The New York Times' quest for social justice knows no out-of-bounds, judging by the front-page placement Wednesday of "Study of N.B.A. Sees Racial Bias in Calling Fouls" by sportswriter Alan Schwarz. Years after failing to secure Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor the right to golf at Augusta National Golf Club, the Times has now turned to the plight of multimillionaire NBA players who get bad foul calls.
"An academic study of the National Basketball Association, whose playoffs continue tonight, suggests that a racial bias found in other parts of American society has existed on the basketball court as well.
"A coming paper by a University of Pennsylvania professor and a Cornell University graduate student says that, during the 13 seasons from 1991 through 2004, white referees called fouls at a greater rate against black players than against white players.
As intriguing as the findings may turn out to be, the Times has often embarrassed itself when venturing into the crossroads of social justice and sports -- most recently with its shoddy coverage of the Duke "rape" case. A more amusing instance was the paper's embarrassing and ultimately fruitless crusade against Augusta National Golf Club for not admitting women, led by then-Executive Editor Howell Raines.
Visit Times Watch for the full story on racism on the court.
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It Never Ends
May 2, 2007 - 12:16 ET by derbalI don't guess this person took into account that most of the NBA players are black, therefore the odds....oh never mind. Facts aren't used by these people. Makes things complicated for them.
I'm sick of this whole race card thing. Some people have nothing better to do. But you watch, it'll be headline news.
statistics
May 2, 2007 - 12:24 ET by AgnosticI'm really hoping they adjusted for something so simple but what they may not have adjusted for is that seemingly to me that the white players left in the game are mostly perimeter players and even as point guards are more often setting the play up then they are driving to the basket. I could be mistaken since I kind of lost interest when the NBA lost it's class.
They do say that the "
May 2, 2007 - 12:35 ET by Dave in TexasThey do say that the "rate" is higher, not the total number of fouls called. However, the key phrase in the article (as well as several paragraphs that follow it) is this:
Mr. Wolfers and Mr. Price spend 41 pages accounting for such population
disparities and more than a dozen other complicating factors.
Translation: "The original data didn't support our predrawn conclusions, therefore we used every statistical trick in the book to morph it into something that did."
Wow these guys have a lot of
May 3, 2007 - 06:18 ET by USA4freedomWow these guys have a lot of time on their hands. I think the next job of these un-employed folks should be: find out how many marbles can fit into a Volkswagen. What a tool. Who the hell cares? Does anyone watch NBA anymore?
Go have a beer, find a girlfriend, work on the great American Novel, give us a break NOT EVERY THING IS RACIAL.
Dam NYT’s!
If you are soooooooooooooooooooooo worried about racist problems look this up:
http://chompchomp.us...
These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc.
Ronald Reagn- 40th Anniversary of D-Day
Ok I know I might risk bein
May 2, 2007 - 12:16 ET by mlongOk I know I might risk being labeled racist in some corners..but since a large majority of basketball players are black isn't it a good bet that a larger number of them would get fouls called on them?
Is it possible - and I'm just
May 2, 2007 - 12:16 ET by Gat New YorkIs it possible - and I'm just spiff-balling here - that maybe the reason that fouls are called on Black basketball players at a greater rate than White basketball players is that there are much more of them and they are on the court for many more minutes? Just a thought.
Considering that the NBA is a
May 2, 2007 - 12:21 ET by Airforce_5_OConsidering that the NBA is about 90% black, WHO THE HELL ARE THEY GOING TO CALL IT ON!
Hey NYT, it is called common sense, use it.
Reduce the U.S. Carbon Footprint. Send Rosie to Iran. Airforce_5_O 04/04/2007
In other news ....."It
May 2, 2007 - 12:23 ET by mlongIn other news ....."It's been discovered that water is wet!!!!!"
And according to the NY Times
May 2, 2007 - 12:29 ET by HypocriteHaterAnd according to the NY Times, black people get wetter from water than white people. Damn that racist water!!
...and that same, racist wate
May 2, 2007 - 12:34 ET by Roger the Shrubber...and that same, racist water allows white folk to swim better in it than the colored folk. Bastards!
I think we need to send wat
May 2, 2007 - 13:19 ET by HypocriteHaterI think we need to send water to diversity training or rehab.
Wait a minute. Sounds like ev
May 2, 2007 - 16:27 ET by ThisnThatWait a minute. Sounds like everyone wants to water down the NYTimes report. (Makes my eyes water just thinking about this).
Boooo hisss. You win haha!
May 2, 2007 - 17:28 ET by Roger the ShrubberBoooo hisss. You win haha!
Why let factual details get i
May 2, 2007 - 12:26 ET by Gat New YorkWhy let factual details get in the way of good propaganda. And what the heck are they teaching at the graduate level for these kids to be doing a paper on it?
Race Baiting 101
May 2, 2007 - 12:30 ET by HypocriteHaterRace Baiting 101
How come the NYT left out how
May 2, 2007 - 12:32 ET by Roger the ShrubberHow come the NYT left out how biased te refs were against Hispanics? Or Asians? Yao Ming should be getting fouled everytime we steps onto the court, dammit!
These reponses are great!
How about the number of right
May 2, 2007 - 12:52 ET by Airforce_5_OHow about the number of right handed player to left handed players? Any data on that?
How many have webbed toes?
How about hair color?
Reduce the U.S. Carbon Footprint. Send Rosie to Iran. Airforce_5_O 04/04/2007
What about the gay vs. non-
May 2, 2007 - 13:47 ET by MightyMouthWhat about the gay vs. non-gay players?
"There are two types of people in this country; those who provide freedom and those who enjoy it." MM says...
Married –vs- not married? D
May 3, 2007 - 06:58 ET by USA4freedomMarried –vs- not married? Drug users (and the other guy)? Liberal –vs- conservative? White players that have black wife’s/ Black players that have white wife’s? –vs- White players that have white wifes/ Black players that have black wifes? Players that go up into the stands to beat up the fans –vs- players that don’t? Players that carry guns –vs- players that do not. Players that make Rap music –vs- those that don’t. “Stars” that get no fouls –vs- unknown players? Teams that are going to make the playoffs –vs- non playoff teams. Etc. etc…
(if we want) can we just watch the dam game with out all the racist crap. Most of the people in the stands are white watching black people play a game… Who cares!!! NYT.
These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc.
Ronald Reagn- 40th Anniversary of D-Day
And the NYT wonders why less
May 3, 2007 - 07:00 ET by USA4freedomAnd the NYT wonders why less and less people are reading this tripe.
These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc.
Ronald Reagn- 40th Anniversary of D-Day
Hard to make a judgement with
May 2, 2007 - 13:11 ET by balboaHard to make a judgement without seeing the study, but I would think that they would factor in that their are more black players than white.
And it's not like the NYT commissioned this study; they're reporting on the findings. So they don't "see" "racial bias"; they're reporting on those who have.
I wonder that too bal, and
May 2, 2007 - 13:45 ET by MightyMouthI wonder that too bal, and what about the black refs foul calls against black/white players. You would think they would want the whole picture.
"There are two types of people in this country; those who provide freedom and those who enjoy it." MM says...
"Hard to make a judgement" is
May 2, 2007 - 14:19 ET by taznar"Hard to make a judgement" is right. This type of study can only show a correlation. It can't show causation. In my opinion, unless they review tapes and tabulate bad/missed calls, there can be no firm conclusion of racial vs. any other type of bias.
I wonder aboutfouls vs bald p
May 2, 2007 - 13:12 ET by lostoneI wonder about
fouls vs bald people
fouls vs people over 6'5"
Lostone
haha... yeah, this one real
May 2, 2007 - 16:02 ET by MrShyhaha... yeah, this one really just has me scratching my head, thinking, there are people out there making a living (and/or our tax dollars going to this... or is this "poll" done by a private firm? sorry, I'm lazy and dunno... but either way) cherry-picking any "racist" angle they can... of the most innane, silly thing like this....
and what were the final findings? like a 4% differential between black and white refs? 4% ???? man.... guess what? sooooo - what !!!! and a slight discrepency makes total sense. They were going to put out this report, and I'll bet the NYTimes were ready to lede it, even if the result was a .00003% difference! We're all black and white, and we all react -- NATURALLY -- ever so slightly differently to the behavior of someone our own color, vs. someone of another color.
I actually play basketball... quite a lot, and watch it a lot, too. Generally, blacks ARE louder and more emotional..... there, I said it, kill me. So a ref of their persuasion will relate a bit more to them, and be a bit more tolerant..... it's human nature!! Geeezz...... nonsense, this whole thing :)
How about this fact: If whit
May 2, 2007 - 13:42 ET by NoMoreClintonsHow about this fact: If white people stopped supporting the NBA it would go out of business within a year. Do you think a majority black crowd would consistently support a basketball league where 90% of the players were white?
Those white people are such racists.
I'm quite sure black basket
May 2, 2007 - 14:59 ET by dabalI'm quite sure black basketball players match the statistics for black inmates, when it comes to "getting caught".
Apply labels if it helps you sleep through the night.
Contrast! The reason is contr
May 3, 2007 - 05:45 ET by old croContrast! The reason is contrast. A black players hand shows up aginst a white mans pale skin, so it is easier to spot than say a white on white foul. Gee you ask, what about a black on black foul. Well, that wouldn't show our basic racial bias so ....never mind.
Well: I’m not going to watc
May 3, 2007 - 06:24 ET by USA4freedomWell: I’m not going to watch it any more… those racist! Are there any Mexicans in the NBA. More proof….
These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc.
Ronald Reagn- 40th Anniversary of D-Day
Some how you got all that inf
May 3, 2007 - 06:43 ET by USA4freedomSome how you got all that info from the box scores?? How many min. a white or black player played. Which refs. called the fouls? What were the names or (color of the ref)? Was the player (white or black in foul trouble) was his replacement white or black and did he have fouls to give away?
I have an idea; lets just ban white people from the game. We can watch and pay to watch, but we can’t coach, play, ref. Remember the movie “White men cant jump..” was that about basketball? Maybe just maybe they will let us have that mop the floor job after someone falls? Would that be ok…??
Race bating 101 is right!
These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc.
Ronald Reagn- 40th Anniversary of D-Day