Palmer NOT leaving NBA

[BMiller52]

http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/59434/20090528/nbas_first_female_referee_leaving_league/

THANK GOD. That lady seemed to hate the kings with a passion.

NOTE: I amended the title, since reports are she is NOT going to leave the NBA, but will be adding this new task in the off-season. - VF21

 

[Kings Faithful]

Yay!!! No more Violet to pick on the Kings!

 

[Variant]

What the heck is the "West Coast Conference" ?

 

[VF21]

To be fair, Violet hasn't hated the Kings for a long time. That ended when Webb left the team, for reasons known only to Palmer and possibly to Webber.

I didn't like her because she just wasn't that good.

 

[vanquish32]

SAN BRUNO, Calif. (AP)—Violet Palmer will become coordinator of women’s basketball officials for the West Coast Conference and continue to officiate in the NBA, where she has worked for 12 seasons.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_y...8vLYF?slug=ap-palmerleaving&prov=ap&type=lgns

Palmer isn't leaving, just going to take on another role part time.

 

[Kings Faithful]

To be fair, Violet hasn't hated the Kings for a long time. That ended when Webb left the team, for reasons known only to Palmer and possibly to Webber.

I didn't like her because she just wasn't that good.

Yeah, that's how I felt for the last few years. She has made ALOT of game deciding bad calls in recent memory...

 

[VF21]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_y...8vLYF?slug=ap-palmerleaving&prov=ap&type=lgns

Palmer isn't leaving, just going to take on another role part time.

Whoa... talk about harshing my mellow.

Drat.

 

[Widowmaker2k]

Violet Palmer is leaving the NBA??!! Oh ****, how will I sleep at night?!

 

[Bricklayer]

She just wasn't a very good official, whatever her sex. Earlier in this playoffs I remember them making a point about her being the first female official (obviously) to have worked...maybe it was a second round series in the NBA? Something like that. Wonder if they did that as a parting gift knowing she was being kicked upstairs.

Also wonder if they will make any effort to add more female officials now. I can see no earthly reason, aside from possible intimidation, why a woman could not be just as good of a ref as a man, but the first two experiments really didn't go very well and looked tokeny. Its been a dozen years, and for something like ten of them there's only been the one woman, and she wasn't very good. If they are going to try again, they've got to add a few more, and try to find some competent ones while they are at it.

 

[kennadog]

The only thing that is likely to make it better is if more women choose to become BB refs. If and when the pool of applicants is larger and women have gained more experience, the quality should rise.

VP might not be that good of a ref, but I can't help but admire the courage and determination it took her to get where she is. It really cannot have been easy.

There are male refs that qualify as "not good, too." Is VP a worse ref than all of the male refs in the NBA? Equal opportunity doesn't guarantee a person will be good/great at something, it just gives them an opportunity to try.

(I always thought it was interesting that, there was a time when secretaries were all men.)

 

[NewMonkey]

She just wasn't a very good official, whatever her sex. Earlier in this playoffs I remember them making a point about her being the first female official (obviously) to have worked...maybe it was a second round series in the NBA? Something like that. Wonder if they did that as a parting gift knowing she was being kicked upstairs.

Also wonder if they will make any effort to add more female officials now. I can see no earthly reason, aside from possible intimidation, why a woman could not be just as good of a ref as a man, but the first two experiments really didn't go very well and looked tokeny. Its been a dozen years, and for something like ten of them there's only been the one woman, and she wasn't very good. If they are going to try again, they've got to add a few more, and try to find some competent ones while they are at it.

Well, there aren't many competent male refs either, so what's the difference?

 

[Bricklayer]

Well, there aren't many competent male refs either, so what's the difference?

She was ranked at the very bottom of all NBA refs, even below the incompetent males. I think at one point there she was actually ranked dead last.

Here's my contribution to anti-sexism -- I'm not going to pull my punches just because she was a woman. She sucked. Which actually was unfortunate because there will be people who will use her sex as the reason for her sucking. I don't see that -- as mentioned I see no reason a woman can't do that job as well as a man. Unfortunately this one didn't particularly and because of that it does make one wonder whether she in the end made it easier or harder for women aspiring ot be NBA refs in the future.

 

[kennadog]

It probably won't make it much easier for the next woman, although at least she represents crossing a line. I don't think any punches should be pulled. Either a person's job performance is excellent, above average, average, below average or poor. As long as the evaluation isn't shaded by discrimination. (Of course, all performances evaluations are shaded to some degree by the preferences, biases, agenda, etc. of the evaluator.)

Discrimination can still come into play when people think a poor performance is attributable in any way to race, ethnicity, sex, etc, and a good performance is seen as due mainly to a freak exception or a "preference" (being measured on a lower scale).

Ultimately, though, VP does show young women that it's a possible career for a woman and they do have a shot. Maybe more women attempt it and quality goes up, eventually.