Open-Mic: Hardest and Easiest Sports to Officiate

Well, I got this email asking to write something about officiating in general, and I thought that it would be a great topic to write about, so here it is.

First of all, I have the utmost respect for any and all officials in all sports. They are the men and women that decide what is appropriate and what is not for their particular sport and they can determine, with the sound of a whistle, an outcome of a game.

Although every game, professional or not, is different, and sets of rules are slightly adjusted for the game that is being played, not all are as strict as others.

Personally, I watch all types of sports, from hockey to golf to soccer. My favorite is hockey and I am going to talk in a little detail about how it's refereed.

Hockey has come along way with how a game is officiated.

I was watching a DVD set of the summit series from 1972, when Canada and Soviet Union played in what was supposed to be a friendly series of two nations.  I think that most people around the world who know anything about this series will find that it was not even close to being friendly.

What shocked me about it was that the game itself was "rough and tough" in the true manner of speaking!

You could see slashes, trips, elbowing, really everything in that series, as long as the opposing player got up after the infraction and was not killed or injured, and even then, the officials would not call a penalty.  The summit series is just an example obviously, the NHL at that time was pretty similar.

So in a way, hockey back then was pretty easy for the officials in my mind, because they did not have strict guidelines to follow, though I am sure that there were some difficult calls that had to be made.

However, if you look at the game today, it is much harder to officiate the game, because everything is called, everything!

You can't really put your stick anywhere around the mid-section parallel to the ice anymore, regardless if it is interfering with the other player. If you have a free arm even remotely close to another player it is called as a penalty. Or, what in my mind is the worst rule in hockey, delay of game for accidentally putting the puck over the boards in the defending end.

So, the reason why it is harder to officiate hockey today is because, with the players knowing that any or little contact with either stick or arm will cause a penalty, there is a lot more faking, and it is extremely difficult to distinguish what's real and what's not.

Now, there are some good sides to officating in the NHL, and that is video replay.

Though the replay is not 100% fool proof, because I am pretty sure that everyone who reads this article can point one bad video replay call made, it is oftentimes a great help to the officials, and one will get the right call on a goal or non-goal.

But, I personally think that hockey referees will determine the outcome of a game a lot more than in any other sport because of the fact that when more penalties called, more power plays follow, thus providing better chances to score. More overtime goals this year, I think, on a power play than there were when there was not a power play.

As for changes, take that delay of game out for shooting the puck over the boards in the defending zone. Call more diving penalties or make them a 5-minute major for unsportsmanlike conduct.

And, the one that I would like to see the most, which will never fly, involves goalies touching the puck. I mean, they don't want a 3rd defenseman. So, make the crease a little bit bigger and if a goalie makes his way out of the crease only to get the puck, call it fair game. How many times have you seen a penalty for a player that comes in to get the puck, brushes against the goalie ever so slightly, and gets a penalty for goalie interference?

As for the easiest game to officiate, it would have to be tennis, in my mind. I could see it being overwhelming trying to see the ball when it is going about 100 miles an hour on average, but there is no physical confrontation. There are a select few, obviously—Andy Roddick about 2 months ago and the infamous John McEnroe.  But, all in all, it is a great game to officiate.

So, that is my song and dance this time, and as a last thing, I would say it is also up to the players of any given game to stay within the assigned rules of any particular game. I find that refs, officials, judges or whatever you want to call them, provide the necessary balance, judge and jury of every game played.

Thanks, Zander, for the idea, and I hope everyone enjoys the topic.