I don't know about you, but I'm sick and tired of homerism in NBA commentary. It just infuriates me and has for some time. I've been on a tirade about this for a while now -- it's the fact that commentators think that their viewers are stupid enough to need to be babied with biased calls on every play. Sure, everyone has their biases, but do they need to be taken to condescendingly high levels in order to appease a home fan base? Do you need your commentators to shout down every referee decision that doesn't go your team's way, regardless of its accuracy? I know I certainly don't.

NBA League Pass is great, because you get to check out games all across the country. The only bad thing about it is the fact that we must endure local commentators, rather than the comparative lack of bias from national commentators. Matt Bullard, "colour analyst" for the Houston Rockets took that type of homerism to brand new, sickening levels with this display during a recent Rockets-Blazers game. He decided to shout advice at the referees from the commentary booth. Yes, really.

(Thanks to That NBA Lottery Pick for the video)

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Comments (4)

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written by Serial Flopper, December 08, 2009

Did you even watch the entire game? Or did you just watch the clip. If you had watched the whole game, you would know that Bullard pointed out all the flops, even by the Rockets. He wasn't yelling at the refs to stop falling for the flops by the Blazers. He was yelling at them to stop falling for ALL the flops. It was a flop contest between both teams all game. If the refs don't stop rewarding the flops with a foul call, the league will devolve into the WWF. Your passion against homerism is admirable. Maybe someone else has a similar passion against flopping.

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Indeed
written by mookie @ A Stern Warning, December 08, 2009

I did indeed watch the entire game (through the glaze that was Greg Oden's injury). I'm not arguing that the play in question was not a "flop" -- they happen all the time in the NBA. The topic of a commentator choosing to call out at the referees is an entirely different one and what I'm focussing on here. Homerism in commentators is what infuriates me lately. It's unbearably common.

Flopping is a whole other topic which I'm happy to devote another post to -- one which annoys me almost as much!

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written by Serial Flopper, December 09, 2009

So, Bullard is a homer when he yells at the refs to stop falling for the flop. What do you call him when he called out Rockets guard Kyle Lowry for the flop in the 3rd quarter? Or, how about when he called out Rockets forward Luis Scola for the flop in the 2nd quarter? Or, what is he when he said that the charge that Rockets forward Shane Battier took in the 4th quarter was a bad call and should have been a block on Battier?
It's very easy to take a 51 second clip, disregard the rest of the game, and call Bullard a homer. But when you do that, it smacks of homerism. Don't ya think?

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written by mookie @ A Stern Warning, December 09, 2009

Touché -- fair call, I will have to cop that one on the chin.
I must admit that in my fury against homerism in commentators, I seized upon this particular incident from Bullard, because it was so unprecedented (in my experience) for a commentator to interfere with the game in this way) but did ignore Bullard's other comments during the game. I must admit also that he has not annoyed me on the whole when I've listened to his coverage.
Oddly, as a long-time fan of Clyde Drexler, he is one of my most annoying commentators for the way he jumps on the Rockets' bandwagon on every single call, seemingly without lack of bias. Loved him as a player, but as a commentator, I don't think he stacks up.

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