Study: Short Refs Have Napoleonic Complex And Call More Fouls

http://jse.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/05/30/1527002514535168



Napoleon Complex
Height Bias Among National Basketball Association Referees
Paul Gift1⇑
Ryan M. Rodenberg2
1Graziadio School of Business and Management, Pepperdine University, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2Department of Sport Management, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA
Paul Gift, Graziadio School of Business and Management, Pepperdine University, 6100 Center Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90045, USA. Email: paul.gift@pepperdine.edu
Abstract

Given the vast number of observations in a transparent environment, the interaction between players and referees in the National Basketball Association (NBA) provides a real-world laboratory that allows for observation and testing of implicit height-based biases (the so-called “Napoleon Complex”). Controlling for a plethora of referee-specific characteristics and including 4,463 regular season games from 2008 to 2012, we find that (i) more personal fouls are called when a relatively shorter three-person officiating crew is working and (ii) no more or fewer fouls are called when games involve relatively taller players. Such biases are probably not large enough to impact game outcomes but could affect gambling markets. Our findings support the conclusion that relatively shorter NBA referees officiate basketball games differently than their taller peers. The analysis spotlights an oft-suggested but rarely studied bias in a workplace where employees are heavily scrutinized and monitored.



bob



.

The fact that the perception of NBA's officials is so widely open to (typically negative) interpretation can't possibly serve as a positive reflection for the fan's confidence in how games are officiated.


KJ

Short People
Randy Newman


Short People got no reason
Short People got no reason
Short People got no reason
To live

They got little hands
And little eyes
And they walk around
Tellin' great big lies
They got little noses
And tiny little teeth
They wear platform shoes
On their nasty little feet

Well, I don't want no Short People
Don't want no Short People
Don't want no Short People
Round here

Short People are just the same
As you and I
(A Fool Such As I)
All men are brothers
Until the day they die
(It's A Wonderful World)

Short People got nobody
Short People got nobody
Short People got nobody
To love

They got little baby legs
And they stand so low
You got to pick 'em up
Just to say hello
They got little cars
That got beep, beep, beep
They got little voices
Goin' peep, peep, peep
They got grubby little fingers
And dirty little minds
They're gonna get you every time
Well, I don't want no Short People
Don't want no Short People
Don't want no Short People
'Round here

It's a little-known fact that Randy Newman wrote this song for Tim Donaghy's wedding ceremony.

Sam