Roundup: race and NBA refs.

Reaction to a study alleging that white NBA referees call fouls on black NBA players at a higher rate than on white players:

Mahalanobis, “Are NBA refs racist?“

“The Black-White foul rate differential is 0.827 for all white referee crews, 0.574 for all black referee crews. In the multivariate regression, the coefficients on the Black dummy variable is always negative, meaning controlling for everything else they find most important and measurable, blacks receive fewer fouls than whites. So perhaps white refs aren’t biased against blacks, but rather are merely less biased against white players? After all, if it were a simple story of calling more fouls on blacks, why should the coefficient on black players alone be negative and significant?“

The Postmen, “Race and the NBA – aww, the refs too?“

“Call me crazy, but I think refs have Stephen Jackson in the corners of their eyes for 48 minutes. Today, though, researchers at Penn and Cornell bring a different dynamic to the question. Would Dirk have avoided a tech, or at least get called for fewer fouls, because he is white? Actually, yes …

Now, I don?t mean to use Stephen Jackson as an example here, because he does have a reputation of being petulant, disrespectful, and even borderline crazy, and those qualities have nothing to do with race. But this study, unfortunately, explains a lot about the ways the implicit bias we live with everyday creeps into our sports.

That nice little delusion we have – that sports are context-free gathering places for all – well, uh, not so much.

Oh, and watch: Jason Whitlock will definitely find a way to blame this on black people.“

The Sports Law Professor, “Racial Bias in Foul Calls“

“I’m guessing (pretty confidently) that the white refs are also the more veteran refs, on average. In other words, the NBA’s veteran refs tend to call a slightly tighter game, giving out more fouls. …

Black players may in fact commit more fouls than white players. Why? Let’s assume black players in the NBA are, on average, better players than the white NBA players. “Better” means better along all dimensions, including defense. Thus a coach will assign his best defensive players (black, on average) to guard the opponent’s best scorer (black, on average). Top scorers draw the most fouls. …

So when two black players get involved in a charge/blocking call situation, the toughest of all calls to make, why is the fact that a foul call is made (either way) instead of not made evidence of bias against a player on account of his race? A black player will be unhappy in either case, either from the foul being called or not called. If a foul is called, then by definition it will be assigned to a black player. …

Whites may be better at drawing fouls. “Flopping” is a special (and specially hated) part of the game. … The greatest (worst) flopper in history was Vlade Divac, who I’m assuming qualified as “white” (he is Serbian) in the study. … In today’s league, Manu Ginobili of the Spurs (who is Argentinian) is probably also called “white” in the study and is the current cinematic protagonist of the thespian flopping all-stars. …. Kirk Heinrich of the Bulls is a master, as is Shane Battier of the Rockets, as is Matt Harpring of the Jazz. I’m not sure about this, but most of those players would be classified as “white.” Maybe whites are good at flopping?“

Compass Points Conservative Political Web Blog, “Racism in the NBA?“

“But did the smarty-pants profs take into account different styles of play? Or can’t we talk about the differences in the ways black and white players are taught and play the game as kids? Or about a certain reticence in white athletes, a desire to hold back and not get called for fouls? Is it outside the realm of fact–probaly it’s outside the realm of conversation–that black players actually commit more fouls? Is it possible that black refs are under-calling black fouls?“

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Jon Lewis has been covering the sports media industry on a daily basis since 2006 as the founder and main writer of Sports Media Watch. You can contact him here or on the social media websites X (Twitter) or Bluesky.