By Quan Luong
Most NBA fans are certainly not happy about the new technical foul rule in the league, especially if it’s going to affect the 2010-11 season.
Fans who attend games or watch them live on television seem to be irritated with the NBA for expanding the rules this season.
List of examples would be:
1. Players making aggressive gestures such as punching the air and clapping their hands loudly anywhere on the court, even if it’s not directly at the officials.
2. Demonstrative disagreement such as players pleading to officials, trying to make their case on how they got fouled during the play or if an official missed a call during a certain play.
3. Excessive inquires about a call, even if the player is acting professionally about it.
Students on campus disagree on such calls and are aware that the new rules can affect the game significantly.
“For calls such as punching in the air, it’s totally unnecessary for referees to slap players with a technical foul,” said CSUN student Joshua Han, 20. “At some degree, the new technical foul rules are going to harm the game.”
CSUN student Antawn Johnson agrees with the change in NBA foul rules: If the players emotions get too far, then something should be called.
“Honestly I think players are allowed to express their emotions, as long as it’s in a civilized tone,” Johnson said. “The official can be very excessive with their calls sometimes, which ruins the games.”
Earlier this season, officials have been giving a handful of technical fouls to players for violating the new conduct rule. The league also distributed an excessive amount of fines and suspensions to players who continue to criticize the officials’ work ethics and violate the new rules.
“I think it’s necessary for officials to have the power to control games so they can crack down on players who constantly complain about the calls,” said CSUN student Alex Ruiz, 22, mathematics major. “But if they were to abuse their power in any way, it may harm the games.”
Last month, Billy Hunter, executive director of the NBA’s player’s union, said they will contest the NBA’s new rules and fines for technical fouls. He even said the new rule changes are an unwarranted overreaction on the league’s behalf, and there hasn’t been any increase in the level of complaining to officials.
Even NBA writers and analysts are complaining about the new rules being excessive.
Boston Celtics TV analyst Tommy Heinsohn said last month that the new technical foul rule is just stupid. He was referring to Kevin Garnett’s ejection in an exhibition game against the New York Knicks.
Yahoo! Sports writer Adrian Wojnarowski even went as far as to call players to action.
“The biggest stars can be some of the NBA’s most emotional gripers, and they ought to dare Stern and his refs to start tossing them out of regular season games. The league office loves to bully, but never had the stomach for a true fight. Let’s see how fast the public repudiates the NBA and this false premise born of phony market research,” Wojnarowski said.
I honestly don’t think the NBA’s rules are going to improve any time soon, since officials are still cracking down on players and the entire league is reluctant to change.
As time passes by, players and coaches will learn to adapt to the new technical foul rules, even if they feel like it’s displeasing.
