WEBVTT - Ref, You Suck! 0:00:15.276 --> 0:00:25.636 Pushkin. So we're walking across a parking lot in Secaucus, 0:00:25.756 --> 0:00:29.356 New Jersey. We're surrounded by concrete, nothing green. It took 0:00:29.396 --> 0:00:32.276 a lot to get me to this place. Their chain 0:00:32.636 --> 0:00:37.356 hotel and motels in someone's idea of the wall. But 0:00:37.436 --> 0:00:42.356 I have a hunch, a suspicion about the crisis that 0:00:42.396 --> 0:00:46.436 we find ourselves in. It's filled with cheap chain restaurants 0:00:46.876 --> 0:00:51.316 and we're surrounded on all sides by freeways. It's like 0:00:51.316 --> 0:00:54.876 what people think about when they tell jokes about New Jersey. 0:00:55.476 --> 0:00:58.156 I think you can see what's going on right here 0:00:58.156 --> 0:01:04.316 in Secaucus, and we're approaching a four story rectangular, otherwise 0:01:04.396 --> 0:01:09.916 nondescript concrete building. There's a discreete little sign here that 0:01:09.996 --> 0:01:14.236 says NBA and shows a logo with a basketball player 0:01:15.316 --> 0:01:18.516 inside a recent concession to the world. We live in 0:01:19.276 --> 0:01:23.476 the Replay Center, a place where basketball referees review the 0:01:23.556 --> 0:01:28.356 calls made by other basketball referees in real time to 0:01:28.476 --> 0:01:33.476 minimize referee error. The Replay Center was built to persuade 0:01:33.476 --> 0:01:47.676 people that life was fair. I'm Michael Lewis, and this 0:01:48.436 --> 0:01:52.476 is against the rules. It's a show about We'll give 0:01:52.516 --> 0:01:59.556 me just a minute to get to that it doesn't 0:01:59.556 --> 0:02:03.076 get beji or doesn't. It's like this is a place 0:02:03.076 --> 0:02:12.036 where brown is an exciting color and the door is locked. 0:02:12.596 --> 0:02:27.476 All right now for me, this story really begins not 0:02:27.516 --> 0:02:31.396 in Secaucus, but in Berkeley, California, with my eleven year 0:02:31.396 --> 0:02:35.836 old son. His name's Walker, Walker Lewis. He plays on 0:02:35.876 --> 0:02:38.636 a basketball team run if you can believe it, by 0:02:38.676 --> 0:02:42.956 a Japanese Buddhist temple. My son isn't a Buddhist. The 0:02:43.076 --> 0:02:45.236 most of the time you could pass for one. He 0:02:45.276 --> 0:02:48.236 has no conflict with his teachers, or his classmates, or 0:02:48.516 --> 0:02:52.276 his Japanese Buddhist teammates. I wouldn't say his mind is 0:02:52.316 --> 0:02:57.636 exactly pure, but usually it's calm. The exception is when 0:02:57.676 --> 0:03:01.396 he deals with reffs, even Buddhist reffs. Anytime a reff 0:03:01.436 --> 0:03:03.276 blows the whistle on him, he throws up his arms 0:03:03.276 --> 0:03:06.116 in astonishment, and he jumps up and down with his 0:03:06.156 --> 0:03:09.476 little fist balled up in his mouth clenched tight. Everyone 0:03:09.516 --> 0:03:13.756 knows just how much injustice he's suffering. Then he marches 0:03:13.796 --> 0:03:16.796 off with a scowl, and he doesn't get over it. 0:03:17.796 --> 0:03:19.876 After a game this season, he gets into the car 0:03:20.036 --> 0:03:23.796 and starts bitching and moaning, all over again. How did 0:03:23.796 --> 0:03:26.316 it make you feel when the ref made those calls? 0:03:26.476 --> 0:03:31.996 Very mad? Do you feel any better now? No, tell 0:03:32.036 --> 0:03:36.996 me how it feels. It feels like someone keeps poking 0:03:37.036 --> 0:03:42.836 you in the back of the shoulder and then saying, foul, foul, foul, foul. 0:03:43.316 --> 0:03:46.356 Have you ever fouled out in your career? No? Did 0:03:46.356 --> 0:03:49.036 you know that you were a risk of felling out? Guess? 0:03:49.076 --> 0:03:51.276 But I also knew if I did, it would be 0:03:51.356 --> 0:03:54.636 unfair because I knew that he was calling the stupidest fouls. 0:03:54.996 --> 0:04:00.676 He'll look back and say, oh, I was being huge asshole. 0:04:03.716 --> 0:04:06.516 Clay with the steel playing a full race? How's he 0:04:06.596 --> 0:04:10.796 trying to catch him? Be cast? Play with him very degree. 0:04:10.836 --> 0:04:13.316 The thing is, I know why my son does what 0:04:13.396 --> 0:04:16.676 he does. He thinks he's Clay Thompson, the all star 0:04:16.796 --> 0:04:20.116 shooting guard of the Golden State Warriors. They research back 0:04:20.156 --> 0:04:23.636 the tops of three potters. When Clay hits a three, 0:04:23.836 --> 0:04:27.196 Clay pounds his chest and points to the sky. And 0:04:27.236 --> 0:04:30.036 so when Walker Lewis hits at three, he too pounds 0:04:30.076 --> 0:04:33.476 his chest and points to the sky. I think we 0:04:33.556 --> 0:04:39.236 got a technical foul as well, Clay. It's very unusual 0:04:39.916 --> 0:04:43.436 when Clay's called for a fowl, he scowls and throws 0:04:43.516 --> 0:04:47.036 up his arms in astonishment, and sometimes even says something 0:04:47.036 --> 0:04:49.836 to the ref that gets him slapped with the technicals owl. 0:04:50.196 --> 0:04:55.596 He only had one regular season, and Clay's the famously 0:04:55.676 --> 0:04:59.836 most laid back All Star in the entire National Basketball Association. 0:05:00.196 --> 0:05:03.676 Something has happened in the relationship between referees and players 0:05:03.676 --> 0:05:07.076 over the last I guess year or two. That's Ramona Shelburne. 0:05:07.156 --> 0:05:10.116 She's covered the NBA for the last decade for ESPN. 0:05:10.556 --> 0:05:14.276 It's been quite frankly ugly. This year. One of the 0:05:14.316 --> 0:05:19.796 Warriors headbutted a reth another chucked his disgusting mouthguard off 0:05:19.796 --> 0:05:27.396 a ref's chest. Raymond Careful, who's already has a technical game, 0:05:27.716 --> 0:05:29.876 and some of the stuff I've seen, I mean, when 0:05:30.156 --> 0:05:34.236 Draymond Green is getting fined for calling Laurena holecap and 0:05:34.636 --> 0:05:37.356 can we cuss on your podcast? I think we already 0:05:37.396 --> 0:05:40.596 have you know, a fucking bitch, like like when when 0:05:40.636 --> 0:05:43.036 he is saying that to a female referee and getting 0:05:43.076 --> 0:05:47.356 fined and suspended for that, man, that's next level and 0:05:47.756 --> 0:05:51.156 I haven't seen that before this season. It's the Stars 0:05:51.276 --> 0:05:56.076 now who are really pushing the issue, right, it's Kevin 0:05:56.156 --> 0:05:59.556 Durant getting thrown out of games, it's Steph Curry getting 0:05:59.596 --> 0:06:06.996 thrown out. Warriors completely unraveled. In a single season. Bad 0:06:07.076 --> 0:06:10.476 behavior got various Golden State Warriors tossed out of ten 0:06:10.596 --> 0:06:15.236 different basketball games. Kevin Durant, their best player, tie a 0:06:15.356 --> 0:06:18.796 league record by getting tossed from five games, all by himself. 0:06:19.316 --> 0:06:22.436 The men who coached the Stars aren't much better. Even 0:06:22.516 --> 0:06:26.916 Steve Kerr, the Warriors famously decent, civic minded coach, I 0:06:27.036 --> 0:06:29.996 can snap, I can completely lose it if you back 0:06:30.076 --> 0:06:33.076 away from the Golden State Warriors. I mean, they are 0:06:33.116 --> 0:06:36.356 exemplars of the way people should behave, especially your stars. 0:06:36.596 --> 0:06:39.636 They're like impeccably behave people. I'm so pleased to have 0:06:39.836 --> 0:06:44.596 my son emulating your players. The only time they have 0:06:44.796 --> 0:06:48.716 problems really is with referees. Yeah, I can't imagine you 0:06:48.876 --> 0:06:53.036 in your life have another relationship like you have with referees. No, 0:06:53.236 --> 0:06:56.796 you're right, You're right. I would never say the things 0:06:56.916 --> 0:07:00.876 that I do to referees to a person in normal life. 0:07:01.156 --> 0:07:03.436 It happens two or three times a year, and I've 0:07:03.476 --> 0:07:07.156 been caught on camera. You know, amfing a ref and 0:07:07.396 --> 0:07:09.036 you know my daughter will send me a text like that, 0:07:09.196 --> 0:07:10.876 what are you doing? It's all over Twitter. I can 0:07:10.916 --> 0:07:13.996 read your lips. This is embarrassed and I'm embarrassed. So 0:07:14.156 --> 0:07:17.316 why is that? You know? It's a sense of right 0:07:17.436 --> 0:07:19.676 or wrong, you know, and I feel like there's like 0:07:19.796 --> 0:07:26.636 this personal offense, like something unfair is happening, which brings 0:07:26.756 --> 0:07:29.916 me to my hunch it has to do with referees, 0:07:30.156 --> 0:07:34.836 and not just basketball referees. The people everywhere charged not 0:07:34.996 --> 0:07:38.196 just with enforcing rules, but with preserving a sense of 0:07:38.276 --> 0:07:43.116 fairness on Wall Street, in the news, in courts of law, 0:07:43.916 --> 0:07:46.836 in the many little disputes that pock mark everyday life. 0:07:47.676 --> 0:07:50.236 There are many different kinds of refs, and most of 0:07:50.276 --> 0:07:53.476 them are into some kind of attack. So maybe it's 0:07:53.516 --> 0:07:56.396 not that surprising that Americans one day woke up and 0:07:56.636 --> 0:08:00.316 thrilled to the message that life was unfair. You know, 0:08:00.476 --> 0:08:06.996 the system is rigged, sged acmom, banking system is rigged, 0:08:07.036 --> 0:08:09.716 and ystem. There's a lot of things that are rigged 0:08:09.716 --> 0:08:12.996 in this world of ours, not to fairness that we 0:08:13.156 --> 0:08:17.036 grew up believing that a miracle was about, which brings 0:08:17.076 --> 0:08:22.676 me to what this show is about the people whose 0:08:22.756 --> 0:08:26.156 job it is to maximize fairness, not just in sports, 0:08:26.316 --> 0:08:30.436 but most everywhere. What's happening to them tells us a 0:08:30.516 --> 0:08:40.036 lot about what's happening to us. You have to listen closely, 0:08:40.796 --> 0:08:43.196 but you can hear that same chant in a lot 0:08:43.236 --> 0:09:11.876 of American life. Ref you suck. Here we go back 0:09:11.916 --> 0:09:16.276 at the NBA's offices in Secaucus, New Jersey. Someone eventually 0:09:16.356 --> 0:09:18.676 came and unlocked the door, and then they led me 0:09:18.756 --> 0:09:21.196 down a hall filled with a lot of old basketball stuff, 0:09:21.716 --> 0:09:25.556 jerseys and bobble heads and basketballs and posters of Michael Jordan. 0:09:26.356 --> 0:09:32.476 The Replay Center was the ultimate man cave. It's also 0:09:32.516 --> 0:09:37.156 the latest weapon in the battle for fairness. So this place, 0:09:37.316 --> 0:09:40.156 just on first of you, is amazing. It's wall to 0:09:40.236 --> 0:09:43.516 wall screens, one hundred and ten of them. What's on 0:09:43.676 --> 0:09:46.156 them is whatever is captured by all the cameras in 0:09:46.276 --> 0:09:49.836 twenty nine NBA arenas across the country. This isn't the 0:09:49.916 --> 0:09:53.876 broadcast video with commercials and commentary. The screens here don't 0:09:53.916 --> 0:09:55.836 even have the scores of the games on them were 0:09:55.836 --> 0:09:59.796 the names of the teams playing. And they're muted. Which 0:09:59.836 --> 0:10:03.316 you hear is referees staring at basketball games, which you 0:10:03.436 --> 0:10:08.636 see is nothing but angles on professional basketball courts. Nobody's 0:10:08.676 --> 0:10:10.036 on a walk in here and walk down and said 0:10:10.076 --> 0:10:12.876 this polaby sucks. And I'm not going to say it 0:10:12.956 --> 0:10:16.956 sucks either. That's Joe Borgia, who designed the center back 0:10:16.996 --> 0:10:21.156 in twenty fourteen and now runs it. Before he volunteered 0:10:21.236 --> 0:10:25.676 for a secaucus duty, he refereed NBA games. His father 0:10:25.796 --> 0:10:28.516 was an NBA ref before him, with a break in 0:10:28.596 --> 0:10:32.076 the late sixties. A. Borgia has been reffing professional basketball 0:10:32.156 --> 0:10:35.276 games since nineteen forty six. If you went back to 0:10:35.596 --> 0:10:37.796 your dad at the beginning of his career and said 0:10:37.876 --> 0:10:39.436 this is what it's going to look like. What do 0:10:39.516 --> 0:10:41.596 you think he'd have said? If I told him we 0:10:41.636 --> 0:10:43.956 would have replay? He turnover and it is great. Forget 0:10:43.956 --> 0:10:47.356 about a replay center. Is that right? Oh? Absolutely? You see, 0:10:47.356 --> 0:10:50.676 the refs used to insist on their authority at any rate. 0:10:50.716 --> 0:10:52.956 Everyone agreed that there was no better way to ensure 0:10:52.956 --> 0:10:55.396 the fairness of the game than to let the ref 0:10:55.516 --> 0:10:59.196 play God. The replay center is an admission the ref 0:10:59.356 --> 0:11:03.796 is not God, that he makes mistakes. I think the 0:11:03.876 --> 0:11:06.836 mention of replay. None of us liked it when we 0:11:06.956 --> 0:11:11.556 first heard it. It's unnecessary, evil, it's necessary. You have 0:11:11.796 --> 0:11:16.036 to have it today. Everything's tape. Now everyone pays more 0:11:16.076 --> 0:11:19.396 attention to the referee's mistakes, so the NBA has to 0:11:19.556 --> 0:11:22.396 as well. Now, when a ref thinks he might have 0:11:22.436 --> 0:11:24.916 screwed up some call or didn't get a good look 0:11:24.916 --> 0:11:28.716 at the action, he twirls his fingers in the air. 0:11:30.436 --> 0:11:32.396 That's the signal to the ref and the replay center, 0:11:32.516 --> 0:11:36.116 who goes to work reviewing the tape looking for the 0:11:36.156 --> 0:11:39.516 best angle to figure out what actually happened. That's the 0:11:39.596 --> 0:11:41.996 thing is everybody can see it now exactly. You can't 0:11:41.996 --> 0:11:44.316 have them be in a better position to judge the 0:11:44.396 --> 0:11:48.436 game than the referees. The replay centers what allows refs 0:11:48.476 --> 0:11:51.596 on a basketball court to change their calls. A lot 0:11:51.636 --> 0:11:54.876 of those calls are subjective, like whether one player fouled another. 0:11:55.716 --> 0:11:57.476 The rests on the court still make most of those 0:11:57.516 --> 0:12:02.676 calls themselves. The exception is when the foul is flagranting. Sure, duke, 0:12:02.716 --> 0:12:06.636 we're gonna give me two good angles. That's the first one. 0:12:06.676 --> 0:12:08.716 The other one's going to give you. There's blood on 0:12:08.796 --> 0:12:13.636 the screws. Kevin Love's front tooth got knocked in. Love 0:12:13.756 --> 0:12:16.796 plays for the Cleveland Cavaliers and the question is did 0:12:16.836 --> 0:12:19.076 the guy who popped him in the mouth do it intentionally? 0:12:19.156 --> 0:12:22.236 It's a sebasketball point, Kevin Lug happens to move into 0:12:22.316 --> 0:12:25.236 where the guy's elbow was going on. The refs need 0:12:25.316 --> 0:12:29.436 to decide if the violence was not just excessive but unsportsmanlike, 0:12:30.076 --> 0:12:33.116 which sounds our keg because we sort of lost the concept. 0:12:33.356 --> 0:12:37.356 So the blood doesn't sweat the decision. Huh. Listen, there's 0:12:37.356 --> 0:12:39.476 a lot of contacts, a lot of its acres that 0:12:42.476 --> 0:12:45.396 the players all stand around scratching themselves while the refs 0:12:45.436 --> 0:12:47.556 put on headsets and talked to the replay center. We're 0:12:47.596 --> 0:12:50.316 looking for the unnatchural. Did he throw his elbow out? 0:12:50.796 --> 0:12:54.036 So the fo the fouls on cavil up correct. I 0:12:54.116 --> 0:12:56.236 thought he was outside his move. He was moving. Its late, 0:12:56.556 --> 0:12:58.476 Come on, you gotta be quick. One days stuck on 0:12:58.516 --> 0:13:01.556 the blood coming out of his mouth. Yeah, it's the 0:13:01.636 --> 0:13:06.116 whole thing. Only takes thirty seconds, thirty seconds in which players, fans, 0:13:06.316 --> 0:13:08.756 coaches get even more pissed off at the rest for 0:13:08.836 --> 0:13:12.076 taking so long. The only thing stopping the replay center 0:13:12.116 --> 0:13:14.996 from checking every decision is that it slows the game down. 0:13:16.036 --> 0:13:19.316 Here in Secaucus is still trying to figure out how 0:13:19.356 --> 0:13:21.236 they might talk to the refs as they run up 0:13:21.276 --> 0:13:23.396 and down the court, because if they could do that, 0:13:23.596 --> 0:13:26.036 they could just fix every call on the fly. The 0:13:26.236 --> 0:13:30.156 Special Forces we found that we actually used a chip 0:13:30.316 --> 0:13:33.676 over the bowler that worked off the vibration of the bone. 0:13:34.316 --> 0:13:37.036 Believe or not. Wead that we got a handful of 0:13:37.196 --> 0:13:40.796 Gene League referees molded and we tested that to wear 0:13:40.836 --> 0:13:44.756 a chip over their molar. But it wasn't good enough 0:13:44.916 --> 0:13:47.596 because they didn't know where the voice was coming from. 0:13:49.876 --> 0:13:52.596 It was just a voice in their heads. They didn't 0:13:52.596 --> 0:13:56.556 know where it was. This is actually insane the time 0:13:56.596 --> 0:13:59.156 and money now being spent to ensure the fairness of what, 0:13:59.356 --> 0:14:03.316 after all, is just a basketball game. A jillion miles 0:14:03.356 --> 0:14:05.796 a fiber optic cable connect this room directly to the 0:14:05.916 --> 0:14:09.036 NBA arenas around the country, all for two calls again 0:14:09.556 --> 0:14:12.636 at two goals a game. Fifteen million dollars to build 0:14:12.676 --> 0:14:14.756 this room to get two goals right the game. But 0:14:15.356 --> 0:14:19.876 you gotta do it, You gotta do it. Can I 0:14:19.996 --> 0:14:23.116 just pause here a moment just to consider what the 0:14:23.276 --> 0:14:25.556 NBA has done in the past few years to improve 0:14:25.676 --> 0:14:29.596 the calls. For example, they brought in serious managers to 0:14:29.716 --> 0:14:32.916 hire and train the refs. Joe Borgia calls his boss 0:14:33.076 --> 0:14:36.276 the general because she's actually a general and an Air 0:14:36.356 --> 0:14:40.196 Force pilot. Her name is Michelle Johnson, and before she 0:14:40.276 --> 0:14:45.156 supervised NBA refs, she ran the Air Force Academy. It 0:14:45.276 --> 0:14:47.796 sounds like overkill to use a general to make sure 0:14:47.836 --> 0:14:51.116 a basketball games are well reft, but the NBA thought 0:14:51.116 --> 0:14:55.876 it needed overkill, or at least Adam Silver, the NBA Commissioner, did, 0:14:56.156 --> 0:15:00.516 if people don't believe that the league office is unbiased 0:15:00.596 --> 0:15:02.996 and that the officials are unbiased, you're gonna have a problem, 0:15:03.076 --> 0:15:06.396 regardless of the accuracy of the calls. Silver took over 0:15:06.516 --> 0:15:09.556 in twenty fourteen and also hired Joe Borge to create 0:15:09.636 --> 0:15:12.956 the Replay Center. Since then, the NBA Commission has taken 0:15:12.956 --> 0:15:16.476 a ridiculous amount of grief for trying to improve justice 0:15:16.716 --> 0:15:19.676 in basketball. There are a group of people who think 0:15:19.996 --> 0:15:22.796 that without the sort of transparency that we see in 0:15:22.876 --> 0:15:26.556 this day and age, that it enabled certain officials and 0:15:26.716 --> 0:15:31.196 maybe with a touch of frontier justice, to overall create 0:15:31.316 --> 0:15:34.156 more of a fair environment. Even if that were true, 0:15:34.196 --> 0:15:36.636 and I'm not sure it is, those days are over, 0:15:36.916 --> 0:15:39.436 and I think it's whether it's in sports or other 0:15:39.556 --> 0:15:43.196 walks of life that you cannot turn the clock back 0:15:43.316 --> 0:15:46.836 on transparency. So here's what else Silver has done. He's 0:15:46.876 --> 0:15:49.356 broad in the pool of people from which refs are selected. 0:15:49.956 --> 0:15:52.076 They used to be mostly white men, mostly from the 0:15:52.116 --> 0:15:56.276 same background. At one point fifteen years ago, four NBA 0:15:56.396 --> 0:15:59.156 refs came from the same high school. He's hired more 0:15:59.236 --> 0:16:04.196 black refs and female refs. He's insisted that referees be 0:16:04.276 --> 0:16:06.876 physically fit so they can get into position to see 0:16:06.916 --> 0:16:09.876 all the plays. While everyone else in AMA is getting fatter, 0:16:09.996 --> 0:16:13.516 the rests are getting buff. They're also now getting new 0:16:13.596 --> 0:16:17.556 feedback on all their bad calls. Silver decided to publish 0:16:17.636 --> 0:16:20.116 the mistakes made by every reff in the last two 0:16:20.156 --> 0:16:23.076 minutes of every game so everyone could see them. He 0:16:23.196 --> 0:16:27.036 gives the teams and the refs a private document listing 0:16:27.196 --> 0:16:30.876 every refereeing mistake. All this new data on refs means 0:16:30.916 --> 0:16:33.036 that we and they know all sorts of strange things 0:16:33.076 --> 0:16:36.276 about their minds. For instance, we now know that their 0:16:36.316 --> 0:16:40.196 calls have tended to favor whichever team's losing. Their calls 0:16:40.196 --> 0:16:42.836 also favor the home team. Some large part of home 0:16:42.916 --> 0:16:46.516 court advantage is just the refs. The analytics department of 0:16:46.516 --> 0:16:48.596 the Houston Rockets has even done a study that shows 0:16:48.596 --> 0:16:50.516 that the home team that gets the best calls is 0:16:50.556 --> 0:16:55.196 the Utah Jazz. Why Utah? Who knows? But you can 0:16:55.236 --> 0:16:58.076 be sure that someone will figure that out. There's now 0:16:58.156 --> 0:17:04.116 basically a small army of geeks analyzing all this new data. Look, 0:17:04.156 --> 0:17:07.276 I don't really like writing papers about sports. I'm pre 0:17:07.316 --> 0:17:10.076 feder write them about the economy. That's Justin Wolfers, a 0:17:10.156 --> 0:17:13.236 behavioral economist at the University of Michigan and the co 0:17:13.436 --> 0:17:16.356 author of a paper about NBA refs. But the thing is, 0:17:16.476 --> 0:17:20.436 this is a domain where the NBA referees have tremendous 0:17:20.516 --> 0:17:24.276 incentives not to make the wrong call. Every era they 0:17:24.356 --> 0:17:27.716 make is tracked. Those eras determine whether they get more games. 0:17:27.836 --> 0:17:30.556 Those games determine how much they get paid. This is 0:17:30.756 --> 0:17:34.916 arguably the most analyzed workforce in the country. Basketball referees 0:17:34.956 --> 0:17:37.236 are now picked apart in ways that not long ago 0:17:37.276 --> 0:17:40.396 would have seemed preposterous, not just for the fairness of 0:17:40.436 --> 0:17:44.556 their calls, but for their unconscious behavior. Wolfers took years 0:17:44.596 --> 0:17:46.796 of data from every NBA game. Then he set out 0:17:46.796 --> 0:17:50.236 to look for evidence of the reff's racial bias. The 0:17:50.356 --> 0:17:53.676 question here isn't whether people are anti black or anti white, 0:17:54.076 --> 0:17:58.076 but whether there's an in group bias. So, if a 0:17:58.516 --> 0:18:01.876 predominantly black team is playing and the refereeing crew is 0:18:01.956 --> 0:18:05.916 predominantly white, they're more fouls called against them than on 0:18:06.116 --> 0:18:09.556 nights when the same team is playing with the dominantly 0:18:09.756 --> 0:18:12.876 blank refereeing crew. And it turns out the answers yes. 0:18:13.356 --> 0:18:15.716 Wolfers wrote his paper back in two thousand and seven, 0:18:16.116 --> 0:18:19.956 before this new age of referee transparency. Well, it was 0:18:19.956 --> 0:18:21.716 a bit of a lesson for me. You can probably 0:18:21.756 --> 0:18:24.356 tell by my accident, Michael. I'm an Australian, you know. 0:18:24.356 --> 0:18:26.196 I thought it was an interesting piece of social science. 0:18:26.356 --> 0:18:28.836 It turned out the New York Times put it on 0:18:28.916 --> 0:18:33.116 the front page and the NBA wasn't happy. The commissioner 0:18:33.156 --> 0:18:36.076 at the time attacked the study and embarrassed the league 0:18:36.116 --> 0:18:39.716 by trying and failing to refute its findings. This morning 0:18:39.756 --> 0:18:43.356 we'll hear from the NBA Commissioner, David Stern. Our referees 0:18:43.356 --> 0:18:46.796 are the most reviewed, most ranked, and most rated, and 0:18:46.956 --> 0:18:49.996 that's why we take exception to what the Times did here. 0:18:50.316 --> 0:18:53.516 That's Stern on NPR in two thousand and seven. The 0:18:53.676 --> 0:18:57.196 result of all this coverage, every single referee was made 0:18:57.196 --> 0:19:01.036 aware of his unconscious bias. When the dust settled, Justin 0:19:01.076 --> 0:19:03.196 Wolfers was curious to know if his paper had had 0:19:03.196 --> 0:19:06.636 any effect. He made another study of referees after the 0:19:06.756 --> 0:19:10.996 controversy he'd created, and guess what demonstration study that we 0:19:11.116 --> 0:19:13.396 did seems to suggest that that form of racial bias 0:19:13.516 --> 0:19:17.476 is gone away. He has no idea why. Maybe simply 0:19:17.516 --> 0:19:19.436 making the refs aware of the problem was enough to 0:19:19.476 --> 0:19:22.436 correct it. But in the end this became a case 0:19:22.516 --> 0:19:28.236 study not in ref ineptitude but ref reform. NBA refs 0:19:28.316 --> 0:19:32.316 have achieved what police forces can only dream of, race blindness. 0:19:33.276 --> 0:19:36.116 The refs have no choice. The world's now too good 0:19:36.156 --> 0:19:41.276 at seeing their mistakes. Look, there's no way any basketball 0:19:41.356 --> 0:19:43.436 referee is going to be perfect. But there's also no 0:19:43.596 --> 0:19:46.196 way these refs or anything but more accurate than they've 0:19:46.196 --> 0:19:48.996 ever been. I mean, even home court advantage means less 0:19:48.996 --> 0:19:51.396 than it used to, and yet these refs are treated 0:19:51.516 --> 0:20:02.436 as if they're trying to rig the games. Does the 0:20:02.516 --> 0:20:05.116 sound of those eighteen thousand people screaming at you, are 0:20:05.196 --> 0:20:07.956 booing you, does it sound any different than it sounded 0:20:07.996 --> 0:20:11.596 when you started in nineteen ninety one. Yeah, there's there's 0:20:11.596 --> 0:20:14.396 a little more anger involved, and you know it used 0:20:14.396 --> 0:20:17.636 to be sort of the garden variety. You're terrible, you 0:20:17.756 --> 0:20:20.836 suck any of those kinds of terms. That's Monte McCutcheon, 0:20:20.996 --> 0:20:24.356 who recently quit reffing NBA games to serve as a 0:20:24.476 --> 0:20:28.036 kind of life coach to the other NBA refs to 0:20:28.196 --> 0:20:31.916 talk them through their problems. Now, you know, people do 0:20:32.036 --> 0:20:34.876 their research. They things are out there on the internet. 0:20:34.956 --> 0:20:38.396 They know your record with their team. They they've done 0:20:38.436 --> 0:20:40.676 all there's all these sights on all these different they 0:20:40.716 --> 0:20:43.916 know personal things about you. Oh sure, of course, some 0:20:44.076 --> 0:20:46.596 death threats are made from time to time in playoff series, 0:20:46.676 --> 0:20:49.436 and you'll get security all the way to both the 0:20:49.516 --> 0:20:51.796 hotel and then the hotel the next morning out to 0:20:51.876 --> 0:20:54.676 the airport. They security to the hotel not every night, 0:20:54.756 --> 0:20:57.316 but when those threats are are a known factor that 0:20:57.436 --> 0:21:00.876 has happened in my career, security to your car is 0:21:00.996 --> 0:21:05.516 mandatory every night. Yep. These days refs need bodyguards to 0:21:05.796 --> 0:21:09.476 escape after the game. Here are people who are mostly 0:21:09.516 --> 0:21:12.196 just trying to do these extremely difficult jobs as well 0:21:12.236 --> 0:21:15.036 as they can, and at some point you feel this 0:21:15.236 --> 0:21:18.316 question rising up in you, in me. It rose up 0:21:18.356 --> 0:21:21.236 while I was talking to Ramona Shelburne, the ESPN reporter. 0:21:21.596 --> 0:21:24.196 Why would anybody want to be a ref Seriously? I 0:21:24.316 --> 0:21:28.236 wonder that too. Man. You know, they're not allowed to 0:21:28.276 --> 0:21:30.756 say anything. They're not allowed to explain themselves, they're not 0:21:30.796 --> 0:21:34.676 allowed to defend themselves. Look, obviously, they get paid. They 0:21:34.756 --> 0:21:36.756 started one hundred and fifty grand a year, and if 0:21:36.796 --> 0:21:39.036 they're great at their job and work extra games, they 0:21:39.076 --> 0:21:41.636 can make as much as five hundred. But there are 0:21:41.716 --> 0:21:44.156 lots of ways to get paid without spending half your 0:21:44.236 --> 0:21:47.076 life in hotel rooms and the other half being insulted 0:21:47.116 --> 0:21:49.796 by arenas filled with crazy people. Do you think the 0:21:49.876 --> 0:21:52.916 refereeing has gotten worse or better? I actually think it's 0:21:52.916 --> 0:21:55.476 gotten better. Of course it's gotten better. How could it 0:21:55.596 --> 0:21:58.396 not have. The mystery is why the stars and the 0:21:58.476 --> 0:22:00.876 coaches and the fans act as if it's gotten worse. 0:22:02.276 --> 0:22:04.996 I have a hundred about that too, which you'll hear 0:22:05.036 --> 0:22:18.036 in a minute. Okay, So Sacramentals checking in right sore 0:22:19.396 --> 0:22:23.916 ten Oclos on an hour before Clippers. So Golden Stag 0:22:23.956 --> 0:22:26.716 will check in and the Clippers will check in about 0:22:26.916 --> 0:22:31.356 the nine thirty I'm back with Joe Borgia in the 0:22:31.436 --> 0:22:35.396 replay center. The refs here sit dressed in black, staring 0:22:35.436 --> 0:22:39.236 at screens, waiting for a signal from somewhere in America. 0:22:40.316 --> 0:22:42.716 The end of games is when they get most involved, 0:22:42.996 --> 0:22:46.236 because that's when fans and coaches and players are most 0:22:46.276 --> 0:22:49.436 likely to accuse some ref of having made the mistake 0:22:49.516 --> 0:22:52.756 that change the outcome. Of course, a mistake at the 0:22:52.796 --> 0:22:54.556 beginning has just as much effect on a game as 0:22:54.596 --> 0:22:56.916 a mistake at the end. But the end is what 0:22:57.036 --> 0:23:01.516 people notice and get outraged about, so the justice at 0:23:01.556 --> 0:23:03.796 the end of the game must be more exact than 0:23:03.876 --> 0:23:07.116 it is at the beginning. These replay center refs have 0:23:07.276 --> 0:23:10.556 video technicians with them who can freeze a moment on screen, 0:23:11.316 --> 0:23:13.756 then zoom out or zoom in so that the entire 0:23:13.876 --> 0:23:17.876 screen contains only a player's fingertips or his toes. Here 0:23:17.916 --> 0:23:20.356 you just scroll through tiny slivers of the game, not 0:23:20.476 --> 0:23:25.556 the game itself, the slivers where injustices might occur. I mean, goodness, graces. 0:23:25.596 --> 0:23:28.036 If you don't have slow motion in here or freeze frame, 0:23:28.436 --> 0:23:31.436 it's very difficult. Of course, in slow motion you can 0:23:31.476 --> 0:23:35.796 see things that the naked eye misses. Magicians sometimes perform 0:23:36.156 --> 0:23:40.076 during halftimes of the NBA games. When Joe Borgi slows 0:23:40.116 --> 0:23:42.396 it down, he can see how they do their tricks. 0:23:43.116 --> 0:23:45.396 It's kind of the same thing with the players, exactly, 0:23:45.516 --> 0:23:47.636 I can go with sixtieth of a second at a time. 0:23:48.276 --> 0:23:49.756 He's going to pick a lot of little things. So 0:23:49.836 --> 0:23:52.556 what these players are getting good at is creating optical illusions. 0:23:52.956 --> 0:23:54.436 And then it comes to sort the sort of things 0:23:54.476 --> 0:23:57.196 that a magician does well. Isn't flopping an optical illusion. 0:23:57.836 --> 0:24:00.556 Flopping is what they call it when a player pretends 0:24:00.556 --> 0:24:03.516 to have been knocked over by another player. Tricking the 0:24:03.596 --> 0:24:07.076 refs into making bad calls is now considered a skill. Okay, 0:24:07.196 --> 0:24:09.836 replay sing on gimma, so you just hit a game? 0:24:09.916 --> 0:24:12.556 Ref in Houston twirls his fingers in the air. Some 0:24:12.756 --> 0:24:15.196 players hit a three point shot at the buzzer or 0:24:15.316 --> 0:24:18.436 has he The Houston reff wants to know if the 0:24:18.516 --> 0:24:21.676 player's toe was on the three point line and if 0:24:21.716 --> 0:24:24.716 he got off the shot before the buzzer. It's just 0:24:24.956 --> 0:24:27.956 now that Joe says I can work the equipment, can I? 0:24:29.396 --> 0:24:36.156 Just the truth is, I'm not a big equipment guy. 0:24:36.916 --> 0:24:39.396 My first step when something needs to be assembled or 0:24:39.476 --> 0:24:42.436 operated is to call someone and say I'll pay whatever 0:24:42.476 --> 0:24:46.316 it costs. I start twisting dials just to see what happens. 0:24:46.836 --> 0:24:48.956 They appear to cause the picture to zoom in and out. 0:24:49.516 --> 0:24:52.956 Watch the referee on the bottom of the screen. There's 0:24:52.956 --> 0:24:55.796 your SI. Yeah, you got to see that. You have 0:24:55.876 --> 0:24:58.316 to see the referee doing that? Are you? Someone may 0:24:58.396 --> 0:25:03.796 say something. There's a lot of subjectivity in refee, but 0:25:03.876 --> 0:25:05.836 a whole bunch of the questions that arise on a 0:25:05.876 --> 0:25:10.076