Officials Trying To Keep Shaq In The Game?

[arthurracoon]

Hmmmm...

The head official Ed Rush ran to the scorers table in the second half and asked how many fouls Shaq had.

At that point it was either 4 or 5. Not sure.

Shaq had 4 fouls in the first half and 1 in the second.

The radio announcers heard this as Rush's voice was picked up on the microphone.

They criticized the official on the radio as did Mike Jureki this morning.

Why did Ed Rush need to know how many fouls Shaq had?

(It's not about fouling out as the scorers tell the refs that)

 

[George O'Brien]

There is a tradition that a player has to make a fairly overt foul to foul out. I'm not saying it's right, but it may be that the refs take it seriously.

Still, TV ratings ARE better if the Lakers are in the finals.....

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

Still, TV ratings ARE better if the Lakers are in the finals.....

That may be a myth. Besides the boring spurs, no other west team has seen the finals for the past 5 years..........

 

[elindholm]

That may be a myth. Besides the boring spurs, no other west team has seen the finals for the past 5 years..........

I think I read somewhere that, in the early rounds of this year's playoffs, games involving the Lakers were drawing larger audiences than those with other teams.

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

That may be a myth. Besides the boring spurs, no other west team has seen the finals for the past 5 years..........

I think I read somewhere that, in the early rounds of this year's playoffs, games involving the Lakers were drawing larger audiences than those with other teams.

I believe that. Although I would think the Finals would have a larger overall draw than earlier rounds of the playoffs. It is hard to sell the 1st and 2nd rounds to a casual fan (especially with the way they started out), but more people should watch the finals since it is the last round. I think Minny is still a marketable team with KG, Spree and Cassell. I personally dont think the ratings would have been that much different, not that I care.