Human Fallibility

Digital Video Recording, DVR, took all the fun out of the NCAA Tournament for me this year.

Well, I don't know much about basketball, so when I can see a foul, I figure the referees will be all over it. Now I understand that they can't see everything, but come on. Take the game last night. Using DVR, I can do my own slow-motion replays. Over and over, I saw obvious fouls committed where one or more of the referees were at least looking in the same direction. I rolled back the recording and looked at the slo-mo, and sure enough there was an obvious, sometiimes blatant foul.

I'm not talking about the subtle fouls, there isn't much subtle about basketball anymore. I'm talking about hacking, punching, pushing, and tripping. And while I'm on the subject, I was taught basketball was not a contact sport. What has happened to the game? I've seen street brawls where there was less contact.

I don't expect the referees to see everything, but is it too much to ask they control the game to keep it from being so physical? With all the pushing, hand-checking, etc. that goes on, I don't see how the refs can even figure out what to call a foul. They've also apparently forgotten how to count to three and how to call turning the ball over.

No, they can't see everything, but after watching some of the games from this tournament in slo-mo, I expect to see lines of college referees waiting for LASIK procedures. Maybe while they are standing there, they could review the rules of basketball and get the game back to something Naismith would recognize.
GBW