Varejao Isn’t Drawing A Charge;  He’s Flopping.  Stop These Bad Calls !
Topic:  Anderson Varejao Drawing Fouls/Bad Officiating
By: Ryan "I Just Made You Famous" Rage

Maybe I’m just a bitter fan.  When the calls start going against you, you really start to realize and pay attention.  Is it just me or is Anderson Varejao’s act getting a little annoying?  Let me rephrase my thoughts.  It’s very, very annoying, especially when it’s costing me a win.  Granted, I did have the Pistons in a bet, but I still hate to see bad calls.  The 2007 NBA Playoffs have been riddled with them throughout.  It doesn’t have to be bad calls; it can be some of the non-calls.  Friends of mine keep on wondering, “Wasn’t travelling a violation of the rules?”  I guess it has been all-around bad officiating, and not just the calls one player gets.  It still doesn’t make it right for that curly-haired afro-puff to continually make a mockery of the NBA rules.  Sorry for the childish insult aimed at Varejao but it just gets me so frustrated. 

            It’s one of the difficult rules to enforce.  Distinguishing whether it’s a charge, a defensive blocking violation, or simply allowing the play to continue requires quick judgement and reaction.  The pressure is on to get these calls correct.  However, many referees seem to be unskilled at their profession.  Either that or the games I’ve been watching have been officiated by the same crew.  It’s the former and not the latter.  Wherever a game is played, from Toronto to Sacramento, there are egregious lapses in judgement.  Maybe they’re doing it on purpose?  I think you’d have to be, if you’re this bad.  You may say, “Ryan, you’re unreasonable and unrealistic.”  To those of you out there, I say, “Horsefeathers!”  Imagine if the “Zebras” did the job of a doctor with such inaccuracy.  We wouldn’t be cutting them any slack for misdiagnosing a patient and imagine if it were as prevalent as the bad officiating in the NBA.  I shudder to think of the chaos this world would be in.  I guess that’s a bit of a stretch.  These officials should be trained better.

            Another problem with the officiating, and this is in the referee/officials defense, is that they’re expected to officiate according to what are prescribed in the rules.  Confusion arises because they will either make a decision by the letter of the law, as in interpretation word for word, or the aim that the rule is suppose to put across, as in interpreting as to what the writer of the rule meant.  It looks like a charge.  It smells like a charge.  Is it a charge?  Some players, like Varejao, are good actors who can draw those calls.  Pretty difficult to make a ruling, huh?  Wrong, it is not.  Not even Clint Eastwood could pull that one off.  Anderson Varejao, who’s 6’10 and 240lbs, gets bumped the slightest by Richard Hamilton, who’s 6’7 and 193lbs, and goes on falling down.  It’s common sense that it was not a charge.  Varejao isn’t just standing there flimsily; the man has solid setting and Richard Hamilton is not the strongest player by any means.  Hamilton is a string bean shooting guard.  The play that I saw, “Rip” wasn’t going in with reckless abandon; He took a pass, cut to the rim and was preparing to go quickly into the lay-up.  While “Rip” was in stride and about to elevate, Varejao had just turned and positioned himself as if to stand tall and strong.  He was not tall and strong, and did not react so.  He completely flops and gets the call from this #### referee, who does the hand gesture for charge with all of his theatrics.  Varejao didn’t even stumble back.  He just went down, like one of those ironing boards built into the wall.  It’s not just Varejao.

Another memorable instance is when I once saw Brendan Haywood do this late in a game.  It was against the Raptors a couple of seasons ago.  He was guarding a smaller player, Jalen Rose, and some how this big 7-foot, 263 pound behemoth gets the call.  Jalen’s 6’8 and 225.  Haywood was guarding Rose, as Rose is trying to find a way to get to the hoop as he dribbles in the wing area.  Rose tries to do some crossover to elude the defender and Haywood is in front, but not tightly.  Brendan takes a small bump and goes falling down, while he is in the process of being left behind.  Jalen was trying a spin move and this literally big phoney dives.  No way does that man go falling down like the way he did from that small bump.  That cost the Raptors the game.

I’m somewhat glad I’m not Rasheed Wallace when he’s facing Varejao.  Yes, ‘Sheed gets all of them dollars, but it’s seriously frustrating when a floppers flops work.  One play that I remember from the only game of the series that I watched was a foul charged to Rasheed.  Let me first say that I’m a fan of Rasheed.  He reminds me of myself.  We’re both passionate about the game, we love to win, and we have a bit of a temper.  Although, I do think I’m better looking and a better basketball player;  we certainly could be twins.  He’d be the retarded one and I’d be the norm.  Anyways, long story short, ‘Sheed goes in to the lane for a layup and Varejao is there standing solid with his position with his arms up.  ‘Sheed bumps him a bit.  Varejao falls ####-backwards like he was defenceless from the “wrath’ of Wallace’s ferocity.  Even though Rasheed got two technicals for ####ing, he was justified in doing what he did and I’m surprised he maintained that much composure.  I think these referees go a bit too far when giving out technicals but that’s another topic for another day.  If it were me instead of Rasheed, I would have gone absolutely haywire.  I would have loved to punch that stupid referee in his dumb head.  Instead of being reprimanded for his heinous play, Varejao is rewarded.

How do we solve this?  The only way is if human referees/officials are removed.  We’ll replace them with super smart robots.  Their brains will be modeled after mine and we’d have the perfect calls made in basketball games.  Of course, that’s not likely to happen, at least any time soon.  Should they use ‘street’ rules?  Nah, that will just throw the rulebook out the window.  We’d be seeing B. Diddy aka Baron Davis carrying and traveling more than the United States Postal Service.  I heard back in the 1980’s that you couldn’t pull the #### we’re seeing in the NBA today.  Maybe they should revert to those old ways.  Oh well, until then I’ll just have to suffer.