Ref First, Female Second (Chris Paul)

Chris Paul; Picture Courtesy via NBA.com

Chris Paul has been and will always be one of the greats of our generation in basketball. There's no doubt about that and there's no telling what the future will bring as he continues his career. He's one of the most defined leaders but lately, there has been some talk about Paul's mindset. He's been called a dirty player and now he's in a situation people will talk about for the next week or so.

Chris Paul, stated that in the game against the Cleveland Cavs, that he was trying to get on a fast pace with the game, when Lauren Holtkamp, NBA Ref, would hold him up from in bounding the ball. He stated that he asked her to give up the ball so that he would get the offense going and she would hold him. He also stated that when doing so, she would say "uh-uh" and he would state back "why, uh-uh?" and then he was hit with a technical foul. He felt that the call was unfair and didn't understand why it was called.

Later after the game, the question was asked about what had taken place with the situation and he referred to the situation as it happened and explained that the call was "ridiculous, if that's the case, then this might not be for her". This would officially open a conversation between the NBPA and the NBRA. The NBPA is lead by new direct Michele Roberts, who made a statement saying "any suggestion that Chris Paul would ever conduct himself in a disrespectful manner towards women is utterly ridiculous, outrageous and patently false."
 The NBRA would also make their statement saying, "The NBRA deplores the personal and unprofessional comments made by Chris Paul. She belongs".

The question now is, was this about gender or about the call itself. Chris Paul would state in an interview the next day that the situation had nothing to do with the gender but more about the situation that it was a bad call. The way he talks about the situations seems like he's stating that regardless if it was a man or woman, the argument about the call would be the same. Doc Rivers and Becky Hammon have also come out to state that they feel Chris Paul did nothing wrong in what he said and was referring the play itself.

Even though, gender is not the case, if every time a woman enters situations controlled by men and they are questioned, does the questions have to continue about personal feelings towards women or the actual situation itself. Because for all that, should women be removed from the environment so that this doesn't continue?