The "Marked" NBA Player

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According to the Columbia Guide to Standard American English, the slang use of “rabbit ears” - when applied to sports - describes those adversely affected by uncomplimentary remarks from spectators or other players. It doesn’t make any mention of a referee’s whistle when defining “rabbit ears.”

When I played in the old Continental Basketball Association back in 1989 for the Quad City Thunder, I didn’t mind spectators or other players riffing at me. It was the bad ref call that always got me my “rabbit ears.”

I remember getting three quick ones from ref Ron Garretson, who works in the NBA now, on a night an NBA scout was in attendance to see me. I just had a great game against future Knick Chris Childs the night before and now all of a sudden, my aggressive ball-hawking style was taken from me. I was worried that every move or decision I made would end up in a foul. I felt locked up and marked like a criminal in court, arrested by a whistle. Needless to say, I didn’t play well.

I ended up getting teched and sitting out of the rest of the game. Imagine the frustration - with one good game, your salary could jump from $500 a week to $5,000. All I got in the end was a $75.00 fine for a tech that represented 25% of my after-tax paycheck, in addition to a scolding from the coach about my on-court demeanor.

I learned that day that a ref’s whistle is a real powerful thing. When used abusively, it can enter a shadowy territory that I call “rabbit ears out” - making a call based on the rep of a player that affects the outcome of a game. In my case, I had a mouth like Gary Payton and the body language of Rasheed Wallace. I also possessed the attitude of a kid who grew up on the rough New York City playgrounds who was used to the physical contact that is incidental to playing. Many players from the inner-city are like me.

When ex-NBA referee Tim Donaghy was found guilty of gambling on games he officiated, I felt good about every Rasheed Wallace complaint. I felt every Gary Payton, hands-on-hips, head wagging comment made to a ref who’d stopped the flow of the game with a tick-tack foul. Both players are playground-tested and have the swag of the neighborhood.  I felt for every player who got “marked.” Now we have Kenyon Martin.

On November 14 in Cleveland this year, Martin blew up a screen set by Cavalier Anderson Varejao that looked real NBA tough and clean. Kenyon has big “rabbit ears” and he’s always in the middle of a brawl because of his chippy play. New Knick Tim Thomas said a few years ago that K-Mart is a fake tough guy, - one of the most disrespectful things any player can say to another.

Referee Joey Crawford, who had teched him for a hard elbow to guard Mo Williams’ grill the play before, gave him a flagrant foul in the fourth quarter with 55 seconds left in the game when Cleveland was up by 11. Martin was subsequently thrown out the game for not leaving the court in a timely manner. So now, instead of saying, “Kenyon’s acting a fool,” I’m thinking about the spread and how Kenyon is looking like a “mark” tonight. I’m not a gambler at all but the call now took on a whole new meaning to me as viewer of NBA basketball.

My mind raced. Does Joey hang out with a mob mole on the road or a childhood friend that likes to gamble? Is Joey angry that he’s underpaid? Does Joey like to identify the most demonstrative of players and scheme? Keep in mind that Crawford was the same man who wanted to pick a fight with the humblest of big men, Tim Duncan, and was indefinitely suspended by NBA Commissioner David Stern for conduct that was deemed “unprofessional” by the league in 2007.

So as the games continue this year, check for Kenyon, Rasheed and other players with similar demonstrative demeanors and let us know if you see a ref entering the dangerous zone of “rabbit ears out.” Hit us with a comment and tell us why the NBA should try to do everything in its power to keep your favorite pro on the floor and in the game when it counts the most.

This story is filed under: 45 Degrees of Blackness, Sports