Albert, you make a good point but if you read some of the comments, the 'adjustment' is the problem. Players/coaches can adjust IF things are consistent. I dont even mean each game, obviously some officials are going to have a greater tendancy to call certain things or notice certain things more than others. Its the changing from one half to another or from one end to another that make that a challenge.

If someone doesn't call handchecking all night on one end, its kind of stupid to go to the other end and call it. Its also extremely stupid to go to the other end and call 3 fouls with 1:30 to go because before that the fouls were 8 to 1.

I think sometimes an official realizes he hasn't called much or maybe let more go on one end and sees the fouls as 8-1 and wants to make it look better, so less complaining is done because it ends up 8-4 or 8-5 on fouls. I appreciate the attempt, I mean you very seldom see one team commit 8 times the amount of fouls another team does, but if you wait till the very end to try and even up, it doesn't help the game situation 99% of the time.

I actually hope that the discussion of calls, and the issues/complaints that most people have, and the use of this forum in particular can help improve things. People can air their gripes a bit, and it gives officials a chance to look at what people are complaining about and try to determine if they are perhaps wrong or messing up. It also gives the officials a way to communicate some calls that people are confused about.

Most of the people who are fairly passionate know most of the rules, or at least generally. Sure you'll hear someone from the crowd yelling call a walk the entire night (even when the team they are wanting to win has the ball and obviously they dont know what a walk is) but I think most people realize that sometimes an official may not have the angle that a fan has.

I forget who said it but there was never a more truthful statement that officials should be the invisible part of the game. A game should never be 'about the officials'.