NBA Refs hate black people

well, the white ones do at least

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...ap/index.html

gotta love the NBA refuting this, based on data it refuses to release.

How did this study even make it into publication? If box scores are the source of the data, how as the race of a referee making a call determined? A referee crew can be all white, all black, two white/one black, or two black/one white. The study is invalid since there is no way to determine the race of the individual making a foul call for any mixed race crew. Dismissal of the study by the NBA is totally valid. Also, it would be nice if they released their own data, but confidentiality agreements with the referees would block that. So, where's the beef?

Of course, all things considered, there is another way of looking at such data. It may very well be that the racial composition of a referee unit actually favors those of the same race. In that case, the reason that players of color receive less fouls when the referees are of the same race would be because those referees would be less likely to call a foul when it occurs. In any case, "racism" or "hate" are not credible comments.

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Originally Posted by Jarhead

How did this study even make it into publication?

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I don't think it has been published... according to the article, they haven't submitted it yet, so it hasn't been peer-reviewed. Why the NY Times would pick this up is beyond me.

On the other hand, Steven Jackson did not deserve to be ejected last night.

According to the NYT story, it runs both ways: black refs and white refs are both more likely to call fouls on the other race, although the white refs showed a stronger propensity.

Although the study is not yet peer-reviewed, the NYT showed the research to experts, who deemed it more convincing than the NBA's own study of the issue (which -- surprise! -- showed that there was no problem).

The NBA saw this research upwards of a year ago, so there has been no rush to press.

Chris