't think Stern was trying to mess up his ratings, but he has done so, and it was so obvious last year that Ralph Nader wanted to get involved.

 

Ok, I think I don't equate marketing Jordan with making bad calls in favor of Jordan.

Basically my point is: Yes, they do promote the star players, but they do not tell officials to make bad calls to let the "chosen" player win. That is the conspiracy theory that I disagree with.

 

I wish I could remember names to give myself credibility. About 4 years ago an official got suspended for admitting that he gave a foul that should have been called on Webber to some role player. It is ridiculous but will benifit us in the long run.

 

I generally disprove of most conspiracy theories concerning the officiating in the NBA, but every Knick fan in the 90's favorite referee was Hue Hollins, and I think everyone knows why. That's all I'll say on this. Also, Ray Allen is a very intelligne tplayer and he basically accussed the NBA of the same stuff.