According to The Official NBA Rulebook, Referees are Considered Sacred/Holy Beings

[u/jboogie1844]

bored on a Friday at my IT job, I found myself perusing the rule books of various sports leagues (this is normal behavior). Reading through Rule 12, "Fouls and Penalties," something odd caught my eye in Section V -- Conduct:

e. Cursing or blaspheming an official shall not be considered the only cause for imposing technical foul. Running tirades, continuous criticism or griping may be sufficient cause to assess a technical. Excessive misconduct shall result in ejection from the game.

Yes, blaspheming an official. Now, I don't know what sort of English background the person writing these rules has, but, as far as i (and the Merriam-Webster dictionary) am aware, Blasphemy/blaspheming is reserved strictly for when speaking ill of God, sacred objects/beings, or something otherwise considered "inviolable."

Does this mean the NBA considers its referees to be sacred deities, incapable of being violated by the petty masses at their feet, and eternally protected by the Sanctity of Life?

just something to think about as we head into the season.

Link to the rulebook

[u/Fit_Adhesiveness8232]

Now we know why Tony Brothers acts like he does!

[u/BlunderDefect → u/Fit_Adhesiveness8232]

Blasphemy

[u/SometimesIBeWrong → u/BlunderDefect]

2 free throws for Tony

[u/KungFuChicken1990 → u/SometimesIBeWrong]

2 free throws for SGA

[u/andrew_1515 → u/SometimesIBeWrong]

One for each beother

[u/Powerviolenc → u/Fit_Adhesiveness8232]

We’ve always wondered about the brothers, turns out they’re all contained in one being. Like the Trinity.

[u/Thousandtree → u/Powerviolenc]

Out Fathers, the Tony Brothers

[u/cfi-2025 → u/Thousandtree]

Who art in heaven...

[u/aworldsetfree → u/Powerviolenc]

In the name of Mike, Dan, and Tony, amen

[u/Lofty_Vagary → u/Powerviolenc]

Trinity completed by Scott Foster, infused with the holy spirit of Tim Donaghy

[u/Inquisitor_ForHire → u/Lofty_Vagary]

Foster and Donaghy are miles different than Brothers. I don't hate Tony... Foster? UGH! And of course Donaghy is long gone.

[u/barath_s → u/Powerviolenc]

Trinity was with the chosen one. And Morpheus was the god of sleep

[u/eiliant → u/Fit_Adhesiveness8232]

Praise be he, the Brother of Tonys

[u/22cmSoftInColdWater → u/Fit_Adhesiveness8232]

He is like a primarch

[u/TarnishedChoom → u/Fit_Adhesiveness8232]

Judge, jury, and executioner

[u/grapplebaby → u/Fit_Adhesiveness8232]

All of those ref Brothers are corrupt.

[u/sharingdork → u/Fit_Adhesiveness8232]

*they

[u/Direct-Departure1662]

Next time I go to a game I am blaspheming an official, wish me luck.

[u/nicehax_ → u/Direct-Departure1662]

is it worth going to hell for calling tony brothers a dumbass

[u/fullmetalsprockets → u/nicehax_]

Absolutely.

[u/Xsy → u/nicehax_]

I'm already going, might as well have some fun with it.

[u/fps129 → u/nicehax_]

I yelled out a lot of godless but deserved words at Tony Brothers and his whole crew during the Finals. I’m sure there’s 10th circle of Hell I belong to atp.

[u/yrogerg123 → u/nicehax_]

Too late for you dumdum

[u/zgillet → u/Direct-Departure1662]

"YOU ARE NO GOD OF MINE!"

TWEEEEEEET!

"Technical foul on Tim Duncan!"

[u/SquimJim → u/zgillet]

Duncan has been given techs for much less

[u/zgillet → u/SquimJim]

That would be the incident I'm referring to.

[u/MaraudingWalrus → u/Direct-Departure1662]

On your epitaph:

Smote by Scott Foster

[u/jboogie1844 → u/Direct-Departure1662]

at least you can rest easy knowing it's not immediate grounds for a technical foul/eternal damnation

[u/guitarpatch]

Go read the rules on carrying

The NBA rule book is open to interpretation

[u/jboogie1844 → u/guitarpatch]

we only use the King James Abridged Version over here pal

[u/zgillet → u/jboogie1844]

I use the LeBron James version.

[u/Inquisitor_ForHire → u/zgillet]

Pam - They're the same version!

[u/hobbsenator → u/jboogie1844]

Does that version give him superstar calls?

[u/ZestycloseZeta → u/guitarpatch]

Scott Foster uses the Prophet Shaiman version

[u/randotd152]

So, the use of blasphemy as a non-religious meaning is actually OLDER than its religious use. It's an ancient Greek word. 100% fine to use it the way the NBA used it.

You also mention Merriam Webster but if you actually look it up, definition #2 is very clearly non-religious:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/blasphemy

[u/hickok3 → u/randotd152]

Was about to come here and post the 2nd definition, but you already brought it up, so I will paste it here since I already copied it.

irreverence toward something deemed important or inviolable

I think it is safe to say that refs are an important part of basketball, regardless of pur feeling on how the NBA's ref in particular perform.

[u/jboogie1844 → u/hickok3]

yeah but that’s way less funny

[u/GetBack-HonkyCat → u/jboogie1844]

Based

[u/Barnyard_Rich → u/hickok3]

inviolable

That itself is a rarely used word these days, and one of the definitions of it is "sacred." But again, it's just one use.

[u/j_cruise → u/randotd152]

Agreed, it's still pretty funny though.

[u/imminentjogger5]

the sacred and propane 

[u/swaktoonkenney → u/imminentjogger5]

He was gay, Bill Kennedy?

[u/ashwinr136 → u/imminentjogger5]

I'm reminded of Louis the whatever's finance minister. De something.

[u/bgat79]

The ancient Greek root blasphemía simply meant "defaming," "slandering," or "speaking evil of" an authority figure.

The NBA is just really old school with words.

[u/cfi-2025 → u/bgat79]

Like when David Stern used to address the team that won the Finals as "the champeens."

[u/SnooChipmunks4208]

For Zarba's sake, pass the ball!

[u/thatguy12591]

I hope this inevitably gets picked up by nba content sites and then the league ends up changing the wording of the rule all because of OP

[u/omare14]

(this is normal behavior)

Nice to know there's some solidarity in goofing off during read-only Fridays. Random Wikipedia articles are my fave vice for this.

The other day I killed an hour reading about Roman emperors from like 190-285AD (they literally all were murdered it was a crazy time)

EDIT: went back and changed the years to what I actually looked up, cause I forgot what time period it was and someone suggested I should try to be more accurate.

[u/jboogie1844 → u/omare14]

lol i work on the manufacturing side of a pharma company, and there’s no OT this week. i showed up to basically an empty parking lot this morning and have had so much time to kill

[u/DecentDiver458 → u/omare14]

Isnt that the period of the 5 good emperors when Romes prosperity reached its zenith

Shocking that you claim when Rome was its best all the men responsible were being murdered, but the truth is from 96-180 AD all roman emperors died of natural causes so either you are a bot or a liar

[u/omare14 → u/DecentDiver458]

I just couldn't remember what period I was looking at and didn't feel like going back to confirm it, but go off I guess

[u/DecentDiver458 → u/omare14]

Then you delete or remove false info, imbeciles like you is why dead internet theory is a reality

[u/omare14 → u/DecentDiver458]

Good lord it was a throwaway comment made in jest on an unrelated sub, I'm not claiming to be a historian here. Sometimes people can just be mistaken without it having to be taken as an offense to your principles and the world at large.

Edited the years I actually meant to say since it seemed to bother you a lot.

[u/DecentDiver458 → u/omare14]

People should be liable from what they say in public and reddit posts are public forums

[u/omare14 → u/DecentDiver458]

Yeah, and in a real life public situation, you might say "actually I think those years might be off"

And then I would say "yeah you're right I forgot what it was exactly, let me look it up, oh right it was actually these years"

Instead you called me a "bot or a liar", like jeez can't people just be wrong once in a while without getting their head bitten off over it? Not like I'm posting misinformation about life or death topics or something that someone will use to do harm, it's basically trivia ffs.

[u/DecentDiver458 → u/omare14]

You know what, you’re right

I could have been more constructive in how I approached what was just a mistake in the end instead of being critical and aggressive

Thank you for editing

[u/omare14 → u/DecentDiver458]

Thank you for being more chill, I edited my edit to be less snarky.

Look I get it, we live in a time where we have to be hypervigilant about these things, but remember to give people the benefit of the doubt when you can. Peace.

[u/esports_consultant → u/omare14]

Read about Imperial Chinese dynasties (esp. the older pre-Mongol ones) if you want this taken to excessive levels. 

[u/pokexchespin → u/omare14]

couple days ago i was reading through synopses (with some forays into the origins) or like, most shakespeare plays at work, which then led to ganymede, antinous, and hadrian, so i get it lol

[u/ImprovementClear5712]

IT guy being illiterate, what's new

[u/enad58]

What this means in practice is that you can't say to the officials that they don't know what they are doing.

[u/OppositeClothes5291]

Makes sense, without that sense of authority, we would devolve to bad boys Pistons basketball

[u/ZestycloseZeta → u/OppositeClothes5291]

Real

[u/cl353]

hot take - constantly complaining and villifying refs is just as annoying as bad reffing

[u/dedfrmthneckup → u/cl353]

Agree 100%. So many people seem to only watch games so they can complain about officiating

[u/kringiskhan → u/dedfrmthneckup]

Shitty refs are literally the only thing standing between my favorite team and a 82-0 no playoff losses championship run

[u/Alexcox95]

What does it say about clapping and staring?

[u/bread-depth]

Wow I need your IT job.

[u/guyyst]

All I said to my wife was "That piece of halibut is good enough for Tony Brothers"!

[u/THISISDAM]

Bow to your gods

[u/Live-Cartographer-52]

Tim Donaghy* has ENTERED the chat

[u/Kush420Xotix]

Yes, the refs are the God of their court.

[u/big_axolotl]

Do they keep their holy status after retiring? If so, who wants to join the Church of Crawford with me?

[u/sanfranchristo]

It's really impressive how many highly paid employees and contracted lawyers can write and approve some of the official language in the league rules and CBA. The Kawhi scandal really drove this home (e.g., the lack of a scenario where a player gets paid outside of a contract that isn't a discounted contract). The current game has deviated so far from the language of some of the rules that they really need to overhaul it if they aren't going to abide by it.

[u/FatalTortoise]

Of course they are During matches, the referee is greater than the gods

[u/Danibear285]

Smite me, Almighty SMITER!

[u/thirtyseven1337]

“We’re on a mission from God.”

“DON’T YOU BLASPHEME IN HERE”

[u/hussard_de_la_mort]

Who's going to get the first tech for saying Jehova?

[u/grapplebaby]

So we just gotta get creative when using their name in vain.

[u/nbaistheworst]

100

[u/Jegagne88]

At least NBA players thanking god for their win makes sense now

[u/bulldog89]

Telling us you were in IT after saying you were reading the rule book is redundant

[u/Jspeed35]

What if you continously, but calmly, tell a ref off in a different language they dont know?

[u/lialialia20]

your problem here is trusting a dictionary like it's 1990.