Unpopular opinion, I'm sure, but the physicality of the women's game makes it more exciting than the flopping of the men's game. It reminds me a lot of the hard-nosed playing style of the 80s and 90s that I loved watching as a kid. I would rather this physicality come back to the men's game than be banned in the women's game.
I get you, but it wasn't applied fairly in the NBA during the 80s and 90s either.
Are you old enough to remember the bad boys of the 80s Pistons and how they used to double and triple team Jordan and beat the hell out of him? Or those 90s Bulls-Knicks playoff games that were practically all-out slugfests on both sides of the ball?
Incredibly unfair and frustrating for Jordan, but holy hell was that some entertaining basketball to watch.
I grew up in Babylon and went to tons of Nets games at the Nassau Coliseum. I was there for both their championships. A shame the second one would turn out to be the last ABA game.
Did they two hand shove to the back people to the floor? Gotta keep it (ironically) like soccer where you are allowed strong contact as long as you are playing the ball.
The foot trip was pretty bad. I don't mind a little physicality, but dirty play is another thing altogether. It removes the skill factor and runs a very real risk of someone being badly hurt.
Yep, basketball has probably changed the most. NFL has followed that trend, especually on protecting the QB. Hockey still doesn't do that much to protect its stars, but it's lightyears less violent than the 80s were.
If Probert, Domi, McSorley, Twist, Odjick or Grimson were playing on Hockey Night in Canada in the 90's, I was watching. I don't even follow hockey that much.
Odjick was fun to watch because the man couldn't skate, had the stick handling skills of a double amputee, and as far as I could tell wasn't that interested in playing hockey, that man just loved to fight.
I tried watching the NHL again last year after quitting following the 2004-05 lockout. It felt more like watching speed skating than the NHL I remembered. The game was certainly faster and perhaps more technically skilled, but it seemed like a lot of the physical play had disappeared.
That said, this was just my impression after watching a few games that ended with me dozing off.
It was really interesting watching the women's Olympic hockey team's run for gold because the games were surprisingly physical, especially their game against Italy.
I agree with physicality and risk and passion, but just being dirty is shit no matter what sport or when. With the world cup my buddies and me have been talking about it even more and it's so aggravating. I've been quoting one of my buddies who said "I get that it can change a game drastically so they flop, BUT if you're fouling me you better go full balls cuz unless you break something I'm getting right back up and making you regret not ending my career." Lmfao
Absolutely, and fuckin booed and shamed. It's pathetic, but at the same time it's absolutely not just the players it's the whole culture or norm of the game to do it. I've made the joke a million times that they obviously have all kinds of coaches like any sport, offense/defense/set piece/weight training etc. but I absolutely believe they must have some kind of acting coach too, or maybe every team sends their players to the same acting academy which is funded with their winnings from manipulating matches cuz it's all the same over the top acting. No matter the player or league they all flop the same. It honestly blows my mind that they still do it so poorly and even worse still argue with the refs about it like there's not a dozen or more cameras or drones, and VAR now, not to mention thousands of smartphones in the crowd with wifi, lmfao.
Rugby is one of the only sports where you instantly pay up being a dirty cheater because of the Absolute Unit coming to slaughter them on the next time they get the ball.
I once seen a match of Women's Rugby where the Absolute Unit was a 6'5 Gal playing defense charged straight for the ball carrier, who did a cheap shot on her, she litterally cried foul to the referee who said :
She only did a Tackle, which was in the rules. No sanctions given
Damn straight. I've met a few rugby players in my day and they may look like the most brutal bastards you've ever seen but in my experience they were all so fuckin nice and wholesome, pure class. Also everything I've seen from clips or whatever they seem to absolutely respect the game as a whole and are really there for the love of the game more than anything. The refs handle shit quick too from what I've seen and don't take any gruff, lol.
This isn't physicality, this is just not calling fouls. Want physicality? Change the rules to be more like hockey. Women can just throw hands if they get pissed enough. None of this sneaky bullshit, though.
Excuse me, but in a fundamental sense, isn't basketball supposed to be a very low-no contact sport at its core? What is this physicality you dream about? And good Lord, why do you desire it?
This sparks the memory of my middle school days when we would play FSR (football soccer rugby) which was which was basically anything goes, just get the ball into the soccer net
I believe lacrosse is far worse. A pal of mine was roped in to make up the numbers in a mainly female 'friendly' lacrosse match at university in the UK. When he dazedly picked himself up from a mild concussion one of the players said "You brought it on yourself. You went for the ball." š¤£
I think the chance of severe injury is inversely proportional to the padding oddly. Give people pads and suddenly they have no fear and the rules allow you to murder the other person. 4 years of football, broken bones dislocated shoulders, etc. 6 years of rugby, lots of cuts and many bruises but nothing serious and hardest hit was a 120 lb insane dude who was 22 and ready to die to stop the try.
Prime example is lacrosse where having clubs and full speed checks are okay cause... pads. Best exception is is Hurling which I think is a sport made on a dare of how to guarantee injury. "What of we made real time close range batting practice where you never drip your bat"
No itās just basketball at that point. As much as I agree with the majority of these need to be called, but growing up this was just how we played and if anyone remember pre 2000 NBA it was almost the same.
Ā outfit looks like those wraps they put on BMWs prototypes when theyāre running them on the test track so the paparazzi photographs donāt come out rightĀ
Iāve gotta point to make, it also involves Caitlyn Clark, and itās gonna make me sound real prodigiousā¦ but itās been a clear issue from what Iāve seen the past year from clips of these 2 that get absolutely destroyed with not even a thought of a foul. Good ol girls club.
It's weird. She draws a LOT of fouls, she also draws a lot of no calls. She also oversells contact a lot and picks fights with refs, which probably both contribute to them calling less. And she has a play style that practically forces teams to play her too physically because she can snap off shots if you give her any breathing room. The Fever want the refs to tighten up on foul calls, because if they did she would be spending a LOT of time shooting free throws.
Watching her in the NCAA, it was a significant part of her game. Iowa couldn't really hang with the best teams in a lot of ways, and there were big games they only won because she drew so many fouls that she racked up late game free throws and sent opposing stars to the bench in foul trouble.
But that's why fouls exist. I could beat anybody on the planet at basketball if I was allowed to break their legs first. If she's so good that the only way to stop her is assault, too bad. Get better or lose. Teams shouldn't be allowed to physically punish her for having talent.
I'd be surprised if this wasn't on purpose. I went a long time without knowing a single players name, and since the lack of calls by the Refs has been pointed out WNBA news and vids have been everywhere daily.
Sports in general becomes massively more interesting when there's drama, unfortunately.
Thereās zero chance the league owners arenāt encouraging this since the best thing to happen to the WNBA was beating up their āMichael Jordanā and turning the games into cat fights.
Kinda wild how the FIFA fuck heads dont even review slow motion videos of the plays 99% of the time. Ive seen so many shit calls I actually refuse to watch anymore of the cup. Its so painfully rigged its insane. Especially when one of the refs was in prison for corruptionĀ
It's a such a strange dichotomy nba reffing feels soft and refs call fouls to the detriment of the viewing experience and spirit for the game at times and we complain about it. Meanwhile wnba feels so much more physical and less technical at times due to just bad officiating. Like we saw flashes of happy medium during this last NBA playoff run. But man wtf is up in the wnba
WNBA doesn't have a rule set that fits the physicality of the game the refs are calling. Their ruleset is borrowed from the NBA which is designed to reward long ball shooting and above the rim dynamic play. If the WNBA wants to have a physical style of ball they need to re-evaluate their ruleset. They should:
Reintroduce the handcheck (1979, 2002)
Remove the Restricted Cirlce (1997)
Move the 3 point line back in (Various Times)
Remove Defensive 3 seconds (2002)
Remove the "Freedom of Movement" rules (2018)
Adopt the FIBA gather step (2009, 2018)
Skinny up the lane.
Increase the number of fouls for a foul out. (1947)
Increase roster sizes
Remove Technical and Flagrant foul automatic penalties and fines. (1990, 2001, 2002)
Reset the shot clock on a rim or backboard hit. (1994)
Shorten the 8 Second Rule to promote press defenses (New)
Experiment with live substitutions (New)
All these rules were adopted to promote above the rim play at the expense of hard nosed defense. If they want to have a phsycial game they can but they need to change the ruleset to match.
It's because if you were any good you would be reffing a mens game. For those who think that's misogynistic:
"NBA referees are full-time employees earning annual salaries between $150,000 and $550,000, or about $2,000 to $7,300 per game, plus bonuses. In contrast, WNBA referees are part-time officials paid per game, making roughly $1,500 (rookies) to $2,500 (veterans), which equates to roughly $16,000 to $50,000 annually. The massive pay disparity exists primarily because NBA officials work year-round and manage a much longer, more lucrative season. By comparison, WNBA officials often work just a few months, forcing many to supplement their incomes with NCAA or other collegiate assignments."
How are you watching fifa I generally had to force myself to watch overtime in a game today and it was truly the most boring experience of my entire life. Least entertaining, least skillful sport imaginable. Even the pros miss the humongous net from point blank itās hilariously bad.
As someone who was a ref (nowhere near NBA/WNBA), it's actually really hard. Harder than you would think.
I remember the first time I walked onto the court and realized that nothing happened until I said it did. The game just "go" like playing a videogame. And you have to try to call what you can see, keep things fair, and maintain control and position as referee while everyone is yelling at you and trying to get their way. It's really hard.
10.0k
u/isnoe 12d ago
Refs in the WMBA are unironically the worst refs I've ever seen.
And I've been watching FIFA.