Tapsearch Com EditorOn the NBA race discrimination study
May 4th 2007 23:21
Steve Sailer points to a new study about referee bias in the NBA. A study concluded that refs tend to go easier on people of their own race.
As usual, The New York Times gets it wrong:
Actually, no, they didn't find that at all. Rather:
...compared to white players, black players play more minutes per game (while Table 2 reports weighted means—30.7 minutes vs 27.2 minutes, the unweighted means among those with positive playing time are 25.0 vs 20.5). Black players receive about the same number of fouls per game (2.55 vs 2.53) as white players, but receive fewer fouls per 48 minutes played (4.33 vs. 4.97). The differences in foul rates largely reflect the fact that white players tend to be taller, heavier, and more likely to play center than black players.
White referees still called more fouls on whites than on blacks, but at a lesser disproportion than did black referees. The NYT would be correct if it added, "relative to black referees" after "greater rate."
Here's another interesting nuance:
The number of fouls earned by black players is, on average, roughly the same whether the refereeing crew is predominantly white or black. By contrast, white players earn many fewer fouls under white refereeing crews.
It's very important to keep in mind how small these differences are. Per 48 minutes played, black players got 4.330 fouls from majority white refs and 4.329 fouls from majority black refs. White players got 4.954 from white refs and 5.023 from black refs.
White players see the bigger difference, but look at it this way -- for every 502 fouls a black ref calls on a white player, a white ref calls about 495 (or 98.6 percent). The average game has something like 28 fouls for a team. Say an all-white team gets 28 fouls with a majority-black ref staff; with a majority-white ref staff they'll get 27.6. Since NBA teams are (to put it mildly) not all-white, the effect is even smaller.
That said, the difference could mean one of three things. One, white refs go easy on white players, while black refs call all fouls equally. Two, black refs call extra fouls on white players, while white refs call all fouls equally. Three, some combination of the two.
Heck, just to be a smartaleck, I'll propose a fourth: stereotype threat. There's a perception that white athletes are less graceful than are black athletes, and indeed they're "taller, heavier." So, fearful of confirming that stereotype, whites get nervous and play worse in front of black refs.
By Robert VerBruggen
As usual, The New York Times gets it wrong:
A coming paper by a University of Pennsylvania professor and a Cornell University graduate student says that, during the 13 seasons from 1991 through 2004, white referees called fouls at a greater rate against black players than against white players
.Actually, no, they didn't find that at all. Rather:
...compared to white players, black players play more minutes per game (while Table 2 reports weighted means—30.7 minutes vs 27.2 minutes, the unweighted means among those with positive playing time are 25.0 vs 20.5). Black players receive about the same number of fouls per game (2.55 vs 2.53) as white players, but receive fewer fouls per 48 minutes played (4.33 vs. 4.97). The differences in foul rates largely reflect the fact that white players tend to be taller, heavier, and more likely to play center than black players.
White referees still called more fouls on whites than on blacks, but at a lesser disproportion than did black referees. The NYT would be correct if it added, "relative to black referees" after "greater rate."
Here's another interesting nuance:
The number of fouls earned by black players is, on average, roughly the same whether the refereeing crew is predominantly white or black. By contrast, white players earn many fewer fouls under white refereeing crews.
It's very important to keep in mind how small these differences are. Per 48 minutes played, black players got 4.330 fouls from majority white refs and 4.329 fouls from majority black refs. White players got 4.954 from white refs and 5.023 from black refs.
White players see the bigger difference, but look at it this way -- for every 502 fouls a black ref calls on a white player, a white ref calls about 495 (or 98.6 percent). The average game has something like 28 fouls for a team. Say an all-white team gets 28 fouls with a majority-black ref staff; with a majority-white ref staff they'll get 27.6. Since NBA teams are (to put it mildly) not all-white, the effect is even smaller.
That said, the difference could mean one of three things. One, white refs go easy on white players, while black refs call all fouls equally. Two, black refs call extra fouls on white players, while white refs call all fouls equally. Three, some combination of the two.
Heck, just to be a smartaleck, I'll propose a fourth: stereotype threat. There's a perception that white athletes are less graceful than are black athletes, and indeed they're "taller, heavier." So, fearful of confirming that stereotype, whites get nervous and play worse in front of black refs.
By Robert VerBruggen
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