There I was sitting, no standing, rooting for the Lakers to pull out the game and lo and behold us, that's what they did, only . . . There I was standing suddenly as deflated as Brent Barry as I realized that the refereeing knife can cut both ways. No foul on that shot. "No foul" says Kobe.
I can barely stand to watch the games these days. They are totally out of the referees hands or in them. Of course, there is a little bit of karma going on. The Spurs, with Tony Parker leading the way, are great at what I call the "shot flop". Tony drives to the basket, leans into the defense and then just as he releases the shot, he suddenly seems propelled towards the floor as though shoved. Or Tim Duncan, shooting a layup, releases the ball and falls back and usually down even though the defense went straight up or even worse didn't respond at all. And the most irritating part of it all, is the Rick Hamilton stay on the floor and as long as you can appear to be unconscious or in agony follow up.
Of course, I understand it. The refs reflect the aim of the commissioner. Entertainment first, protect the players but always interpret the foul, each foul, so that there is never any consistency except that the calls are inconsistent. Which is why Kobe could say, "There was no foul." Except towards the game, which as a sportsman, I have to say, I don't want to win that way.
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