Yglesias breaks down a new report on NBA refs and how they're calling their games. And no, I don't think it's awesome just because he posted the above NBA Jam screenshot of John Stockton and Karl Malone.
From The Oregonian:
An academic study of NBA officiating found little to no evidence that referees favor teams from large media markets in the playoffs, a favorite conspiracy theory of skeptical fans. But the same study found that NBA referees tend to favor home teams, teams trailing in a game and team trailing in a playoff series. [...] The researchers found that each type of favoritism — home, trailing in a game and trailing in a series — resulted in a 5 to 10 percent advantage in “discretionary” turnovers, or ones over which referees have the most influence. The researchers do not attempt to explain what the percentages could mean in actual wins and losses.
Matt believes that it all boils down to money. Home team wins = greater ticket sales = more money. Trailing in a series and coming back = longer series = more money. Simple.
I see a few more of these lines we can pull out. In terms of favoritism of a team trailing in a game (or as Matt calls it, "The NBA Jam Effect):
Trailing in a game and coming back = retained or increased viewership = higher Nielsens = more money.
(This could also be supplemented with "More timeouts = Increased commercial time = more money")
And most importantly, relating to the homer-ism:
Home team wins = refs aren't lynched by 18,000 angry fans = live to see a new dawn = mo' money.
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