A recent study by Dr. Justin Wolfers, Associate Professor of Ivy League University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business and Joseph Price, Cornell graduate, make a few edgy, but scientific statements of the NBA. There are many considerations to consider that I see ESPN never mention. The issue is not a sports issue, it's a human rights issue. It tests for what's called implicit bias. This implicit quality means that it is unconscious, so we need not feel guilty. Yet most people who comment are totally outraged showing they do not understand that no ones really culpable except evolution.
To test for implicit bias and own-race preferences the Ivy League economists chose the NBA. They did not randomly choose the NBA and randomly find trends. They had rich data and resources to try and draw conclusions from educated guesses based on research and cutting edge technology and theory. National Basketball Association, you are a means, not an end. What made you think Ivy League people were interested in your sport? The randomness at which 3 man officiating crews are selected was a great reason. In an experiment, a control group needs to be sound to draw conclusions. 41 pages account for population disparities and any other variables that will taint the experiment. The randomness of how referees are picked is similar to the random assignments necessary in psychology's doctoral research papers published in intellectual journals. ESPN sycophants and has-been players sound off on the "absolute nonsense" when they don't understand the context. Funny how 4 of the people who were interviewed were black and all were repugnant of the "scientific" inquiry. This is what I think Noam Chomsky means as a filter for the media, this is negative flak or antiAmerican in context.
Now, do the Ivy League duo have an agenda. Considering they are Ivy Leage and the 2 of the three independent examiners, who the Times asked to comment of the validity of the experiment, are from Yale and Harvard (Ivy League) I would say maybe. Especially since the Times is the first one to break the story which trickles to ESPN who's covering it. Where are they located? Bristol, Massachusetts. How is showing implicit bias and own-race preference an agenda if it is backed by statistical evidence. All Stephen A Smith or ESPN has to bring is NBA Commissioner Howard Stern's PR Vice PResidents of Basketball Operations to say... Their stats are offbase because they test officiating crews rather than individuals. Funny, the NBA won't let the scholars get at the referee foul call logs because of confidentiality and it is important to keep that information from teams
"The N.B.A.’s reciprocal study was conducted by the Segal Company, the actuarial consulting firm which designed the in-house data-collection system the league uses to identify patterns for referee-training purposes, to test for evidence of bias. The league’s study was less formal and detailed than an academic paper, included foul calls for only two and a half seasons (from November 2004 through January 2007), and did not consider differences among players by position, veteran status and the like. But it did have the clear advantage of specifying which of the three referees blew his whistle on each foul." yesterday's New York Times
"Mr. Litvin explained the N.B.A.’s refusal to release its underlying data for independent examination by saying: “Even our teams don’t know the data we collect as to a particular referee’s call tendencies on certain types of calls. There are good reasons for this. It’s proprietary. It’s personnel data at the end of the day." Same Times article
In English that jargon reads, " Hi, I'm the Public Relations shyster from the NBA. Our teams and players don't deserve the information we hold and process because... there are good reasons for this.... We own it...It's mine damn it.
Thanks for turning a Human Rights issue into a Sports issue mass media. The fact that there is evidence for own-race preference should be a wakeup call to humanity. How can race issues penetrate something as professional as the NBA? is the question. Thanks to the media and framework the question is Why are Ivy League intellectuals trying to make everything about racism and white oppression?
