February 8th: Technically Foul

I watch a fair amount of basketball. Between college and the NBA, I would say I take in parts of about five or six games a week. In all of my basketball watching, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a team receive 5 technical fouls in a single night. It happened to the Los Angeles Clippers, though.

On Thursday night, the Clippers were T-ed up five times in a blowout loss to the now-surging Cleveland Cavaliers. After the game, Chris Paul, the recipient of one of those foul calls, was pretty irritated. He called out the ref for the abundance of calls, and demonstrated his frustration.

This wouldn’t have been the first time a player called out a referee for questionable calls. Usually, such comments would receive about 30 seconds of Sportscenter time before everyone moved on. This is, though, the first time an NBA player has publicly called out a female ref.

Lauren Holtkamp is one of two full time
female referees in the NBA

You see, the referee for this particular game was Lauren Holtkamp, one of two full-time women serving in the NBA as officiators. In Paul’s comments, he calls out his disagreement with the call, and follows it up with “That’s ridiculous [in reference to the technical]. If that’s the case, this might not be for her.”

The NBA Referee’s union made a public statement on Friday, stating “the NBRA deplores the personal and unprofessional comments made by Chris Paul. She belongs.”

As the president of the NBA Players Association, Chris Paul is no stranger to the union in-fighting that goes on in and around the game. This is groundbreaking, though, in that it features a uniquely gender-related disagreement, and is challenging one of the game’s pioneers in gender-equality. Except that it shouldn’t.

The comments made by Paul could have been made against a man. In fact, there is nothing specifically gender related about them. He cited an example of an interaction that he found to be bothersome, and called into question whether or not a rookie was ready for the next level. The fact that she is a woman has been made to be a big deal by the rest of the world. The nature of “this might not be for her” can be called into question, but all evidence points to the fact that, in Paul’s opinion, a rookie referee who can’t get a call right doesn’t belong, regardless of his or her gender.

The sexism of sports is an oft-debated one, and one that frequently returns to the concept of a meritocracy. You find me a woman, the argument goes, who can compete in the NFL, and she can grab a jersey. Until then, it will remain a man’s game. This has gone relatively unchallenged, as it appears as though those who do demonstrate abilities have found their way into the game, most often in non-player roles. There have been increases in the number of women in front-office roles, the Spurs now have a female coach on the staff, and female referees are, as we see, hitting the hardwood. The progress has been slow, but it does appear to be moving.

All that being said, for there to be such intense backlash against Paul for his comments against a referee who happens to be a woman, there would have to be some kind of proof that his comments were based on her gender, rather than her ability to arbitrate a game. In this case, there appears no evidence that his argument would have been different if a man had gave his team an insane number of technical fouls. Paul has defended himself fiercely, repeating that his issue was with the call, not the woman behind it.

Sports have always served as a cutting-edge for the pursuit of social reform. We saw Jackie Robinson break the color barrier. Just recently, we saw Michael Sam and Jason Collins come out as openly gay athletes. Now, women are attempting to find their place in sports. And there most certainly is a place for women in sports.

But we have the challenge of creating an environment where women are welcome and also subjected to the same challenges as men. We can’t be gentle to women referees because we are afraid of hurting their feelings or looking sexist. To even the playing field, it must be completely even, in both directions. In this case, the NBA has the chance to do far more damage to the fight for women’s rights than Chris Paul.