Coaching Fines

After his team lost on a questionable call on Monday, Detriot Pistons coach Larry Brown was fined $35,000 by the NBA for criticizing the officials. The call in question was actually a call that wasn't made on what Brown felt was a goaltending violation. He voiced his displeasure with the no-call after the game and the league fined him. The issue of coaches being fined raises a couple of questions. The first one is whether they should be fined for criticizing officials. $35,000 is a lot of money to anyone. Why shouldn't coaches and players be able to criticize officials during interviews? We read in the newspaper every day how the media criticizes players and coaches. What makes umpires, and referees immune to being criticized? Another question this raises is do the coaches feel it is worth it to criticize the officials and receive a fine? Do they make this decision based on the margin and feel that the marginal benefits (maybe receiving favorable calls in the future) outweigh the marginal costs (being fined)? While some coaches may think that this helps them to receive favorable calls from the same officials in the future, I think that they are less likely to. To read the article, go to: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=1978707