It's bad enough the New York Times is drenched in political correctness, but now their obsession with race has consumed the sports page. Get a load of this nonsense.
Study of N.B.A. Sees Racial Bias in Calling FoulsAn 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.
Justin Wolfers, an assistant professor of business and public policy at the Wharton School, and Joseph Price, a Cornell graduate student in economics, found a corresponding bias in which black officials called fouls more frequently against white players, though that tendency was not as strong. They went on to claim that the different rates at which fouls are called “is large enough that the probability of a team winning is noticeably affected by the racial composition of the refereeing crew assigned to the game.”
Hard to fathom that people are this consumed by race, but the notion of basing a statistical study on the use of
boxscores over a near
15-year period to try and concoct a racial bias of basketballs officials, is, quite frankly, insane.
The NBA polices their officials very strictly, and the idea that
any officals, be they black or white, would get away with a racial bias on the court, is absurd.
Have we now descended to the level in this country where we have to go out of our way to find a problem that doesn't exist? There aren't any more useful ways to spend your academic time than by going over boxscores?
Whatever these two came up with, the NBA needs to release whatever data is may have compiled and put this nonstory to rest.
