New "Whining" Rule Ruining Pace of the Game

As David Stern continues to try and clean up his league, he's managed to break the old adage "if it aint broke, dont fix it". Stern's new initiative of stopping players from complaining has proven to be a horrible distraction through the early action. In last night's action several players received multiple technicals and ejections due to the new rule, including high profile players such as Mike Bibby and Rasheed Wallace. While the latter is no surprise as many have dubbed the new legislation as the "Sheed Rule", many other players picked up technicals as the referees strictly enforced the rule.

While I certainly agree that after a certain level of complaining about a call a player should receive a technical, but the way they're being handed out now is ruining the tempo of the game. In the Knicks game guards Stephon Marbury and Nate Robinson each picked up technicals for voicing their displeasure, and rightfully so due to the language of the new rule. However, both were away from the play and did nothing that warranted such a harsh penalty. If this continues to be called with such frequency teams are going to lose players at an alarming rate and the length of the games will be extended unnecessarily. It interrupts the flow of play and players can't be held to such high standards. Forty somethings in local YMCA's can't even keep their mouth shut after some slight contact in a game, how is it fair to expect players absorbing a lot of contact not to ask for a call. Emotions are a huge part of any sport. Asking players to curtail their complaining is one thing, demanding they do not even give the slightest knee jerk reaction is another. The Commissioner's office claims theres a "heat of the moment" clause, but the way it's been called so far has been detrimental to the game.