'T' stands for ticked off: the shrill sound of a referee's whistle is enough to make even the sanest person a little crazy

Sporting News, The, March 25, 2005 by Charley Rosen

The NBA reviews game videos to determine whether officials' calls are correct. But nobody tallies or evaluates another critical aspect of officiating that has at least as much of an influence on games--the noncalls.

No wonder coaches and players feel they have a license to complain whenever the whistle shrills. The sheer capriciousness of the calls, coupled with the refs' arrogance, is enough to drive a person batty.

During my stint in the Continental Basketball Association, I tangled with former and future NBA refs on numerous occasions. I firmly believed refs were cops with whistles instead of guns. No surprise, then, that for each of my six seasons as a head coach, I led the CBA in technical fouls.

I deserved many (if not most) of my T's. Likewise, I was unjustly whacked and even tossed several times. At one game I coached, there was a drunk sitting directly behind me who berated the refs in a thick Southern drawl whenever a call went against my opponent. Yet it was I who was booted midway through the second quarter. "I've heard enough from you, Charley!" the official shouted as he pointed offstage right. I was then locked inside the visitors' locker room, where I had no other outlet than to throw a few chairs and kick an innocent garbage can around the room.

But it wasn't only my own differences with referees that demonstrated how otherwise normal, peaceful and knowledgeable coaches could be driven to outbreaks of temporary insanity by NBA-bound referees.

I was Phil Jackson's assistant and roommate with the Albany Patroons from 1983-86, and after we were convinced that we'd gotten homered in a game in Pensacola, Fla., neither of us could sleep. By chance, we'd discovered that the two officials who had worked the game not only were registered in the same motel but were in an adjacent room. Phil's anger was such that roughly every half-hour throughout most of the night he'd loudly bang on the common wall and scream curses at the offending refs. "If we can't sleep," was his rationale, "then they sure don't deserve to sleep either."

The Patroons finished up the 1984-85 season playing the Puerto Rico Coquis in San Juan. The home team was coached by Herb Brown, older brother of Larry. The Coquis were on the brink of making the playoffs, and in Brown's view, a series of biased calls tilted the game to the Patroons.

Herb was so incensed that he stormed the court, grabbed the whistle lanyard that was draped around Ken Mauer's neck and proceeded to twist it in such a way as to prevent Mauer from breathing. None of the other coaches or players (or the other ref) made a move to save Mauer from a horrible death. It wasn't until Mauer's face started turning blue that a security officer pulled Brown away. (Brown's penalty was to be suspended without pay for the first six games of the following season.)

And it isn't only coaches on the short end of a score who are freaked by the refs' incompetence.

George Karl was coaching the Patroons, who were demolishing my Oklahoma City squad in the fourth quarter. They were up by 30 points with about 3 minutes left in the game when Karl became incensed by a foul called on one of his players. Karl raced onto the court, picked up the bouncing ball and punted it high into the upper grandstand--a feat that deserved a standing ovation but earned him instantaneous banishment.

Ladies, don't raise your sons to be cowboys or referees.

Charley Rosan

* Former CBA coach writes a column on basketball for FOXSports.com

* Author of a bunch of books on basketball--none on officiating