NBA Racial Bias?

11:42 am EST May 2nd, 2007 | News | 12 Comments

This is pretty wild.

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.

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12 Responses to “NBA Racial Bias?”

  1. Quaker in a Basement says:
    May 2, 2007 at 11:54 am

    Well sure. It’s hard to commit fouls when you’re sitting on the bench.

  2. Organic George says:
    May 2, 2007 at 12:34 pm

    Do demonstrations work?

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  3. Nimrod Gently says:
    May 2, 2007 at 12:45 pm

    There are white players?

  4. Marty says:
    May 2, 2007 at 12:51 pm

    You see this at many levels of basketball. For example, players with different style sof ball playing (regardless of status) commit fouls at different rates. I can’t be so sure it had as much to do with race as style.

    For example, I coach a team of kids from the suburbs where we teach a more fundamental style of basketball, and when we play city teams that have a more aggressive, free-wheeling, “street” styles, those teams tend to get called for more fouls- especially if the referees are white suburban types. However, when we have black (or more urban) referees when we’re playing against those same teams, there are fewer fouls called on the more aggressive “city” ballers. The refs from different areas are also accustomed to different styles of ball.

    Even at the highest level of the sport, regardless of the status of the player, the styles of players often dictates how many fouls they get called for. Players with bad boy images probably get called for more fouls. Younger players get called for more fouls. Role players off the bench get called for more fouls. Superstars get called for less fouls.

    Interesting article though.

  5. brif says:
    May 2, 2007 at 1:12 pm

    the disparity can be explained in two words: rasheed wallace.

  6. Daryl says:
    May 2, 2007 at 1:14 pm

    Duh.

  7. SpiderJ says:
    May 2, 2007 at 3:07 pm

    Wow, this is hard-hitting…so to speak. How sad that more rule infractions in a game are called on black millionaires as opposed to white millionaires.

    This is like a parsley sprig on the larger banquet of racism in America. Surely we don’t need to spend this much time on the topic.

  8. Justin says:
    May 2, 2007 at 3:24 pm

    I’d be more interested in the rates of Technical Fouls called on whites vs. blacks.

    I agree with the style of play that Marty spoke about. Regardless of race some people play a more physical style and those who play a more physical style might be predominately black. There is nothing racist about that.

  9. fd10801 says:
    May 2, 2007 at 4:01 pm

    Justin: You mean the “white collar” fouls versus the “street” fouls?

  10. WhiteWhale says:
    May 2, 2007 at 4:07 pm

    What garbage. Any fan that watches basketball knows there is NO rhyme of reason to the way the refs call games.Just ask Shaq. There should be a study alone on how people foul him constantly(Though I am a huge Bulls and Mavericks fan!!) The NBA has enough conspiracy theories running amock. The study is not accurate in my mind because it takes very few variables into account. Aggressive ball players/slasher types get rewarded more with fouls(AI, Dwayne Wade) than jump shooters(Ray Allen,Kyle Korver) etc…

  11. nihilistic_disintegration says:
    May 2, 2007 at 5:10 pm

    WhiteWhale: “Just ask Shaq.”

    They should also do a study on how many fouls Shaq commits every game and never gets called. Every time he gets the ball in the low post, he dislodges the defender. That’s an offensive foul. Shaq can’t help it, though, being such a Goliath, so the league lets him get away with it.

    Also,

    Nimrod: “There are white players?”

    Two words for you: Steve Nash.

    (MVP 2 years in a row, probably this year, too.)

  12. BBallFan says:
    July 21, 2007 at 9:17 pm

    Well of COURSE there’s gonna be more fouls called on blacks than whites in the NBA, considerng 95% of the NBA players are BLACK! When there is only 5% of non-black players, then it’s hard to get MORE calls on the non-blacks if they are extremely endangered!

    There is a ratio of 85 to 1, black players comparison to white (non black) players. So if there is a game with 86 players, of course the blacks are gonna get more foul calls on them if there is only ONE non-black person in the game!