NBA referee Eric Lewis needs to work on getting some thick skin. Recently, there was a Twitter thread going around that saw a blank account with the name, “Blair Cutliff,” thoroughly defending the performance of Lewis and a few other refs. Lewis has worked the past four NBA Finals, and his exclusion from this year’s series comes as a direct result of an ongoing investigation into Lewis’ actions online.
Referees, umpires, and anyone else who needs to enforce rules in sports have some of the most thankless jobs in the world. If they do a good job everyone pays attention to the athletes. The alternative is they screw up and have more unwanted attention then the guy who drops his Yeti during an exam and has to listen to it bounce off every stair on its way to the front of a crowded lecture hall. I get that it can be tough, but they really need to stop looking at the public for sympathy in these situations. First of all, they know exactly what they are getting into when they begin refereeing. They’re also paid incredibly well and seem to have the same tenure as the lazy woman who taught you Pre-Algebra in seventh grade.
Eric Lewis needs to take a look at his spot in life before he thinks about needing to defend his calls on the court ever again. I was once randomly paired up with an NBA referee on a golf course and he was very clear about the benefits of being a ref. You listen to the feedback you get from the league, you get paid. I believe his actual statement was, “I’ll care about what fans think of my calls the second they start signing my checks.” He also hit a ball about 350 yards down the middle of the fairway right after, so he’s kind of my role model.
Lewis’ defense of himself looks nothing short of pathetic. That is if he actually was the one doing this. It would be no surprise, as we’ve seen this several times before in the NBA. What hasn’t been considered is if someone has taken power into their own hands to ensure Lewis’ exclusion from the Finals. Not saying this happened, but what if someone hated his calls so much, they framed him for creating burners. I think it’s a great idea. Not saying I would ever do this to benefit a team of my own, just that it would be really cool if someone else did. (Wink)
