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Now that the 2014 season is over, it might be interesting to see which referees are the most whistle happy as we go into the playoffs where every point counts.
There were 22,455 total fouls called against players. Of these, 165 fouls were player technical fouls. The typical WNBA box score lists three referees per game and apportions fouls to individual players, but it does NOT state which referee called which foul.
However, if a referee called enough games, we might get an impression of how prone an individual referee is to blowing the whistle if the games they end up calling end up with high numbers of fouls.
Therefore, take note. The statistics below are the total fouls, fouls per game, and player technicals IN THE GAMES IN WHICH THE GIVEN REFEREE PARTICIPATED. For example, take Scott Bolnick. In the 11 games that Bolnick appeared in, an average of 36.8 fouls were called. This does not mean that Bolnick himself called 36.8 fouls per game; rather, that the average number of fouls called in games where he was a referee was 36.8. Likewise, in the 11 games where Bolnick was a member of the referee crew, a grand total of 3 technical fouls against players were called.
Note that 3-second technical fouls are excluded, as well as fouls against coaches. I would like to come up with some grand explanation involving strategy as a reason for excluding these fouls, but I don't have one. Rather, the spreadsheet I use to calculate the numbers would require a great deal of alteration to do it, and perhaps wouldn't change the numbers that much.
So 3-second technicals and coach technicals are excluded. The data follows:
Player | Player | |||||||||
Referee | Total Fouls | Total Games | Fouls/Game | Technicals | Tech/Game | |||||
Tiara Cruse | 261 | 6 | 43.5 | 3 | 0.50 | |||||
Fatou Cissoko-Stephens | 170 | 4 | 42.5 | 6 | 1.50 | |||||
Tyler Ford | 394 | 10 | 39.4 | 3 | 0.30 | |||||
Thomas Nunez | 1103 | 28 | 39.4 | 3 | 0.11 | |||||
Roy Gulbeyan | 1043 | 27 | 38.6 | 8 | 0.30 | |||||
Donald Hudson | 347 | 9 | 38.6 | 2 | 0.22 | |||||
Maj Forsberg | 727 | 19 | 38.3 | 2 | 0.11 | |||||
Sue Blauch | 1065 | 28 | 38.0 | 3 | 0.11 | |||||
Kevin Sparrock | 909 | 24 | 37.9 | 7 | 0.29 | |||||
Daryl Humphrey | 1008 | 27 | 37.3 | 3 | 0.11 | |||||
Byron Jarrett | 1005 | 27 | 37.2 | 8 | 0.30 | |||||
Eric Brewton | 1183 | 32 | 37.0 | 11 | 0.34 | |||||
Jeff Wooten | 700 | 19 | 36.8 | 5 | 0.26 | |||||
Scott Bolnick | 405 | 11 | 36.8 | 3 | 0.27 | |||||
Billy Smith | 875 | 24 | 36.5 | 6 | 0.25 | |||||
Michael Price | 1201 | 33 | 36.4 | 9 | 0.27 | |||||
Jeff Smith | 1055 | 29 | 36.4 | 16 | 0.55 | |||||
Tiffany Bird | 218 | 6 | 36.3 | 6 | 1.00 | |||||
Cameron Inouye | 725 | 20 | 36.3 | 7 | 0.35 | |||||
Tim Greene | 432 | 12 | 36.0 | 3 | 0.25 | |||||
Lauren Holtkamp | 610 | 17 | 35.9 | 6 | 0.35 | |||||
Denise Brooks | 1111 | 31 | 35.8 | 7 | 0.23 | |||||
Tom Mauer | 1036 | 29 | 35.7 | 12 | 0.41 | |||||
Lamont Simpson | 999 | 28 | 35.7 | 6 | 0.21 | |||||
Amy Bonner | 921 | 26 | 35.4 | 6 | 0.23 | |||||
Cheryl Flores | 389 | 11 | 35.4 | 2 | 0.18 | |||||
Kurt Walker | 975 | 28 | 34.8 | 3 | 0.11 | |||||
Tony Dawkins | 975 | 28 | 34.8 | 6 | 0.21 | |||||
Janetta Graham | 273 | 8 | 34.1 | 1 | 0.13 | |||||
Pualani Spurlock | 157 | 5 | 31.4 | 1 | 0.20 | |||||
Aaron Smith | 183 | 6 | 30.5 | 1 | 0.17 | |||||
22455 | 612 | 39.4 | 165 | 0.3 |
So if you get Thomas Nunez, Roy Gulbeyan and Maj Forsberg calling a game, you might want to get something to eat. But time might go by faster if Amy Bonner, Kurt Walker and Tony Dawkins are calling the game.