If I hadn't been on the road, I would have completely missed the fact that USA Today put class Act Violet Palmer on the front page today. Ms. Palmer is the only active woman officiating NBA games and has been doing so for the past eight years. She is one of the more consistent officials covering the league and though she makes mistakes, like everyone in that difficult job does, I am never worried when I see her on the sidelines.

On a side note, the horrific quality of WNBA officiating became much clearer to me after reading in that article that Dee Kantner (who was the second woman official for the NBA) is the supervisor of officials for the W. Dee was the antithesis of Violet and probably made it more difficult for other women to succeed as NBA officials. Unlike most outsider rants about the quality of officials, the NBA agreed and fired Dee for her substandard performance on the court. She of course immediately cried foul, but like many a players plea, her unjustified complaints were ignored.

The USA Today ariticle is a nice piece, and one I was pleasantly surprised to see get such a prominent placing as the centerpiece front page story. Way to go USA Today.