People are looking at this from the angle of $150K, but it really isn't. It's about the value that the referees are adding to the league. As much as we fans like to complain about how they call the game, they are the best in the world, and there really isn't too much to argue over that.
They are also a group that provides enormous value to a multi-billion organization, getting $150K, or even half a million per year, is not out of ordinary.
What Julie Davis was complaining about was the rationale behind the cuts, and that is to bring their pay/benefits inline with other NBA office employees, but as she explained, the referee's jobs are far from similar to any front office employees' jobs, they sacrifice a lot more for the job they perform.
It's a valid point.
Sure, amb, you, I and the Celtics are juiced in, but, the kit & kaboodle has been taking it up the tailpipe for umpteenth decades. They don't see the necessity for handing out 6 figure incomes...then getting cheated...and made to like it. I'd be just as outraged if I weren't one of the chosen few.
Culburn, please don't lump me with you, it makes me feel dirty.
Then quit peekin' under my kimono every now & then.
It does not get any dirtier!
Yes, they travel a lot and sacrifice time, but obviously she must be complaining about the "Clockwork Orange" sessions they must endure yearly to ensure they give superstars all the calls. 2002 WCF Game 7 must have been a pretty grueling one.
Oh, and it must have been pretty trying for them to fix those games. And to book first class tickets, return them, and pocket the difference while expensing the full price.
Screw these refs. They might be "the best in the world", but they have repeatedly blown calls at the end of not just regular season, but playoff games.
Superstar rules, swallowing their whistle on hard fouls while calling ticky-tacks two seconds later, not knowing WTF a travel is, the Donaghy situation, the Duncan-Crawford situation...
I say get some new refs in. There are probably tens of millions of people in this country that would be willing to go to work and do the job that a ref does for that pay. I'm not saying they don't face their own struggles, but this is kind of insane.
Players' union sides with the refs.
http://nba.fanhouse.com/2009/09/23/n...nds-with-refs/
NBA Players Union Stands With Refs
Posted Sep 23, 2009 9:15AM By TOM ZILLER (RSS FEED)
Hornets guard Chris Paul may not be worried about replacement referees coming to the NBA, but Paul's union apparently feels differently. Derek Fisher, the Laker who heads the National Basketball Players Association, put out a statement Tuesday supporting the referees union in its labor dispute with the league.
In the statement, Fisher called the implementation of B-level referees "unacceptable" and said that replacement refs "could compromise the integrity of the game." He also asks the league to treat the refs fairly, presumably because Fisher would like the league to treat players fairly in ongoing collective bargaining agreement negotiations.
The league has locked out its current referees, and will begin training replacement refs culled from the D-League and the WNBA this week. The first preseason game -- to be officiated by replacement refs unless a last-minute deal is struck -- is October 1.
The NBPA statement comes at very interesting time, as the players union and a committee of team owners and league execs meet today to continue those CBA negotiations. The bargaining agreement expires in two years. The owners have vaguely threatened a lockout if their demands to reduce the share of revenue guaranteed to players is not decreased. The owners are also expected to push for a higher age minimum for draft eligibility, while the players want to preserve their revenue share while also pushing for expanded revenue sharing between the teams.
The referees and league are fighting primarily over changes to the retirement benefits packages afforded to officials.
Fisher is afraid his flops won't work with the new refs
Steve Czaban just had a fantastic RANT on this whole thing.
Marc Davis needs to grow his balls back.
lol this "referee widow"can cry me a ing river.
As I read the letter I could not help but wonder who Mrs. Davis was seeking sympathy for- was it for her husband or for herself?
If it is too much for the wife to have her husband away so much, she needs to take that up with him- not the league.
The requirements of the job are what they are. If you don't want the schedule, don't do that job.
And has been suggested in this thread, if the husband does not feel the new compensation is worth the effort his job requires, he can do like ALL THE REST OF US and seek employment elsewhere.
Soldiers, paramedics, firepeople, policepeople are all separated from their families, face more danger, are given less perks, and are compensated less than referees.
There is not a referee among any of the current ones that I would miss.
The current refs need to stop being greedy, shush up, and go back to work OR pack up and make room for their replacements.
And while we are on the subject, ALL basketball players are EXTREMELY overpaid, given what they do.
( This go for players that I consider my favorites too.)
When an athlete is making more than a teacher, a police officer, pastors, doctors, nurses- that is clear evidence that peoples' priorities are entirely out of line.
Uh-oh
It looks CP3 and Fish are afraid of not getting bailout calls next season
Though that & bull story he handed Miller about his daughter goin' eyed worked to a >T<, eh, fool?
Came in real handy about the time Nelson placed the crown of his noggin' in D. Fish's rifle sight.
tee, hee.
That's what classy organizations do, no matter how full of bung the story really is.
Maybe Miller, but, I don't recall Sloan climbing on board & signing off.
I don't recall him protesting either..I was happy to see the little fish go. I can tell you that. I couldnt stand that duck yer head and run to the hoop approach he always had
OK Fish, why don't you give a suggestion? Or go in depth on what is not fair?
I'll be a ref. I'll take less than what the refs make now, as long as the NBA pays for my hotel (preferably Motel 6), pays for my plane ticket (Coach is fine), and for one meal a day and I'm ready to go!
All kidding aside, Jazzy, I'm confident that the decision emanated solely thru Miller. Any consultation aside from perhaps with his wife and any consideration on his part for compensation from the Lakers would've been viewed as gross and beneath him and his obvious superlative upbringing.
As someone who has traveled for work, saying the do "3 hours of work" is misleading when they are required to spend a day traveling to do it.
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