THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FRIDAY MAY 4, 2007
FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2007
SPORTS
9B
>> NBA
Study suggests racial officiating Does race play a part in referees' calls?
NANCY ARMOUR ASSOCIATED PRESS
If referees are whistling Kobe Bryant for more fouls because of the color of his skin, he's never noticed it.
"I think I've gotten more techs from black refs than white refs," the Los Angeles Lakers star jokingly said Wednesday. "That's reverse racism probably."
According to an upcoming paper by a University of Pennsylvania
professor and a Cornell graduate student, white referees called fouls against black players at a higher rate than they did against white players.
Their study also found that black officials called fools on
white players more frequently than they did against blacks, but the disparity wasn't as great.
But Bryant, LeBron James and four other NBA players dismissed an academic study that found evidence of racial bias in referees' calls, saying they've never experienced it. The NBA also refuted the study, saying its own analysis showed no racial bias in officiating.
"This is not a view that one set of people hates another set of people. This is implicit unconscious biases."
"We obviously discuss officiating and our feelings toward it," said Utah Jazz guard Derek Fisher, president of the NBA players' association. "But I don't ever recall it being a racially motivated type of conversation where we felt like there were certain guys that had it out for me or him or whoever just because of the color of our skin.
"I don't know that I've ever really felt that there was a racial component to officiating."
James put it this way: "It's stupid."
Chicago Bulls veteran forward
P. J. Brown said: "Somebody's got too much time on their hands."
That misses the point, said Justin Wolfers, an assistant professor of business and public policy at the Wharton School and co-author of the study.
JUSTIN WOLFERS Assistant professor
"This is not a view that one set of people hates another set of people. This is implicit, unconscious biases," said Wolfers, who conducted the study with Joseph Price, a graduate student in economics at Cornell.
"You see two players (collide)
on the floor and you have to call a block or a charge. Does the skin color of the players somehow shape how you interpret the signals your brain gives you?"
Analyzing NBA boxscores from a 13-season span running through 2004, the study found that black players received fewer fouls per 48 minutes than white players, 4.33 to 4.97. But it also found that fouls on black players could increase as much as 4 1/2 percent in that time period "when the number of white referees on a crew went from zero to three."
Though the NBA is made up of predominantly black players, less than 40 percent of its officials are black and they are randomly assigned to games in three-person crews.
"I don't really think it's relevant as far as our game," Cavaliers guard Larry Hughes said. We have the same discussions with white refs as we do with black refs. It's no different. I definitely wouldn't say that a white ref has it out for the black guys in the league. It's not possible in our game as fast as we move."
Wolfers and Price analyzed officiating crews, based on boxscores, not individual referees.
GOLF
BY DOUG FERGUSON ASSOCIATED PRESS
Non-golf athletes play at Wachiovia tourney
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — There was no shortage of stars at the Wachovia Championship.
And that was for the pro-am round.
Thousands of fans lined the first fairway Wednesday morning to watch two of the world's most celebrated sports icons — Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan — play together in a public event for the first time. Two groups behind with Sergio Garcia, and virtually unnoticed on this day, was Peyton Manning, the guy selected as the Super Bowl MVP.
The real tournament starts Thursday at Quail Hollow, and attention will shift to another cast of stars — one of the strongest fields of the year at a PGA Tour event that already has become one of the best.
Woods, defending champion Jim Furky and Phil Mickelson are among the top 30 players in the world ranking. Not bad for a tournament that is only four years
"When you have a great golf course, the guys will come," Woods said. "This is one of the neat golf courses we get to play all year. It's straightforward, right in front of
"When we show up at the hotel, our kids have their names embroidered on the hotel pillows and towels, and they call our assistants and get all kinds of toys that they like waiting for them in the hotel room," Mickelson said.
The 18th is 478 yards with a bunker and trees to the right, and a small stream that winds down the left side all the way to the green.
The rest of the amenities aren't bad.
But it all starts with Quail Hollow, a tree-lined course that features one of the toughest finishing stretch on tour.
their caddies get valet parking. Wives are offered a short flight to Asheville to see the Biltmore Estate. Mickelson even found another perk that not many others have talked about — personalized pillow cases and towels.
The par-3 17th is 217 yards to a peninsula green that breaks sharply toward the lake.
"When you have a great golf course, the guys will come. This is one of the neat golf courses we get to play all year."
you. You have to shape the ball both ways, and on top of that, you've really got to put it here."
"It's really kind of a par-3 1/2 hole," Mickelson said of the 17th. "If you make par, it's close to a birdie."
The purse is $6.3 million, among the richest for regular PGA Tour events. Players are given a Mercedes-Benz for a courtesy car, and even
Furyk won last year with an 8-foot par putt on the 18th to get into a playoff, and a 6-foot par on the first extra hole to beat Trevor Immelman.
TIGER WOODS Professional golfer
He was in a four-hole playoff the year
before, won by Vijay Singh. Joey Sindelar won in 2004 after a clutch birdie on the 17th and winning in — you guessed it — a playoff.
The only time the Wachovia didn't require overtime was the first year, when David Toms took a six-shot lead to the final hole and made a quadruple-bogey 8 to win by two.
》 MAYWEATHER V5. DE LA HOYA
BY TIM DAHLBERG ASSOCIATED PRESS
High profile fight brings big cash
LAS VEGAS — At the sports book inside the massive MGM Grand hotel-casino, the squares were trickling in to bet the big fight. As squares usually do, they were going for the dog, who on this day wore a big smile underneath his ball cap.
Oscar De La Hoya hasn't been in this position much, but it doesn't seem to bother him. Maybe that's because he's going to make $30 million or so no matter what the odds are when he steps into the ring against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a megafight that harkens back to boxing's glory days.
Or maybe he just believes in himself more than he believes the wise guys who set the odds.
The wise guys who bet the big money will mostly be putting it on the favorite in this fight. But casual fans, or squares to the bookies who take their money, are believers when their fighter talks about himself.
"Don't be surprised if I'm faster than Mayweather," De La Hoya warned. "I don't see this fight going the distance."
Those, of course, are fighting words, though a bit tamer than the ones the two boxers have been
will be at least some bad blood, if not real blood, spilled when the two finally meet Saturday night.
throwing at each othersince they launched this promotion a few months back in a big city tour.
By the time they finished at a surprisingly quiet final news conference on
"This is not golf. This is not tennis." Mayweather said "It's a brutal sport. Blood, sweat and tears."
Not that Mayweather is lacking for cash. As he is quick to point out, he lives in a 12,000-square-foot mansion, drives Bentleys and Maybachs, and employs people to take care of his every whim.
Money, too, if you're a marketing machine like De La Hoya or good enough to be the fighter many consider the best pound
"This is not golf. This is not tennis. It's a brutal sport. Blood, sweat and tears."
Wednesday, there was more than enough material for HBO to fill its reality show. And there was more than enough animosity between the two fighters to guarantee there
as many millions as his undefeated opponent.
FLOYD MAYWEATHER Boxer
De La Hoya will take the biggest cut because, well, he's the golden boy. He's not only the main attraction in the fight, but the promoter as well, and he figure to bank twice
OK, so he was wearing an $8 T-shirt at the press conference. But on his left wrist was a diamond-studded watch worth $500,000. Around his neck was a glittering cross and chain worth another $300,000. On his pinky finger was a $200,000 ring, bringing this day's jewelry tab to a cool million dollars.
for-pound in the world, like Mayweather. Their fight will likely be the richest ever in a sport that's supposed to be dying, and both fighters will be well compensated.
Mayweather has more than earned his keep for this fight, even before he steps into the ring to challenge De La Hoya for the 154-pound title. He's not only the most gifted fighter of his era, but he's generated enough subplots for this fight to fill a full season of the "Sopranos."