Penn: NBA’s 8 White Players Have Advantages

An assistant professor at Penn and a Cornell graduate student recently released a study that says — get this! — black players in the NBA are subject to racism from NBA officials. My God! When will Mark Cuban weigh in?!

The study was conducted over 13 seasons up to 2004 and found “black players receive around 0.12-0.20 more fouls per 48 minutes played (an increase of 2½-4½ percent) when the number of white referees officiating a game increases from zero to three.”

The NBA, of course, said the study was bollocks, especially since it used box scores, which don’t say which official made the call. And by that I mean, whether a black or white official made the call. Still, the study said the racist NBA refs call falls out black players “is large enough that the probability of a team winning is noticeably affected by the racial composition of the refereeing crew.”

Damn! No wonder the 76ers didn’t make the playoffs this year: Shavlik Randolph was hurt all season, and all they had was Kyle Korver and a bunch of guys getting 5 percent more fouls! This also explains why the Boston Celtics were always so good way back when.

Sports: U. of P. Study Indicates Race Bias in NBA Officiating [KYW 1060]
Related: Top 10 Dunks on Shawn Bradley