Officiating is very, very hard. Just think how many factors referees have to consider on a single possession of basketball even at its most elementary level.
Is the player with the ball moving his pivot foot and dribbling legally? Is the defender guarding it committing a foul? Are there any violations taking place away from the initial action? How much time is on the clock? What is the coach complaining about?
The questions that officials are forced to answer on every trip down the floor are virtually endless. And at the game’s highest level, that intense critical thinking is forced to come at rapid speed as the best athletes in the world play faster, harder, and more physical than is possible for the viewing public to comprehend.
Refereeing without error, basically, is impossible. But that doesn’t stop hordes of fans across the globe from levying wild and occasionally irrational complaints about NBA officials on a nightly basis. They’re people, folks, and people make mistakes.
And now that vilified referees like Joey Crawford, Tony Brothers, and Scott Foster finally have a platform to garner empathy, perhaps it’s time you come to appreciate just how hard their job really is. The more likely scenario, obviously? That you simply laugh at these self-sponsored mean tweets and go back to hating all officials once league action finally resumes next week.
