Too Many Blind Refs: Fix The Refereeing Now!

The betting/point shaving scandal in the NBA just illustrates a problem with the NBA and refereeing. Current refereeing sucks. So, how can it be fixed?

It is obvious that it needs to be fixed. How many times have you sat at home, watching a game on TV and seen the refs TOTALLY blow the call on a foul. The blown call is so clear to anyone who watches on TV, you wonder how the refs could have missed it. Are they blind? Then we generally get one or two replays BEFORE they shoot the Free Throw. Or, if you have TIVO, you hit the 10 second back button and make your own replay. The point is, with EVERY NBA game being carried on TV, and with the technology that is available now, it seems that everyone BUT the refs can see what is going on. This diminishes the trust in the refs even more. . . and it is going to get worse!

Well, I think technology also offers a solution. So, here are my suggestions:

Next time you see a foul called in the NBA, time it. See how long it takes before the ball is either taken out, or the teams set up for a Free Throw. It almost always takes at least 25 seconds to take the ball out of bounds or more than 30 seconds before they set up and take a Free Throw. Meanwhile, everyone at home has time to back up their TIVO one or more times, with the 10 second button, and see the bad call. So, I suggest the NBA also take advantage of that same technology.

In addition to the 3 refs on the floor, I think there should be ONE TV referee, with ONE assistant. They could be located in an NBA TV Van outside the arena, but with headphones to communicate with the head referee inside the arena. Since ALL NBA games are now broadcast on TV, the NBA would have access to the video feed from each game, and it wouldn't cost them anything for technicians, etc, except to run their specially equiped minivan, with the Video Ref and his assistant.

The TV/Video ref would have a display in front of him, consisting of 10 TV monitors, or however many TV monitors they needed for the video feeds. In essence it would have ALL the video feeds from ALL the angles that come out of the arena, and they would be able to see it, just like actual director of the TV Production.

Now, here is how it works. The TV Ref would NOT be able to make ANY calls. He could only review calls made by the refs inside the arena. As soon as ANY foul is called inside the arena, the TV ref or his assistant would push a button on ANY of the monitors with the video feeds, and back it up 5 seconds, and review the play. If they saw that the call was in error, they would immediately notify the ref inside the arena by headphones. They would ONLY reverse the call if it was PERFECTLY CLEAR on the video feed that the original call was in error. Since they are already watching the video feeds on TV monitors, they might not even need to do this, since they might already have seen the error.

Second rule would be that they would have exactly 10 seconds to do this. This is because 10 seconds would NOT interfere with what was going on inside the arena in ANY WAY. If the call was in error, then within 10 seconds it would be reversed. Otherwise, NOTHING would be said and the referees inside the arena would continue to take the ball out or set up for Free Throws EXACTLY the way they currently do it, WITHOUT wating for a ruling. No ruling within 10 seconds would mean no ruling.

There could be ONE exception to this. If it wasn't completely clear and they needed to review it again, then, within 10 seconds, the TV Ref would contact the refs in the arena, by pushing a button, to let them know that additional review was required, and if that was done, then the TV Ref would have 10 more seconds. If they couldn't clearly reverse it with the additional 10 seconds, then it would stand. I would NOT expect that this additional 10 seconds would be expected very often, since, with TIVO type technology, a bank of monitors and 1 assistant, it would not be hard at all to SEE and CORRECT almost ANY foul call within 10 seconds. Try it on your TIVO at home.

The TV Ref would ONLY make rulings on Foul Calls. NOT on Out of Bounds calls, etc. If the NBA WANTED to include additional things, such as calls on whether Goaltending acutally occurred, or similar things, then the NBA could do so. Instead, I think the NBA could give EACH coach, TWO Discretionary Challenges, where they could ASK for a ruling on ANY referee call. Such as whether someone actually stepped out of bounds or whether a shot actually hit the rim, to reset the clock. Each challenge would be allowed 20 seconds. If it is not clear enough to decide in 20 seconds, it stands. If the challenge is ruled in favor of the challenging coach, then they do not lose their discretionary challenge, and they still have TWO. But if the ruling gores against them, then they lose that challenge and only have one left.

That is about it. I think it could be done clearly, easily and quickly. Try it yourself with your home TV. You will find that in the case of a bad call you can ALWAYS see the truth BEFORE they actually take the Free Throw or whatever. By limiting the scope of the work by the TV Ref, and by limiting the time for the challenges, it will NOT delay the game. You do NOT want the TV Ref to be making any calls on his own. I suppose you COULD allow the TV Ref to talk to the head ref in the arena and say, "Watch number 21. He's grabbing the guy he's defending," or something like that, but no calls on his own. Or, you could prohibit any such thing. But in any case, I think it could be done quickly and easily, WITHOUT a lot more investment on the part of the NBA.

How would this affect NBA Refs and their calls, if they knew that ALL of their calls would be reviewed immediately and possibly reversed? Would they do a better job?

How would it affect public trust in the officials? Would they feel more confident in the NBA refs? Would they have more satisfaction that the ACTUAL PROPER CALL was consistently made?

More importantly, WOULDN'T IT PREVENT SCANDALS SUCH AS THE PREVIOUS OR ONGOING BETTING/POINT SHAVING SCANDAL? If anyone was trying to do that, they would just be reversed.

What do people think? Any suggestions? How could we talk to the NBA about things like this?