Study: Shorter NBA Refs Call More Fouls
Review of 4,000 Games Links Height of Referee Crews to Whistles Per Game; Vantage Point or Napoleon Complex?
NBA referees have been scrutinized over the years for every imaginable bias. Now, though, new research has whistled another trait that may shape how refs call games: their height.
As it turns out, the league’s shorter referee crews call more fouls than its taller officiating teams, according to a Journal of Sports Economics study by Paul Gift and Ryan Rodenberg that examined more than 4,000 regular-season games over four recent NBA seasons.
The study builds on a body of studies that has emerged since the 2007 Tim Donaghy officiating scandal. Before the researchers could do anything, though, they had to calculate each referee’s height. This was trickier than it sounds. The heights of players are meticulously recorded, of course, but referee height isn’t public information.
To gather their data, the authors interviewed a former NBA referee for his recollections, reviewed clips of game film and examined photographs to measure officials when they were standing next to players with known heights.
Then they split NBA crews into three tiers: 6 feet and under, 6 feet to 6 feet 3 and 6 feet 3 and taller. What they found was that each additional inch per crew resulted in .017 fewer personal fouls per 48 minutes. That means the shortest crew, at 8 2/3 inches shorter than the tallest crew, calls .147 fouls more per game, or a 3.6% increase from the league average.
So what could possibly explain this discrepancy? The authors have two theories. The first is that referee vantage points differ by their heights. It’s possible that shorter referee crews are actually calling better games than their taller peers.
The other theory is more speculative—and more exciting to think about. They hypothesize it could have something to do with a so-called Napoleon complex in professional referees. That, they say, is grounds for future research with a different focus: technical fouls. “One’s height vantage point should play no role in technical foul calls,” they write. “But aggressive, controlling behavior via the Napoleon complex may.”
—Ben Cohen
I ain't never do nothing to nobody. All I ever do is mind my business and wait for a growth spurt 
