Now we're stuck with the 60 individuals who are best at officiating NBA games. I guess I feel better about the resolution of the NBA's lockout of its referees, but frankly, on some level, they aren't much better than replacement level. Okay, maybe that's a little hyperbolic, but I think we can all think of head-scratching calls, some of them game-deciding, over the years.

The replacement officials' biggest mistake was in enforcing the rules too close to the book. While it was fun to see the reactions of established NBA veterans who would never draw that foul from the returning officials, the flow of the game turned into an unending end-of-game scenario, featuring whistles and parades of players walking end to end for free throws. I'm no programming genius, but that ain't good television.

The NBA could put up with 15 more fouls a game during the preseason. But things started to turn when Larry Brown ($60,000) and Lionel Hollins ($25,000) got whacked for publicly criticizing replacement-level officiating. Then it was Stan Van Gundy, who was hit for $35,000 when providing a candid and thoughtful answer to some questions about the performance of replacement officials. The tipping point was the ejection of Maccabbi Tel Aviv coach Pini Gershon, who didn?t leave the court right away after picking up two technicals. That's not the way NBA commissioner David Stern envisioned building the NBA brand internationally. In order to attract new audiences, the presentation of the game must be at its best not only when the regular season opens, but at all times. "Without getting myself in trouble, I think the older refs knew how to not take the rules literally all the time. It created a flow," Bobcats guard Raja Bell told Associated Press. "Some of that stuff they're going to let go for the benefit of a good flow to the game. I think the younger guys, it's not unlike an NBA player, you have to learn the rhythm of the game." The returning officials have an established rapport with the current crop of NBA players in terms keeping an appealing pace to the game. The replacements may have reached that rhythm at some point, but the league couldn't chance that. Hey, I'm all for maintaining a flow to the game, but the old guard need to get better. Stop calling a foul when Ryan Gomes breathes on LeBron; who says a backup center has to get five fouls a game; And don't reward flopping. You're trying to market to Europe, not emulate it...

Pardon me for focusing too much on officiating, but I'm digging the NBA Video Rule Book. In a nod to educating its (skeptical) fan base, the NBA is showing us what constitutes a particular foul or violation. The more I poked around, the more I realized that officiating must be difficult. I could not deal with it...