It's easy to blame the officiating for the loss of a big game.
I've done it. You've done it. If you are sitting there in front of your computer shaking your head—then I'm just going to go ahead and call you a liar.
Ask any referee these days about a big game they officiated. They will sit there and admit to you that they made mistakes.
They won't admit it on the field, but the first thing they remember after the game is a mistake they made in judgement.
There is one sport that sticks out as one of the easiest to officiate: Soccer.
An official only has to run for over 90 minutes watching 22 players kick around a ball. The obvious fouls make this is the easiest sport to officiate.
But, certain officials attempt to make soccer one of the toughest sports to officiate by allowing frustrations to escalate throughout the game.
I find that soccer refs always seem to be at the right spot at the right time to make a call. It is hard to be at a wrong spot on a field that big.
On the other hand, the toughest sport to officiate actually comes to a tie in my mind. I believe that hockey and baseball are the two toughest sports to officiate.
The pace in hockey is so quick that officials must have eagle eyes to see the close offsides and to follow the flight of a hockey puck that travels upwards of 105 mph. The penalties are also some of the toughest to call—especially the delay of game call when a puck is knocked out of play.
Baseball is tough because of the little rectangle we call "the strike zone."
Different umpires, different night, different strike zone.
What makes it that much harder is the fact that an umpire's strike zone can change from game to game and sometimes, inning to inning.
Baseball umpires receive more flak than other officials about a called third strike or a close call for ball four.
There has even been talk of replacing the home plate umpire with a computer that has a consistent strike zone. Where is the fun in that?
Some pitchers that live or have lived on the black (Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, John Smoltz) may actually have less wins and fewer strikeouts with a constant strike zone.
This is something that must not happen in the MLB. If it does, I hope fans boycott the game.
I feel basketball has the farthest road to travel than other sports. Basketball referees may be the worst officials in the world.
The reason I say that is simple—watch a game and feel the momentum. A team with momentum rarely gets called for fouls, while the other team seems to take a foul every possession.
Referees in the NBA do not know the difference between a total el floppo and an actual foul. Take for example game two of the playoff series between the Houston Rockets and the Utah Jazz.
At the end of the game, the Rockets were called for an offensive elbowing foul. They lost possession instead of hitting the game tying 3-point shot. For those that did not see the foul, I'll break it down to you.
Luis Scola and Andrei Kirilenko were battling in the corner as the Rockets were passing the ball around the perimeter. Scola bumped Kirilenko and Kirilenko flew, and yes I mean FLEW, backwards like he had been shot.
All three referees had their heads turned towards the ball until Kirilenko threw his arms out and took a major dive. The ref on the sideline looked back and then, in what seemed like a delayed reaction, called the foul.
Everyone agreed Kirilenko took a dive and as a result the Jazz won a game they shouldn't have. I believe basketball referees determine the outcome of games more often than they think.
No matter how much we complain about officiating, it won't get much better. Believe me.
My school is in the Southland Conference and our conference is supposedly the "training conference" for Big XII officials. There have been many questionable calls in almost every game I've attended.
Officials have different qualities for the different sports they oversee and regulate. Sometimes I hate them and sometimes I like them, but you have to hand it to these guys and girls sometimes.
They are almost always the butt of ridicule, yet they are always respected. I know because I am one.
comments (0) write a comment »
write a new comment
This article has no comments.