Racism in the NBA

I find this kind of silly:

An academic study of the National Basketball Association, whose playoffs continue tonight, suggests that a racial bias found in other parts of American society has existed on the basketball court as well.

A coming paper by a University of Pennsylvania professor and a Cornell University graduate student says that, during the 13 seasons from 1991 through 2004, white referees called fouls at a greater rate against black players than against white players.

Justin Wolfers, an assistant professor of business and public policy at the Wharton School, and Joseph Price, a Cornell graduate student in economics, found a corresponding bias in which black officials called fouls more frequently against white players, though that tendency was not as strong. They went on to claim that the different rates at which fouls are called "is large enough that the probability of a team winning is noticeably affected by the racial composition of the refereeing crew assigned to the game." . . .

"Basically, it suggests that if you spray-painted one of your starters white, you'd win a few more games," Mr. Wolfers said.

You could probably spray paint the entire Laker squad white and they'd still stink. When 83% of the minutes played are played by blacks, and 68% of the officials are white, you almost can't help but come up with the results that came from this study.

Maybe what we need is affirmative action in basketball. According to the census figures, only 12% of NBA players should be black. Maybe that would fix the racial problems.