Hey, there's some non-lockout NBA news to report today. The NBA has named Don Vaden as Director of Officials, according to a press release from the league. I hope Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Spike Lee, etc. are reading so they know who to take their grievances to.
Don Vaden Replaces Bernie Fryer As NBA’s Head Of Referees
The Association named Don Vaden as NBA’s Vice President, Director of Officials. He is responsible for the on-court performance of the league’s referees.
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Vaden will be in charge of “day-to-day management and on-court performance” of NBA referees. Most importantly for you, the fan, this means that when your team totally gets cheated out of a win, you can not only blame the official, but his or her boss, who you now know.
Allow me to share a relevant passage on referees from “Soccer in the Sun and Shadow” by Eduardo Galeano:
The losers owe their loss to him and the winners triumph in spite of him. Scapegoat for every error, cause of every misfortune, the fans would have to invent him if he didn’t already exist. The more they hate him, the more they need him.
And Vaden is now the king of these unfortunate souls.
If you want to know more about him, here are the details from the release:
In his 15-season officiating career with the NBA, Vaden officiated 854 Regular Season games and 59 Playoffs and Finals games before retiring in 2002. Over the past nine years, Vaden has served in various management roles in the NBA’s officiating program and has served as the director of officiating at numerous NBA summer leagues, training NBA and NBA D-League referees.
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