Links: The NBA Hates Black People?
No wonder Avery Johnson started playing Austin Croshere all of a sudden.
I don’t have time today to do a long post, but I’ll be back late tonight to wrap-up the late games.
One thing I wanted to mention today is a story in this morning’s New York Times which seems to endorse a research paper by a couple of academics that concludes white referees call more fouls against black players than white players.
According to the Times…
Justin Wolfers, an assistant professor of business and public policy at the Wharton School, and Joseph Price, a Cornell graduate student in economics, found a corresponding bias in which black officials called fouls more frequently against white players, though that tendency was not as strong. They went on to claim that the different rates at which fouls are called “is large enough that the probability of a team winning is noticeably affected by the racial composition of the refereeing crew assigned to the game.”
The David Sternbot responds that the NBA went back and looked at their data, which specifies which refs called which fouls, and, “We think our cut at the data is more powerful, more robust, and demonstrates that there is no bias.”
(My favorite thing about this story is when they ask a few NBA players about a perceived bias, and who do they ask? SLAM columnist Mike James! Mike is quoted as saying, “If that’s going on, then it’s something that needs to be dealt with. But I’ve never seen it.”)
The real question here is, Are white NBA referees biased against black NBA players? My gut reaction is that it’s an interesting study and the numbers seem to come to a cut-and-dried answer, but it’s making an issue out of something that’s not an issue. The numbers may speak otherwise, but I’ve been following the NBA my entire life and watching it really closely for the last 8 years, and maybe it’s because I’m white, but until I read this story I’d never even thought about this. And in a world that’s regularly electrified by injected race into conversations, I’d suspect if this was a real problem someone, anyone, would have made an issue of it by now.
Later in the story, it actually says…
Mr. Wolfers and Mr. Price claim that these changes are enough to affect game outcomes. Their results suggested that for each additional black starter a team had, relative to its opponent, a team’s chance of winning would decline from a theoretical 50 percent to 49 percent and so on, a concept mirrored by the game evidence: the team with the greater share of playing time by black players during those 13 years won 48.6 percent of games — a difference of about two victories in an 82-game season.
“Basically, it suggests that if you spray-painted one of your starters white, you’d win a few more games,” Mr. Wolfers said.
Wolfers uses the code word “suggests” there, which means “this is what the statistics say, but we all know that’s a bunch of crap.”
Me, I’m curious for more details. Are the numbers skewed because white guys are generally worse defenders than black guys and therefore they regularly get blown past before they can even foul anyone? Do black coaches get more technical fouls than white coaches? Did the researchers take into account intentional fouls, when coaches generally empty the bench (i.e.: put the white guys in) in order to give fouls? How did they classify Jason Williams? And there are a ton of calls made in a game besides fouls — how many of them play out along the same racial lines?
What do you guys think? Are they on to something here? Or are we just wasting our breath?
119 Responses to “Links: The NBA Hates Black People?”
May.2 at 1:26 pm
Dizzle says:
First!
May.2 at 1:28 pm
Tom Jackson says:
Everyone knows that Kobe is the only real racist in the NBA. Wait, Karl Malone is still retired right?
May.2 at 1:30 pm
JON says:
wasting breath.
May.2 at 1:32 pm
DDC says:
this is a ridiculous study. Who are the nerds that conducted this crap?
May.2 at 1:33 pm
Nine XXVI says:
Like you said Lang, this isn’t really an issue and though it hardly matters that I’m black, but I’ve been following the NBA since 95 and I never noticed this either. Also, this doesn’t explain how the Heat beat the Mavericks last year if a team lead by Wade got an infinite amount of calls in regards to Nowitzki’s Mavericks. This doesn’t really racial situations of any type in the world today and I don’t think there’s anything there except for the sake to make the illusion of making something there… yeah.
May.2 at 1:33 pm
DubsGonDoIt says:
Best part LOL “How did they classify Jason Williams?”
May.2 at 1:34 pm
white hot eboy says:
Lang, why’d you have to go there with my namesake?
May.2 at 1:38 pm
Nine XXVI says:
WHAT ABOUT JASON KIDD DAMMIT?!
May.2 at 1:41 pm
Reggie Evans says:
Do the refs hate on Matt Barnes?
May.2 at 1:41 pm
Nine XXVI says:
…also, the picture on the link for this page. What the hell is it?
May.2 at 1:42 pm
Reggie Evans says:
All I know is, George Bush hates black people.
May.2 at 1:42 pm
Lang Whitaker says:
A white hand and a black hand shaking.
May.2 at 1:44 pm
ALX8725 says:
the refs definately hate on Matt Barnes.
May.2 at 1:44 pm
Nine XXVI says:
You see all those tats Barnes had? Come on, that’s a given the refs would hate him. Oh and thanks Lang.
May.2 at 1:53 pm
Dblizzy! says:
What about Doug Christie and all the other not quite Black but not White either brothers out there?
Anyway I think this is a load of crap but somehow someway, someone is gonna blame rap music!
May.2 at 1:53 pm
Chris says:
Did it take into account that Dirk and Croshere and Peja and countless other white players are soft and don’t D up?
May.2 at 1:54 pm
Chris says:
Follow up, look at Kirk Hinrich for example. Dude D’s up for real and he is aggressive with it. Because of this, he was in foul trouble throughout the first round… I’m just sayin…
May.2 at 1:55 pm
the brown guy says:
dammit people, wheres the love.
we’re all the same on the inside, organs and the such.
May.2 at 1:55 pm
Tom Jackson says:
Did they give Kobe’s fouls to the white category half the time and to the black category half the time?
May.2 at 1:57 pm
Sherri says:
i read this article first on msn and the funny thing was that they had a picture of TIM DUNCAN arguing a call with some white refree [no it wasnt joey], anywho if this study were to be true wouldnt white guys be the one leading the league in shooting free throws? instead of wade, a.i, bron, arenas and kobe. & am with stern on this[which is very seldom], this study goes according to the box score stats, which doesnt state what ref. made calls against what player, but this is an interesting yet shallow attempt to grab attention, does`nt times have better things to do like suck up to george bush or sumthin`
May.2 at 1:58 pm
Cheryl says:
Okay, so you got two economists doing research to understand racial bias in officiating NBA games. Who the f^ck financed this research?? And why would economists give a good gotdam?? Trust me, you can make statistics say anything you want them to say. And economists are NOTORIOUS for using so-called statistics to prove some point or another. I really do hope this story fades into oblivion and doesn’t get any traction, especially in the middle of the freakin’ playoffs, man!! How would you even do a study like this when there’s no team (Toronto, maybe) that even starts more than one or two white guys. Ridiculous… Can you tell I’m pissed? There are far more serious issues of race and inequality than this one. Okay, I’ll shut up now…
May.2 at 1:58 pm
shu says:
How about they do a study on how much a female NBA official has the propensity to make AWFUL calls? Hmmm?? Wait so Sternbot’s reaction is going to be let the white players get away with more when a black dude is refing? You know this was only realeased outside of academia because of the Duncan incident still fresh on the media’s minds. It should be a laughable research paper if that never happened.
May.2 at 2:01 pm
Sam Rubenstein says:
This has to be the worst use of money and time for research yet. But if it makes the refs look bad, give the story life!
May.2 at 2:10 pm
shu says:
sorry guys, my last comment seemed chauvinistic. Violet Palmer is a BAD REF. Not a bad BLACK ref. Not a bad WOMAN ref. just bad ref. Like Kirk Hinrich is a GOOD PLAYER. Not a good white player, just a good player. When Stern was asked to comment on Amaechi, he said “…our league doesn’t really put much on race, gender, personal issues. It just matters whether you got game, and what you bring to the court.” The NBA refs should be reflected the same way.
May.2 at 2:18 pm
Sparker says:
actually, the one thing i have noticed is that international players who aren’t superstars don’t seem to get many calls. but that could be just me. and cheryl, you’re cute when you’re mad (cue cheryl reaching for her sidearm…)
May.2 at 2:19 pm
whooo! says:
if these researchers are doing stupid things like this on race, we might as well ask, what color are the researchers? what about the ppl that funded them? the organization? stupid, stupid, stupid report. how can they honestly feel they did an accurate job on this?
May.2 at 2:22 pm
the Birdman says:
If any of this nonsense were true, maybe I could still find a gig in the L…
May.2 at 2:28 pm
Dizzle says:
I agree with Sam, this has to be the biggest waste of money and time. Is basketball really that boring? Where people have to come up with all these stupid reasons to make it interesting? Balready doesn’t have the best image (mainly the NBA), why are they trying to stir up more controversy? Why can’t we see an article outside of SLAM that says something really positive.
May.2 at 2:30 pm
Peter says:
If that articke isnt stupid,I dont know what is…
peace
May.2 at 2:30 pm
allenp says:
I think the study would have been interesting if it would have actually compared who made which calls. Since it didn’t do that, it doesn’t seem really viable.
May.2 at 2:36 pm
Big L says:
Wasting our breath.
May.2 at 2:55 pm
Airick says:
This is an interesting article, I can probably allude to my personal feeling towards one particular player after I read it, and it was Yao Ming. I’m Chinese, watching Yao in his rookie season was the shit, finally a Chinese dude reppin! I remembered when I watched his games back then, he would get many calls/non calls in every game that made me think, “was that a racist call?” I mean, here’s a guy whose neither black nor white, grabbing everyone’s attention in the NBA, under intense scrutiny for being picked first. It would be logical/reasonable to think that SOMEtimes a call is made because he’s Chinese. But like I said, this is complicated, too many variables. For example all those calls/non calls could attribute to Yao’s special style of play, as there hasnt been a mobile 7″6 dude who has post moves, its natural that calls are hard to determine. He was also a rook back then, meaning he’d get calls that normally a star or reg nba-er won’t get. So when it comes down to it, I don’t think a ref like say Dick Bavetta would favor white dudes, or Steve Javie giving more lee-way to a white player before he gives em a T, or even Joey Crawford letting white players clap. In a league where most players ARE black, its too hard to tell.
May.2 at 2:56 pm
Bike says:
Hmmmm. They would have somehow had to factor in minutes played by each player, right? What are the average minutes played by player/race in the NBA. Maybe the bias is in the coaches…do black coaches give more minutes to black players vs. white players? And vice versa for white coaches and white players? What did these morons that did the study control for??
May.2 at 3:01 pm
Bryant Reeves says:
“The paper by Mr. Wolfers and Mr. Price has yet to undergo formal peer review before publication in an economic journal” - their paper hasn’t even been accepted yet! The NY Times is jumping the gun here… I’d love to take a look at the stats they used - something tells me their study is seriously flawed.
May.2 at 3:02 pm
DDC says:
Cheryl that’s real talk. What the hell? These guys are obviously starving for attention, they probably don’t even watch the games.
May.2 at 3:05 pm
Bryant Reeves says:
“Across all of these specifications,” they write, “we find that black players receive around 0.12-0.20 more fouls per 48 minutes played (an increase of 2 ½-4 ½ percent) when the number of white referees officiating a game increases from zero to three.” Funny - I’ve never seen a player be changed with 0.2 fouls
May.2 at 3:08 pm
Bigi says:
The Pic For This Links:Jenna Jameson-Jesus Shuttlesworth-Jill Kelly…Big Love!
May.2 at 3:09 pm
The King says:
The research paper overlooked the fact that there are not enough white players in the league to make their analysis statistically significant.
May.2 at 3:31 pm
Hersey says:
Where’s the study on referee bias against mulattos and other half-negroids? Lemme call some grad school pals and get right on it.
May.2 at 3:50 pm
sixthman6 says:
even though they say they accounted for it, i think it comes down to there being more white officials than black and more black players than white….the chances of white refs calling more fouls on black players just HAS to be higher, its like having me blindly pick a menu item at mcdonalds and then accusing me of being a burger lover cus i happened to pick a hamburger……..also i dont remember reading if they included techs? If so, this may be where the difference really is, its possible , due to cultural differences, a black ref sees the behavior or words of a white player as more offensive than a black ref, and vice versa..
May.2 at 3:55 pm
Rob W. says:
Jason Williams has to be white. Without him, white suburbia would have no representation in the league.
May.2 at 4:23 pm
Kadavour says:
very very funny Birdman. Melonin aside, the Sacremento Kings Jason Williams was a black dude ala Bill Clinton. This is just the Times playing the race card to get a buzz. No institution is gonna put their name on this study.
May.2 at 4:26 pm
Russ Bengtson says:
Refs call an inordinate number of fouls on tall people. HEIGHTISTS! Where’s my Nobel prize?
May.2 at 4:33 pm
Kevin Wilson says:
If this is true, why didn’t the Pacers make the playoffs?
May.2 at 4:36 pm
shu says:
Antidentite.
May.2 at 4:37 pm
Russ Bengtson says:
Because their white guys suck THAT bad.
May.2 at 4:39 pm
john says:
Day-umn! this is why you guys are the best hoops site, hands down!
“How did they classify Jason Williams?”
On Chris Andersen’s exit from the league, “Brrrrr, what happened to that boy.”
charlie Ward’s comments in RED TEXT
“Heightists”
You guys crack me up
May.2 at 4:45 pm
what says:
holy shit! lang is white? next you’re gonna tell me sam is white too
May.2 at 4:52 pm
neaorin says:
“[…]Their results suggested that for each additional black starter a team had, relative to its opponent, a team’s chance of winning would decline from a theoretical 50 percent to 49 percent and so on, a concept mirrored by the game evidence[…]” Well there you have it, definitive proof that… white guys are just better at basketball than black guys. Who said white men can’t jump? ;)
May.2 at 4:53 pm
Khalid Salaam says:
I hate fake ass statistic laced stories. Just trying to start something when there is nothing there. Go get a real job nerds!
May.2 at 4:54 pm
will says:
That’s funny. I love how headline and article make a big deal out of a 4% bias between black and white on the basketball court, grabbing people’s attention. Of course there’s racial bias. That’s human nature; we consciously try to avoid racism; but the subconscious shapes our thoughts and decisions more than we’d like to admit. The fact that the NBA only has a mild 4% bias is great–if you do a similar study for job applications or college applications the bias would be undoubtedly higher. (I’m sure if you adjust for the joey crawfords, ron rons, stephen (woo!) jacksons, and sheeds, the bias goes down even more)
Yet, the headline and article makes a big deal out of this as if it’s shocking news. Not until the end of the article do they finally get down to the crux:
”
Both men cautioned that the racial discrimination they claim to have found should be interpreted in the context of bias found in other parts of American society. “There’s bias on the basketball court,” Mr. Wolfers said, “but less than when you’re trying to hail a cab at midnight.”
” But of course, that’s not attention-grabbing news, so it’s buried at the end of the article.
May.2 at 4:54 pm
Khalid Salaam says:
What about me? I’m white too.
May.2 at 4:56 pm
Ron says:
Simple mathematics suggests that if there are more black players in the NBA than white players, that more of the calls made by the refs would be called against black players. It’s logic not rocket science.
May.2 at 4:56 pm
Dblizzy! says:
Sam ain’t white, Rubenstein is just his slave name!
May.2 at 5:00 pm
Reggie Evans says:
The paper said the black players got called for fouls at a higher RATE than the RATE at which whites players did, you geniuses. Not TOTAL NUMBER.
May.2 at 5:09 pm
Khalid Salaam says:
I’m lying. But it would sure be nice to catch a cab after midnight sometimes. Then again i like being able to wear denim shorts so i guess it all evens out.
May.2 at 5:15 pm
rob stewart says:
Are they going to do a study on light skinned vs dark skinned players also ?
May.2 at 5:15 pm
Jeremy Hyatt says:
What about albino’s?
May.2 at 5:52 pm
sixthman6 says:
there’s no way you can conclude anything else when you have an overwhelming amount of black players and white refs, whether its total number or rate, especially when the top players, who tend to be more active offensively and defensivley, are mostly black…….If they want to be taken seriously, the need to focus on games where the race and talent are evenly matched, which would be hard to do anyway…
May.2 at 5:55 pm
Sparker says:
khalid’s not puerto rican?
May.2 at 5:58 pm
Sam Rubenstein says:
Rubenstein is a fake name I use so I can get fouls called on black people.
May.2 at 6:00 pm
joe says:
You can rip the authors for not being fans (although I suspect that they are) but we should all give them the benefit of the doubt about their study. They were very likely trying to find the truth about the situation - those of you who study science (even social science like economics) know that the truth and accuracy of the results are the most important things. Mindlessly insulting them (shame on you Khalid) is pointless. Read their study and try to poke holes in the data, if you will. That would be a better approach. To get an appreciation of what economists do, read Freakonomics.
May.2 at 6:01 pm
sixthman6 says:
and “all star status” is a joke in today’s game, half the guys who are all stars don’t even deserve it, meaning some of the data is faulty because you have guys who are more talented thrown into the “non all star” group..
May.2 at 6:09 pm
Russ Bengtson says:
So what’s the solution? Foul reparation?
May.2 at 6:15 pm
Khalid Salaam says:
Que?
May.2 at 6:20 pm
sixthman6 says:
We can start by making Steve Novak play defense, damn him and his silky smooth shot..
May.2 at 6:41 pm
WeS says:
I love to talk about race. But this is the dumbest shit I ever heard.
May.2 at 6:42 pm
snyper48 says:
Damn Lang, I want my last two minutes back, who are these people?Do they know that the NBA along with Coke and Hip Hop are best products the U.S of A has in the world market, why trying to throw dirty on it.Do a research on how many WMD were found in Iraq!!!
May.2 at 6:57 pm
Ben Osborne says:
I love that Khalid used the classic in-office jean shorts joke…The Times has an unhealthy and often misguided obsession with race. Race as a topic is often worthwhile, but I hate the way they do it. This thing was on page A1?! Give me a break. Sometimes, I have to admit, I feel bad for David Stern and the type of bullshit he has to deal with.
May.2 at 6:59 pm
snyper48 says:
What about me? I’m white too
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I’m lying. But it would sure be nice to catch a cab after midnight sometimes. Then again i like being able to wear denim shorts so i guess it all evens out.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
So what’s the solution? Foul reparation?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Slam,you guys are for real,my younger bro see me crackin up in front of the monitor and look at me like wtf is wrong with you?
May.2 at 7:57 pm
Reggie Evans says:
Is Charlie Villanueva an albino?
May.2 at 7:57 pm
nastruthomas says:
you said “denim” shorts.
May.2 at 8:48 pm
OM says:
For those who’ve followed hoops, ask Clyde Drexler:) That said, this is a pretty staright forwrad regression, and if they controlled for as many factors as the article suggests its pretty damning. Yes, you can twist and turn a lot of stats but they seem to have gone through some rigour on this. I meet even bother reading all 40+ pages over the weekend.
May.2 at 10:40 pm
8-Ball says:
what about charles barkley and black refs? do they count to? way to go and hate 70% of the nba dude,i mean yu obviously no these are fake statistics rite?
May.2 at 11:27 pm
Drolfe says:
Word man. *slides legs further under the desk so no one notices denim shorts*
May.2 at 11:53 pm
Lang Whitaker says:
Khalid actually loves denim shorts and think everyone else should wear them more often. As I often point out, however, denim shorts have never and will never look good on white people.
May.2 at 11:54 pm
Jake Appleman says:
i always wondered why i never wore jeans or denim for that matter. and then i wondered if i cared, and i realized i didn’t. but then khalid said what he said, and i realized that some people enjoy denim, so i wondered if maybe i was missing out. then i thought that maybe it’s ok for everyone to have their own style even if, like me, you have no style, but then i wondered if style is just something subjective, despite what culture tells us. and then i wondered if we try too hard, like kobe, who is about to be eliminated, and maybe we should just all be ourselves. then i wondered if we all extend ourselves a little bit too much sometimes–even in the process of pointing out someone else, like Kobe, who is over-extending his personality.
i’m going to bed.
May.3 at 12:04 am
Boing Dynasty says:
“How did they classify Jason Williams?”- is one of the funniest things ive ever read on this site. “As I often point out, however, denim shorts have never and will never look good on white people.”- Is just strange.
May.3 at 12:09 am
tike says:
BE QUIET JAKE APPLEMAN….ON THE RACE ISSUE, NUMBERS DO ADD UP SO HEY…BUT I DONT THINK REFS ARE JUST BLOWING THE WHISTLE BECAUSE THERE BLACK THATS JUST CRAZY…BUT THEN AGAIN YOU NEVER KNOW
May.3 at 12:42 am
Russ Bengtson says:
I wore denim shorts a lot in college, but then again I was also binge drinking a lot at the time.
May.3 at 1:06 am
KA says:
i too LOLd at how do you classify jwill. btw, i think the crazies all belong in the class of their own, which includes stephen woo jackson, sheed, ronron, et al.
May.3 at 2:38 am
Andre says:
I guess we just need to call this “study” stupid, and move on. It was not long ago that some “experts” say The JunkYard Dog is a better player than Iverson statistically.
May.3 at 5:51 am
Boing Dynasty says:
“Statistically”, iam better than Iverson.
May.3 at 7:00 am
Boyd says:
Ron makes the best point; black players outnumber white by about 9 or 10 to 1, so of course more fouls will be called on black players. And when was the last time you saw a seven foot 250 pound athletic white guy getting 35 minutes a night in the pivot? Other than Yao, Walton is probably the only non-black centre/power forward of note since the fifties, and most fouls go down in the paint, right? Numbers and positions people, numbers and positions. ‘Statisitics’ are normally used to prove lies, especially in buzz-word media style ’studies’ like this here.
May.3 at 7:25 am
Seiko Smith says:
I thought Slam was a magazine written FOR US and BY US?
May.3 at 7:36 am
Rome says:
“Walton is probably the only non-black centre/power forward of note since the fifties” What about Mchale, KiKi, Sikma, Eaton, Smits, Laimbeer, Chambers…..
May.3 at 7:40 am
Rome says:
I’m black, the study is flawed garbage. I think they need to study the ref bias against hip hop generation athletes antics, i.e. getting quick techs for taunting, talking trash, CLAPPING? They need to study that stuff. These are all things Jordan and Bird on a regular basis, but if Iverson,J-Will, Melo, Sheed, or Whoo do it they get tossed quickly.
May.3 at 7:40 am
Rome says:
Yes I think there’s a generation bias, not racial.
May.3 at 7:47 am
Rome says:
Oh yeah I forgot, whenever I mention Jordan, I must always “honor” him with the phrase “MAY MY SPIT AND DOOKIE BE UPON HIM!!!” I hate that guy so much. It really pisses me off that my Pistons finally get a chance for revenge 16 years later, and he’s not even on the court to recieve said revenge. Oh well, we’ll have to take it out on the two Bens’.
May.3 at 8:33 am
Cheryl says:
“rob stewart says: Are they going to do a study on light skinned vs dark skinned players also?” Now that would be an interesting study. And Jake: you just had a “Wanda Moment”–see Wanda Sykes stand-up routine for reference. i love this site!!
May.3 at 9:03 am
Boyd says:
Please Rome, you pick 7 white pivots in 40 or fifty years; Camby, STAT, TD, Shaq, Zo, Dwight, Big Ben etc, theres seven just this year. 7 in half a century doesn’t cut it my old son. Why does Jordan piss you off? You cannot seriously appreciate basketball and say that? Even that f*cking bitch Isaiah Thomas hated on him back in the day; couldn’t stand someone better than him, which is what your player-hatin inferiority to Jordan and the Bulls sounds like.
May.3 at 9:42 am
Drew says:
Are we missing a point in that the league is predominately black so it just stands to reason moree calls would go against black players. If we were talking about this in another sport say hockey then it would be more of an issue but even if there is a bias how do you correct it? I’m black and I think that this whole study is a complete waste of time.
May.3 at 10:36 am
Don Imus says:
Being a nappy-headed ho should be a foul. Just kidding!! I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry……..
May.3 at 11:01 am
Jake Appleman says:
wanda moments? wait. are you cheryl david? because that would be incredible.
May.3 at 11:12 am
1hush D says:
I have a racial discussion topic without going to statistics (thanks G$). How bad would an ALL-WHITE AMERICAN NBA team be? Name your starting 5! That is right, the Euro team would kill them. The black team would kill them. The mixed race team would kill them. Are American white kids just playing soccer and tball? What gives? No Nash, No Nowitzki, No Nocioni or AK or Kidd or…..is white chocolate white?
May.3 at 12:09 pm
Chief says:
Let’s face it, more Black men start in the NBA than white guys. Sorry i do apologize. However there are no Native starters so i feel for ya. So Naturally Your starters are gonna play more minutes, and get more fouls than the bench. Not white people , the Bench. End of Story. If anything the NBA is racist against white people, cause they can’t foul.
May.3 at 12:09 pm
Ryan Jones says:
Russ, that “foul reparations” line made me pee myself.
May.3 at 12:10 pm
Ryan Jones says:
And again, just to clarify, I believe the study claims that blacks are called for fouls AT A HIGHER RATE than whites, not just more — it’s like a per-capita thing. The study’s pretty clearly flawed, but I don’t think it’s THAT flawed.
May.3 at 1:31 pm
Ill Will says:
Yeah I agree with Ryan, I dont think the study is THAT flawed. It just really doesnt mean a whole lot, if anything. If it’s only a 4 percent difference then what is the big deal? Did they expect the rates to be exactly the same? It’s kind of mind-numbing to even try to make sense of this whole thing.
May.3 at 1:51 pm
sixthman6 says:
i mentioned the technical fouls earlier, if they are included then that could be that 4%, i think most techs go to black guys, right? And i don’t agree that bird and MJ did the same thing as these players today, they didn’t Make hand gestures at the crowd or others or yell profanity at refs across court or at fans, thats why refs are harder now, to prevent “sarcastic clapping” to lead to something worse
May.3 at 3:03 pm
1hush D says:
How about dark-skinned players are more aggressive on the court and they have extra muscles and stuff?
May.3 at 3:33 pm
1hush D says:
Talk of the Nation, NPR is preparing to discuss this topic right now.
May.3 at 4:38 pm
Modulus says:
Ok, did the Nation of Islam sponsor this study?
May.4 at 12:47 am
2G40 says:
Why don’t they do a study on undeserving mvp’s…Now that’s a story.
May.4 at 11:44 am
1hush D says:
I think they have found a racial variance not necessarily a racial bias. If they look at the data closer they may rule out bias. Not that I defend racist America. It would not surprise me but I am skeptical they came up with a sound conclusion of bias.
May.5 at 12:45 am
8-Ball says:
tell the denim shoerts thing to paul wall dude.i should hav pointed that out earlier but ya seriously,king of all wiggers.dude just go die,your album didnt sell shit on itunes.why the hell are yu in the new def jam any way? get a llife yu fake ass poser its not like any of that happened to you in real life and yu cant go and compare your self to any other black rapper cuz they been through tnhat real “hood” hardship and yu posin around sayin that yu drive nice rides and smoke weed is just mockin the rap games legacy,so think to yourself now,”am i really a dude from the hood or a poser?”just think.this thing actually matters except now no one can go and point the finger at me cuz im neither black white or wigger,im a 12 year old indian kid thats really good at school,likes playin ball,watchin it, and happens to no a hell of a lot more on the rap game than any of yu wiggers that pose and think your black 24/7,and lets get this clear,if a black guy does not act gangsta or appears to not like rap,yu sure as hell dont start wearing timberlands when the cool down to earth black dude does not comprande? krondon and eminem your cool yu really went through that stuff and are not posers,and wiggers dont even try and drop that beastie boy shit on me ok?normal white people are cool,and realistic black people are cool,matter a fact every race in the world is cool,except that of wiggers. its ok when white people listen to rap believe me your still cool other wise,only when yu start wearing sean john and timberland and shop at the urban surplus store in downtown near the goodfoot,and start calling your friends “homies” and lamely rapping a perfectly good rap song until you cant stand listening to that song any more cuz the wigger likes it.dont get me wrong i dont mind if white like rap its until yu start looking like yu came straight out of sean john catalouge that scares me.good urban clothing alternatives for white people are lrg and zoo york,thats ok with me.im over and out
May.5 at 12:46 am
8-Ball says:
tell the denim shoerts thing to paul wall dude.i should hav pointed that out earlier but ya seriously,king of all wiggers.dude just go die,your album didnt sell shit on itunes.why the hell are yu in the new def jam any way? get a life yu fake ass poser its not like any of that happened to you in real life and yu cant go and compare your self to any other black rapper cuz they been through tnhat real “hood” hardship and yu posin around sayin that yu drive nice rides and smoke weed is just mockin the rap games legacy,so think to yourself now,”am i really a dude from the hood or a poser?”just think.this thing actually matters except now no one can go and point the finger at me cuz im neither black white or wigger,im a 12 year old indian kid thats really good at school,likes playin ball,watchin it, and happens to no a hell of a lot more on the rap game than any of yu wiggers that pose and think your black 24/7,and lets get this clear,if a black guy does not act gangsta or appears to not like rap,yu sure as hell dont start wearing timberlands when the cool down to earth black dude does not comprande? krondon and eminem your cool yu really went through that stuff and are not posers,and wiggers dont even try and drop that beastie boy shit on me ok?normal white people are cool,and realistic black people are cool,matter a fact every race in the world is cool,except that of wiggers. its ok when white people listen to rap believe me your still cool other wise,only when yu start wearing sean john and timberland and shop at the urban surplus store in downtown near the goodfoot,and start calling your friends “homies” and lamely rapping a perfectly good rap song until you cant stand listening to that song any more cuz the wigger likes it.dont get me wrong i dont mind if white like rap its until yu start looking like yu came straight out of sean john catalouge that scares me.good urban clothing alternatives for white people are lrg and zoo york,thats ok with me.im over and out
May.5 at 10:57 am
Magic says:
just wondering-
did they take into account the percentages of black, white, etc. players that make up the L?
May.5 at 4:02 pm
Cordeazy says:
One thing to remember is the study attributed the calls to the subcontious, which means no one would have noticed the trend throughout the years.
May.5 at 8:34 pm
Eoin says:
Magic-yes, they obviously did.If they hadn’t, that would literally make it the most idiotic survey of all time.
“How did they classify Jason Williams?”-hilarious.
The thing is, this shouldn’t really be an issue because the whole point of the survey is that it’s unconscious discrimination.Lang I really think you missed out on this aspect - the issue isn’t whether or not white refs are biased against black players, it’s whether we all are unconsciously biased against people of different skin colour to our own.And frankly I don’t think anyone would really be surprised if this were true.Like Henry pointed out over at truehoop, anyone who’s read Malcolm Gladwell’s book Blink wouldn’t be surprised at all by this.
May.6 at 7:15 am
The Big Cheese says:
Do they mention the Duke program anywhere in the article? I’ve been following the NCAA and the NBA for over a decade and I am still amazed at the calls that go Duke’s way on a regular basis. This past season may have been different, I couldn’t tell because Duke was piss-poor for once and had very few nationally televised games (although they were still selected to the round of 64…out of habit, I guess). I remember reading SLAM years ago ( I think maybe 2001), following Duke’s victory over ‘Zona in the final, and you guys actually called the refs on it. It went soemthing like:
“Congratulations to the Duke Blue Devils on their NCAA Championship victory. We recognized Battier, Boozer, Williams, Dunleavy, and Duhon but who were the other three guys playing for Duke but wearing black and white…”
Whatever you wrote, it was hilarious and it stuck with me to this day. Whenever I question a referees motives, I just think back to that game (and hundreds of other Coach K coached games) and, as they say in The Sound Of Music, then I don’t feel so bad.
As for the NBA, I have to admit that I, too, have never noticed a racial bias when it came to whistles. I mean, Jordan and Malone drew a lot of phantom fouls in their day, while Longley, Wennington, and Ostertag were always in foul trouble by halftime. These days, DWade hits the floor like a Step Up extra all game and he gets calls. The Diesel gets away with all kinds of foul-like behaviour. As someone else mentioned, look who hleads the league in free throws taken every year; they’re not albino. Even Kobe’s had his issues with the refs this year, but he still gets a lot of calls. Plus, he only elbows white guys in the face…coincidence?
May.6 at 5:03 pm
Harpreet says:
NBA is racist to black people no questions asked kobe deserved mvp 3 yrs now and he has 0 instead its Steve Nash winning dem and shaq got screwed and dirk gonna win it dis yr
May.6 at 11:37 pm
Paolo says:
I’m not in total agreement that the NBA is racist. Afterall, they have given African-American basketball players more than one chance to make a life for themselves even if some have shown a reluctance to embrace it on a consistent basis (e.g. Sebastian Telfair, Roy Tarpley, JR Rider, etc). As far as awards are concerned, I totally agree with the discrepancy. During the Steve Nash MVP year 1, I thought it should have gone to Tim Duncan, while last year, it should have been Kobe. This year, it should be Nash, though. But Dirk would beat him. DOes that make the NBA suddenly bias to tall guys?
May.9 at 1:22 am
Bay Area Life says:
last time i checked there were more white refs then black refs and more black players then white. so maybe that statistic is skewed
May.9 at 12:32 pm
faithful fan says:
The bottom line is that the NBA is 95% black, so of course there are going to be more calls against black people! These guys should be nothing but thankful that there is a job for them to make insane amount of money for playin ball. White or black. I say they (african americans) get more calls when they start playing for a little less money!
May.9 at 1:49 pm
Study method says:
There’s clearly problems with this survey, mainly that it doesn’t say WHICH ref called the fouls. But I’m surprised that apparantly nobody except Ryan Jones knows how to read statistics. The researchers look at fouls per capita, so that it doesn’t matter AT ALL that 80-90% of the players or black, or 70% or whatever of the refs are white. The study is NOT looking at total number of fouls called.
May.9 at 4:40 pm
» Links: Loose Ends - SLAM ONLINE says:
[…] • Regarding the whole “NBA has racist refs” story, a reader who asked that I not use his name wrote in… I think you, and the entire media, are missing the real angle in the Wolfers research. Wolfers and his coauthor are making the point that DESPITE the heroic efforts of the NBA to provide an absolutely level playing field for the players, racism is so subconscious and innate that it cannot be completely eliminated. The point of their paper is that if even the NBA, with all of its checks and balances on officiating, can’t wipe out subconscious racial bias, how can one expect police pulling a car over at night to do it? Throughout their paper they actually commend the NBA for reducing racial bias as much as it does — I added emphasis: (”These results are striking given the level of racial equality achieved along other dimensions in the NBA and the high level of accountability and monitoring under which the referees operate.”; “…the evaluators in our sample (NBA referees) are a particularly expert group, with substantial experience, continual feedback, and they face robust career incentives to be accurate. Indeed, NBA Commissioner Stern has claimed that these referees ‘are the most ranked, rated, reviewed, statistically analyzed and mentored group of employees of any company in any place in the world.’”) Really, the remarkable thing is that, despite the NBA’s considerable efforts, they cannot get this innate bias down to zero. It’s a shame that the media insisted on the race-baiting spin about how NBA referees are biased. And it’s a shame that the NBA responded with a full-court press. (Sorry!) The research truly is a testament to how far this country has come, racially, and how far we still have to go. It in no way (in my reading) indicts the NBA for anything. Indeed, the referees appear likely to be significantly less biased than the rest of society. I hope you (or someone) will get the spin right. To do this, I urge you to read the underlying research paper. Ignore the statistics; any credible statistician or economist who has read the paper thinks the authors did the analysis right and you can trust them. (The concerns you mention in your column — no offense — are pretty obvious and have been accounted for.) […]
May.17 at 9:27 am
nick shwaery says:
What a waste of time! This kind of crap gets people fired up for no reason. I agree with Whitaker, I’m pretty sure this would have been brought up if there were any validity to the claim.
Aug.28 at 11:11 pm
Gary says:
How does this survey is conducted affect it creditibility,notice that Black people play much more minutes in the NBA, eventually higher rate of foul…