David Stern: the village idiot

[FiddySicks]

F David Stern, he sucks. Fining Van Gundy $100,000 for what? Speaking out? Whatever happened to freedom of speech? Ill tell you the truth, id much rather take a swing at that guy than any other commish in sports including Bettman and Selig.

If this is already a topic, my bad, i didnt see it and had to blow off some steam.

[OMMF]

F David Stern, he sucks. Fining Van Gundy $100,000 for what? Speaking out? Whatever happened to freedom of speech? Ill tell you the truth, id much rather take a swing at that guy than any other commish in sports including Bettman and Selig.

If this is already a topic, my bad, i didnt see it and had to blow off some steam.

Freedom of speech, eh? Why don't you walk into your bosses office (or principal, whichever) and tell them that you think they suck at his/her job and see how far your freedom of speech goes.

Freedom of speech is not carte blanche (look it up) to say whatever you want. You'll learn soon enough.

[FiddySicks]

F David Stern, he sucks. Fining Van Gundy $100,000 for what? Speaking out? Whatever happened to freedom of speech? Ill tell you the truth, id much rather take a swing at that guy than any other commish in sports including Bettman and Selig.

If this is already a topic, my bad, i didnt see it and had to blow off some steam.

Freedom of speech, eh? Why don't you walk into your bosses office (or principal, whichever) and tell them that you think they suck at his/her job and see how far your freedom of speech goes.

Freedom of speech is not carte blanche (look it up) to say whatever you want. You'll learn soon enough.

What did he say though? He said that he had info that a ref was calling against Yao harder than normal. Does that desreve a $100,000 fine? Hell no. Stern does plop like this all the time and to tell you the truth, he probably should work at a Dairy Queen

[See Red]

The NBA has, by far, the worst officials. The NFL has some superstar bias when it comes to a pass interference call, or whatever -- but it doesn't even compare to the NBA. Officials out-of-position making calls, constant superstar bias, and they deserve to be criticized -- I wish more players and coaches would. I wish analysts would make note of key miscalls when reviewing a game -- but the officials get off the hook, I don't see the NBA doing anything to discipline them.

These NBA Playoffs, I've seen some of the worst officiating I've ever seen across the board in every game -- absolutely no consistency in any of these games.

Maybe the the NBA can invest the money from fines towards getting some halfway decent officials or atleast teaching them how to referee a game.

[Alphabet Man]

over here the AFL fines players/coaches/officials that publicly criticise the AFL Tribunal.... and i would critices them as well, G-Train gets reported and offered 2 weeks for a punch to Cloke's stomach, that is crap, it happens all the time and Big Fraser gets reported for it......

[Big Africa]

Stern is an idiot, he should of let Artest back for the playoffs and the suspensions on O'Neal and Jackson were too harsh.

[Alphabet Man]

wasn't artest suspended for 72 games? that was the rest of the season he should play the playoffs.... the NBA sounds like they need a Tribunal system (but get one better than our AFL Tribunal)

[See Red]

This gets worse...

Van Gundy Fined $100K...

While Van Gundy laughed off the penalty and Yao offered to pick up half the tab, the matter jumped to another, far more serious level. Commissioner David Stern called the fine "an intermediary step," adding that an investigation will continue once the Rockets finish their playoff run.

He said further punishment is possible, even implying that Van Gundy could face a lifetime ban.

"If he's going to say things like that, he's not going to continue in this league," Stern said. "If the attitude reflected in those comments continues to be public, he's going to have a big problem with me as long as I'm commissioner."

[Mac the Knife]

Van Gundy was fined because he was implying that the officials were biased toward the 'superstars' of the league - something Stern is particularly wary of as there have been NBA conspiracy theorists out there for years now. By slapping him with a $100K fine, he's telling everyone loud and clear - STFU. Don't stir the pot.

As for the Pacers incident, had I been Commissioner they'd all have been banned for life. Stern was, if anything, too lenient on them.

But the NBA as a whole sucks. Low scoring. Bad officiating. Too much bling and not enough game.

[The_Admiral]

This is funny, because it's scrawny little Jeff Van Gundy.

[-kj]

More specifically, he was insinuating that the officials are carrying out a league policy by calling things more stringently against Yao. I don't know if I agree with this "further investigation," nor the severity of the fine, but Van Gundy did break league policy by publically badmouthing the officials.

[OnWis97]

Of all sports leagues, the NBA has by far the biggest problem with people thinking it is fixed.

Stern is a business person first and foremost and he wants to send the message that you can't do things that allow that perception to be furthered.

I could see Stern giving Van Gundy a choice: "Either you get banned for life or you tell us the official that told you this and he gets banned for life." Stern is at times out of control and he loves to exert his authority. Like when asked if the Artest punishment was unanimous, he said (with much arrogance in my opinion) "yeah it was unanimous. One to zero."

Has stern been good for the NBA--of course. They were in the crapper when he took over. They have made money and that is what matters.

But at the very least, they give too much preferential treatmetn to the stars. And when you have multiple stars (1990s Bulls and Shaq/Kobe Lakers) you are going to get a lot of calls.

[Sterling84]

There is some cheating and bad officiating in every sport at every level. I think what makes the NBA so particularly frustrating (and I would almost throw MLB in there too) is that there blind eye to officiating bias is more prominent than at lower levels.

What do I mean by that? Lets say some form of holding goes on during EVERY NFL play. Agreed? Probably. But some form of holding goes on during every college play, every high school play and every pee wee play. Its common knowledge and refs do their best two watch 22 players and call only the most flagrant ones.

Contrarily.....the NBA allows handchecking, charging,excessive travelling, palming and all manner of violations to all their players....but especially their marketable superstars. But the NCAA doesn't allow this and they sure as heck didn't let me do ANY of that at the high school level.

It's just too darn obvious. The Bucks got jobbed in '01 (Mutombo had like 6 fouls the entire series) and anyone facing the "preferred" superstar gets the same treatment. Travelling is so rampant I can't even bare to watch NBA basketball anymore.

Anyway, Stern ( I suppose) was within his rights as commissioner to forbid these comments. Most companies and corporations have similar standards. But these infractions are not regarding acquisitions or share prices.......they are on TV for everyone in the world to see. Stern should clean up his game instead of worrying about dissenters. Likewise, Gundy should just coach the game and be quiet. God athletes/coaches whine a lot.

[slapshot]

Good points, Sterling.

The NBA is very corrupt in what it wants its referees to call and what to ignore. And as a basketball referee myself, I pretend that the games don't exist. Unfortunately, I have a roommate who likes to watch the NBA, so I do see some action now and then. But if I want to watch real basketball, well, that season ended early April with the Tar Heels winning the title.

Palming, traveling, hand checks, charging, etc...none are called as frequently as the should. Carry-over? What's that? The illegal move Allen Iverson starts out any break to the basket.

Yes, there is a huge conspiracy over preferential treatment of the superstars. Wasn't it called "The Jordan Rules" at some point? It's just spilled over to encompass some other players now that #23 has retired. Do I think it's cheating? Yes and no. I don't think the player is directly in on it, but I'm sure Stern sends out "memos" now and then to remind the officials not to whistle certain players.

As far as football, well, I referee that too. It's a lot easier to call holding with 7 refs on the field rather than 3 or 4. Yes, there's probably holding on every play, but you have to slightly delay the flag to see if the hold had any impact on the play.

For both basketball and football, there is a term given to the officials: "Common-Sense Officiating". It's pretty much what I said in the last paragraph. If we see a violation that has no impact on the play (unless it's very egregious), we don't blow the whistle or throw the penalty flag. Example: if the wide receiver on my sideline is holding the DB, but the running back is sweeping to the other sideline (and about 30-40 yards across the field from where the hold is taking place), we're not very likely to throw the flag. We may inform the players what we saw, so they know eyes are upon them, but since it had no bearing on the play, it "never happened".

Same thing for basketball: if players are clutching and holding for position under the basket, but the basket went in, it won't get called (unless it's a flagrant or intentional foul). There's no reason to call it unless the crew of officials plans to spend an extra hour and a half working that game.

These are "unwritten" procedures to follow, and you'll never see them in any rule book or reputable officials' hand, but they fall under game management.

Travelling is so rampant I can't even bare to watch NBA basketball anymore.

As far as that statement, I prefer to keep my clothes on while watching basketball, thank you

[NJTank]

NBA ref Bennett Salvator and another one whose name escapes me often get miced up for National TV games and then try to ghode the players into arguments and excetions because they think its about them and they want to show off for the camera.

[FiddySicks]

If Van Gundy gets a lifetime ban, i wouldnt be too suprised to see players sign a petition trying to rid the league of Stern. At least thats what i would do

[The_Admiral]

Stern is at times out of control and he loves to exert his authority. Like when asked if the Artest punishment was unanimous, he said (with much arrogance in my opinion) "yeah it was unanimous. One to zero."

That wasn't Stern being an ass. That was some reporter not understanding that suspensions aren't administered democratically.

[rockchalk]

If Van Gundy gets a lifetime ban, i wouldnt be too suprised to see players sign a petition trying to rid the league of Stern. At least thats what i would do

To quote Richard Justice from PTI today, "Nobody hits the Godfather" There'd be no way this would happen.

[Cashcleaner]

But the NBA as a whole sucks. Low scoring. Bad officiating. Too much bling and not enough game.

Low scoring?! Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?! Scores of 79-86 don't strike you as being enough? I'll admit I didn't think much of the one NBA game I saw live, but I wouldn't make a claim that it's low scoring.

[RyanB06]

Considering that games not even 15 years ago were consistently in the 120s and 130s, then, yes, the NBA is low-scoring.