"The Ref That Hid His Whistle"

It seems the NBA has become a "soft" and "finesse" game. I am not a proponent of players running around harming each other in mid-air, but I do like to watch a basketball game that has some physicality to it. More often than not, especially in games that Wade or Bryant are playing, there exists a sense of premeditated whistle blowing by the refs. What happened to the good ole' days of power-forwards being allowed to do what's in their job description?

This game has gone from a raw sport to a massively marketed reality TV show(aka Marbury). But that game has evolved in a way to treat these players like Gods, and it's beginning to take away from the actual sport. Referees make foul calls at the slightest amount of physical contact, and over the past decade it has become far to noticeable. Can you remember when players were allowed to put a body on their opponent? Remember when they could contest lay-ups in a crowded paint? Remember when this was the NBA norm, and a referees first instinct was to let them play?

I put a lot of this on the refs. They are the ones that have the power to control a game. One, single referee can make a stand by not bailing out some superstar when he misses a contested layup. These refs can let their whistle lay silent while Luis Scola takes a charge on Nate Robinson. Didn't the NBA discuss penalizing "floppers" this past summer? It's always all talk and no action. David Stern has this league set-up to benefit him as much as possible. No, I don't have this huge conspiracy theory about him and the league, but I am pretty sure he is a big part of this leagues so called "evolution" into the world of finesse and footwork.

Now I am not suggesting that players should be allowed to undercut a guy who is four feet in the air....that's just dangerous. But this year, and recent years, I have seen clean hard fouls called as flagrant's, and some even resulting in ejection. It's a joke. We grew up playing this game physically, whether it was a high school team or playground. I am pretty sure these pro's played physical ball as well. Let's stop this progression of basketball becoming more like ballet(all about footwork and finesse), but let the game be the combination of ballet and brute force that it once was. Are you with me?