That's BIAS, not RACISM. BIAS. There is a difference.
So now Commissioner Stern can apologize to the authors of the original study and admit he was wrong about their work. And Charles Barkley can eat his rather strong words railing against the original study. I know Sir Charles can eat, so this should be a slam dunk.
Unfortunately, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for either of the two events to occur. Both guys are stubborn and strong willed and both apparently think they are never wrong. Although in Commissioner Stern's defense, I still think he was right about the Phoenix Suns suspension fiasco. If the players don't react as they did, Horry gets suspended all by his lonesome.
I'm not sure you have to get up from the bench to defend your teammate after he does a dive worthy of an Oscar. Now, if they had stepped onto the court while holding up their cards grading the dive like they used to do in the Olympics, or in the slam dunk events, I'd cut them some slack. But getting up to heighten the tension and elevate the testosterone level a couple of notches, put them in time-out every GD time.
CASE CLOSED.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2870260
Even NBA study might confirm racial bias in officiating
By Lester Munson
The Wharton School professor whose study started a controversy about possible racial bias in foul calls in the NBA has now seen the NBA's own data about its officiating, and is more convinced than ever that he's right.
"Their own study agrees with our conclusion: A referee is more likely to blow the whistle and call a foul against a player of another race," Justin Wolfers said after he reviewed the information in work done by an NBA contractor.
The league initially had refused to allow Wolfers to examine its study, but finally sent it to him last week after a series of blistering criticisms of Wolfers and his work.
Responding to Wolfers' conclusions that officials were guilty of "own-race bias" in enough foul calls to affect the outcomes of games, a league spokesman said that Wolfers was "wrong," that he was "disingenuous" and that his work was "sloppy and ludicrous." Commissioner David Stern and league president Joel Litvin attacked Wolfers in numerous broadcast appearances.
"After refusing my requests for weeks, the NBA was unexpectedly gracious enough to share its material with me," Wolfers said. "And I am now able to say that their critical statements are contradicted by the league consultant's own statistical output."
It's academic, yes. But it just might be correct that a racial bias exists in NBA officiating.
"I believe they were tired of the criticism that they had not given it to us," he said. "And I don't think they really knew what their study said."
An independent analysis of the two conflicting studies requested by ESPN.com confirms Wolfers' findings that referees favor their own race when they blow their whistles. Thomas Miles, who has a Ph. D. in economics from the University of Chicago and is a graduate of Harvard Law School, dissected the massive study completed by Wolfers, and compared it with the smaller study by an NBA consultant.
An NBA spokesman declined to respond to Miles' observations.
"It's done. It's over. We have nothing to add to what we have said already," the spokesman said.
"It is remarkable how [Wolfers] was able to use the NBA's own data set and show that it supported what he said at the beginning," Miles said. Wolfers used the NBA's own categories of minutes played in his response to the NBA's study, and showed that there is evidence of discrimination even with the NBA's own data.
Lester Munson is a Chicago journalist and lawyer who has been reporting on investigative and legal issues in the sports industry for 18 years.
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