CCTV5 Halftime show: Yao unfair officiating

It's not just the fact that you don't know basketball. It's also the fact that you have naked posters of Yao on your bedroom walls.

Perhaps you're a little biased

 

Please stop trying to peeping through my window. By the way that aint even my house that you were stalking, jerk

 

You have noticed that almost all the players are not of the same racial makeup as the referees and owners, right?

I am not going to destroy your argument. But if you make that argument, then everybody in the league is discriminated against.

Are you kidding me? The NBA wants YAO on that Wall, they need him on that Wall. Green is the color that's universally recognized. Yao is Green, not Chinese in the eyes of the NBA

 

There is alot of revisionist history going on here. Hakeem didn't get the calls he should have, didn't get the calls that other players of his caliber routinely got, until he had been in the league a long time ... a lot longer than Yao.

I wondered at the time why it was. There was no BBS back then, but amongst my friends, we wondered if Hakeem's ethnicity had anything to do with it, as there were few foreign players in the league. While I don't think ethnicity is the only factor in the trouble the refs are having with officiating Yao, it is clearly not out of bounds to discuss the possibility.

 

Isnt it all businesses are about the GREEN in general. So I'm sure there's no racial discrimination in corporate America. I'm not saying it's the case with Yao, but it isnt so silly as some of you wise men have suggested. Thinking Stern has FULL control of how some of the NBA refs think and act is just as silly, if not more so, than waving the racial card.

 

This is precisely the reason why the chronically incorrect officiating is so puzzling. NBA officials review and scrutinize just about every call made on just about every player. It is mandated by the league as such.

They prepare for games just like players and coaches, looking at players' scouting reports and pet moves on game tape. Discussing with officiating crews of previous games what to look for and going over incorrect calls that were made or tricks that players use to fool refs. They even have an intranet and regular email correspondence for such discussion.

At halftime, ref crews review game tape of the first half to discuss with each other any questionable calls that were made and make sure the accurate calls on similar situations get made in the second half.

After the game they go through a thorough review of calls made in the game again. The league's home office does this as well.

So after 3+ years now of all this review and analysis, it is just baffling that the same incorrect calls are made on such a high-profile player like Yao game after game. The point sometimes made that Yao is bigger and taller and thus more difficult to judge in-game just does not hold water. It may indeed have some bearing on the incorrect calls, but these refs should know Yao's game inside-out by now. So the sheer volume of incorrect calls against Yao cannot solely be attributed to his size alone. And as macfan has accurately stated, it would be in the financial interest of the league and therefore of these refs, to make sure that they are officiating Yao correctly. But for whatever reason, they do even come close to doing that on a consistent basis. All the more reason why the calls against Yao are baffling.

 

Well gimp, I love conspiracy theories, but there are reasons I don't like bringing about the racial thing in this matter. Imagine this, if Yao were not a skilled 7'6" from China, but were from Russia, or South America, or West Europe, would he not be scrutinized by the refs? Before Yao cemented his reputation of being the gentle giant, many players in the NBA couldn't wait their turns to dunk on him.

I can't exclude the possibilities that there are some racial biases in officiating Yao's game, but I tend to think it's not the dominant factor in most of these atrocious rulings against him. IMO it's more of his personality than his nationality/ethnicity that the referees are "taking advantage of." Having said that, it's almost commonly accepted that his humble personality has a lot to do with his ethnicity and upbringing. And this, my friend, lies the possible implication many of the Yao fans are grudgingly disgusted about.

 

And you aren't sick to your stomach seeing what the league is doing to Yao? You aren't sick of the racial discrimination itself, but you are sick of criticism of racial discrimination? If you don't think it is problem when you see the problem, then you are part of the problem.

 

Refs only care about their pay, they aren't interested in how wide NBA spread.

 

I've seen Yao complained to refs a lot since the later part of last year. There are two ways he can do it more: becomes a whiner or becomes more forceful. I don't want to see him becomes a whiner (maybe Jeff does) nor do I want to see him beat up a ref on the court. I want to see him call out the refs in press conference. I want to see him use his influence to put pressure on NBA.

The thing that someone has to complain or be aggresive to get calls his way is BS to start with. A foul is a foul. So don't say what can or cannot be done. To me, it seems simple, the current rule is to do whatever it takes to get calls your way, so that is gonna be the rule we abide.

 

Nice post, Jeff. I do agree that there's some truth to this theory.

However, if this is true, then there's something very wrong with the system and those bystanders accepting the unfairness of it all.

Now basketball is just a game, and there's no life and death involved. But imagine if there is life and death involved. You are accepting the system and blaming the victim. You are promoting the unfairness to continue.

You don't blame the victims for not being aggressive and not complaining. Imagine if you applied this system to rape victims, or the Kurds in Iraq with Saddam running the show, or the individuals executed by the Nazis.

Yeah, sure they were not aggressive and they didn't complain enough. If they would have just mustered up the guts to do so, they wouldn't have suffered their fate, right?

 

I assume most of the posters here have been watching NBA games for many years, knows how the calls be made in different situation. If you guys can recall the officiating against the first wave of Europe players, then you understand the bias towards Yao.

Back in late 80's and early 90's, when the Euro players first came to the league, they recieved the same treatment Yao is getting now, maybe worse. People back then said that it couldn't be any bias, because those Euro players would help the league open up more market, what's good to ref them badly? The truth of the fact was those guys were brutally mistreated by the refs, I have heard/read more than once that refs yelled at them with "Shut your f**k Euro up, or you'll be out here", etc. Some of the organization actually made the public complains to the media and the league, but the situation didn't get any better untill more and more Europe players come over.

Yao is the only Chinese player in the NBA, refs just don't think him as one of the NBA players, but a Chinese player. The situation won't change until more and more Asia players join the league, which obviously won't happen during Yao's NBA career. If you put any NBA player under the miscroscope, you can foul the guy out in a few minutes based on the rule book. The refs are the ones to maintain the balance between the rule book, and the need to keep the game going. The problem is Yao is under the microscope, while rest of the players are not. Be more aggrasive will only make the situation worse, as evident in last night's game when he was whistled for 3 offensive fouls.

 

I will agree with you that his humble personality could possibly one of the contributors to the incorrect officiating. However, two specific instances/plays stand out in my mind:

1) Game 3 vs Dallas. In the second quarter, I believe, Van Horn drives the right lane for an arm-extended layup which Yao emphatically and cleanly blocks right out of Van Horn's hand and out-of-bounds - with his hand on all-ball. The ref with the poorest angle from behind calls a foul on Yao (his third of the game) anyways, assuming that Yao could not have possibly made such a block cleanly.

2) Yao's first technical ever. This was called in his first season, after he dunked on a player and then yelled out in emotion (but clearly not directed towards said player).

So here we have two instances of Yao displaying just the opposite of the humble 'model minority' stereotype. And it's important to note that in both cases he had just posterized an opponent. And in both cases, he is penalized for doing so with incorrect calls. Do Kenyon, Zo, Kirilenko, or even Chris Anderson get techs for showing emotion after a dunk or phantom foul calls for sending a shot into the fourth row?

 

That's a very rational explanation. I do believe that the oversea market etc doesn't mean $hit to the refs, who are they to care about that? Why would they care? And Stern can't make them to, as much as he may care. Coz there will always be attention wh0res to "leak" to the press that Stern wants them to treat Yao specially, because of money etc etc. The bias is certainly there, nothing else explains anything. The sad thing is, Rockets might only get 80% of Yao, adding TMac, hopefully it's enough to get us in the promise land. Well, I would say for Yao to try another year, if he's still get screwed left and right, up and down, race card or not, cursing or elbowing, whatever, take shots on refs in press reference. Screw reputation, make them to call 5 offensive fouls in five minutes, then curse the damn refs in the face, and get double Ts, and continue to whine and complain to the press, just cook the issue over and over again. Who knows, maybe things will be better. Refs will hate him more, but they might have their acts in check, I don't care. It's not like they are loving him now.

 

The announcers said last night that Yao is leading the league in personal fouls. That is rediculous. Your telling me that there is nobody else in this league that fouls more that Yao. I say there is a serious issue with that.

 

Good point! That's why american basketball cannot win championship in the world.

 

I sure hope more posters would have used this sort of opening statements, including the Crew. This is called respect. Nobody likes to be treated like a noob. Arrogance doesnt buy you credibility.

 

What if that assumption is wrong? What if most posters have not watched the NBA for years? I can attest to that, because a large part of the posters are Chinese YOF's and they've only been following the NBA when Yao started playing.

Jeff made an excellent point and he doesn't have to apologize for his argument. Are you that fragile and gullible?

 

The term YOF has been abused to death. If there are so many Yao-only-fans, why would they care about team records at all? Yao's numbers have been up this year and you would expect them to be happy, don't you?

Just because people signed up this forum after Yao was drafted doesn't make them YOF's. Singing Yao certainly increased the public interest and the posts on this forum, but saying those fans noob is ridiculous.

As Yao said, China started broadcasting NBA games in early 90's. That is more than 10 year ago. Even those who live in China have had exposure to NBA for a while.