Open Mic: I Wouldn't Want to Be An Official!

How you can really state which has the hardest position in any sport is hard but everyone does have their own opinion. My opinion is biased; I do watch other sports but I tend to stick to hockey for the most part. Hockey in North America must be one of the hardest jobs, as the rules are very controversial to begin with. What is defined as a legal slash is up to interpretation. Same for hooking, boarding, elbowing, high sticking, cross checking, interference, goaltender interference, etc. The only easy call to make is fighting.

Goaltender interference is a hot topic these days. It is almost never a clear cut case. If a defender knocks a forward into his own goalie it's interference on the player who was knocked into the goalie. Not fair by any means and controversial when it is called. Delay of game by shooting the puck out of play from your own defensive zone, even by accident, is a penalty. However, if the puck barely nicks the edge of the glass first, it is not a penalty. A rule that essentially cost the Sabres a Stanley Cup birth a couple seasons ago.

Even better are the rules that constantly change. Go back to 1998-99 season when you couldn't have a foot in crease or a goal would be dissallowed. If you are not interfering with the goaltender at all and the puck goes in, no goal because the tip of a opposition's skate is touching the crease. Even more controversial is when Brett Hull scored the game winning goal in O.T. even though he foot was clearly in the crease.

A couple years later in the '03-'04 season when the Flames supposedly scored the Stanley Cup winning goal that never counted, even though many believed it was clearly in the net. "A picture is worth a thousand words" is permanently tattooed in every Flames fan's memory from that season, as the picture of the puck behind the line was front page material. The league announced that there was no clear proof that the puck was in.

These days, if your stick is parallel to the ice and touches a players midsection, it is a hooking call. Even if there is no hooking motion. If a goalie touches the puck in two oddly shape areas behind the net, its a delay of game call. If a player takes a dive, he gets called for a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct. If he didn't dive he would have never had fallen. However, for the player that "caused" the diver to dive also gets a penalty. Doesn't make any sense, but its a rule!

How about having an all out bench clearing brawl and only four people to break up 20 fights!

I know that other sports official's have it tough, such as in baseball. Trying to judge whether a ball moving at 100 mph is within a small zone that changes per player, is very tough. Being able to look at a player's foot and listen for the ball hitting the glove to judge whether a player is out or not is a talent all of its own. However, hockey's rulebook is controversial to most fans to begin with. Plus, every rule isn't an exact science and can be interpreted in many different ways, so you will never get the same officiating level even if you only watch one referee.

With that being said, "I wouldn't want to be an official!"

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