Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Referee Stats

I am an avid fan of sports. You name it Tennis, NBA, MLB, NFL, MMA, Boxing. I don't know if it's the competition, the strategy, or the excitement of it all, but I digs sports. In sports we get all the information about players and teams we can handle. Batting average, on base percentage, field goal percentage, three point percentage, punch stats, etc. You name it and somebody is keeping track of it. But one thing we don't have is ref/ump stats, stay with me here.

In the NBA for instance, after every game the refs review games and see which calls they got right and which calls they blew. I'd like it if that information were as public as the player stats. "Which ref callss the most ticky tack fouls." "Who gets the most charge/block calls correct?" "Most likely to miss a moving screen." In sports we like to act as if the refs don't have an effect on the outcome of the games. "The better team will always win," we like to believe. But anybody who actually follows the game, has a favorite team, or favorite player can point to a bad call they believe changed the outcome of a game.

For instance all the Knick fans currently butthurt over the offensive foul called on Carmelo Anthony (it was a foul imo even if Pierce sold it. The most you could really argue is why didn't they let it go.) or this, I'd like to know more than the Mavs record in these games, like what are the #'s and what story do they tell about the kind of game he calls? Is their record in these games coincidental, or is there a trend?  Does he call their games any differently than how he calls any other team? I don't see how not knowing this kind of thing helps, and I don't see how knowing would hurt.

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