The NBA silences the refs. *updated 3/10*
I came across this today and was outraged. The NBA has actually forced the refereees to remove "ask-a-ref" from their website! Since when does the NBA hold the rights to the game rules? I think this is crazy and paints a very sad picture of the NBA. I knew it was bad but I had no idea they would go this far to hide behind the curtain. Bravo to the refs for trying. I have a whole new perspective now. Hey Stern, how does it feel to be so "powerful"?
I am seriously losing my love of NBA basketball.
"...To avoid infringing on the NBA’s asserted intellectual property rights, the NBRA will be moving its website to www.ProBasketballRefs.com and www.TheNBRA.com. At the league’s request, the NBRA is also discontinuing two sections of the site that had become instant fan favorites – Rules and Ask-A-Ref, which focused on professional and other basketball rules.
Lamell McMorris, the NBRA’s official spokesman, said “The NBA felt that its referees should not publicly comment on, or offer interpretations of, the league’s playing rules, and asked us to stop doing so on our website. In the interest of getting along, we agreed to the NBA’s request. It is unfortunate, however, because the Rules and Ask-A-Ref sections of the site were extremely popular with many basketball fans, and we had asked several well-regarded former NBA referees to work with us on those parts of the site. We developed these features, because the referees wanted to offer a meaningful and interactive dialog with sports fans. In fact, over the past month, we have been overwhelmed with both emails and regular mail from visitors to the site, asking the referees about rules, calls made during games, and basketball officiating in general.”
“In the five weeks since the site has been available, we have been averaging approximately 40,000 hits and 1,200 visitors per week. We believe that this speaks to the tremendous public interest in the work of our referees. We had hoped that the NBA would want to build off this early success, and we are still hopeful that this can be arranged down the road. The fans have spoken, and they love Ask-A-Ref and some of the other features on the site. If we can get the NBA’s support, we are hoping to reinstate these types of interactive elements. Until then, we’ll keep at it, and try to add other innovative features that we know people will appreciate...”
Source:ProBasketballRefs.com
Pathetic.
3/10 UPDATE: Nuno at NBAFANBLOG has a very good take on this situation.
I am seriously losing my love of NBA basketball.
"...To avoid infringing on the NBA’s asserted intellectual property rights, the NBRA will be moving its website to www.ProBasketballRefs.com and www.TheNBRA.com. At the league’s request, the NBRA is also discontinuing two sections of the site that had become instant fan favorites – Rules and Ask-A-Ref, which focused on professional and other basketball rules.
Lamell McMorris, the NBRA’s official spokesman, said “The NBA felt that its referees should not publicly comment on, or offer interpretations of, the league’s playing rules, and asked us to stop doing so on our website. In the interest of getting along, we agreed to the NBA’s request. It is unfortunate, however, because the Rules and Ask-A-Ref sections of the site were extremely popular with many basketball fans, and we had asked several well-regarded former NBA referees to work with us on those parts of the site. We developed these features, because the referees wanted to offer a meaningful and interactive dialog with sports fans. In fact, over the past month, we have been overwhelmed with both emails and regular mail from visitors to the site, asking the referees about rules, calls made during games, and basketball officiating in general.”
“In the five weeks since the site has been available, we have been averaging approximately 40,000 hits and 1,200 visitors per week. We believe that this speaks to the tremendous public interest in the work of our referees. We had hoped that the NBA would want to build off this early success, and we are still hopeful that this can be arranged down the road. The fans have spoken, and they love Ask-A-Ref and some of the other features on the site. If we can get the NBA’s support, we are hoping to reinstate these types of interactive elements. Until then, we’ll keep at it, and try to add other innovative features that we know people will appreciate...”
Source:ProBasketballRefs.com
Pathetic.
3/10 UPDATE: Nuno at NBAFANBLOG has a very good take on this situation.
posted by KJM at 11:57 AM
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