Don’t blame the game, blame the players
Joe P (a Scoring at Home favorite) got frustrated with the TV coverage of March Madness last weekend, because all anyone wanted to talk about was the officiating. To paraphrase, shouldn’t we be talking about the action between the whistles? It’s not the five-second call, or the no-call at the buzzer that won or lost the game. It’s the things the players on the court did.* And it might just be the job of the, you know, analysts, to discuss what the players and coaches are doing.
*Because I lack free will when watching TV, and the announcers didn’t discuss it, I didn’t even think about the timeout during the game. But Joe P’s totally right- it was the game-killer.
An island of reason in a sea of crazed ref haters this weekend? Charles Barkley, of course. On more than one occasion I saw him refuse to blame the refs and instead put the onus on the coaches and players for making boneheaded plays. Specifically, in the post-game chatter about UNC vs. Washington, the other commentators were blathering on about whether Washington should have had more than .5 seconds to take a final shot (blaming the refs for making a poor call), when Sir Charles stepped in to say that they were missing the point- UW gagged at the end of the game (including the premature half-court heave that led to the final play). Bravo, Chuckster. Keep calling ‘em as you see ‘em- we’re listening.
[Update: This morning, in the NY Times.]
