Let's Make It Official: NFL The Best and MLB The Worst Officials

Official, umpire, referee.  The mere mention of these words makes blood boil with rage. 

Every person remembers an official for that one bad call or no call, and every person does the same thing, they put up their hands (your body forms a martini glass shape), they look both ways for an answer, then shout “Are you kidding me?!” from their seat. 

This can take place at the stadium, a high school gym, a little league field, in your living room staring at the TV.  All of the hatred is designated for that one man in the zebra print shirt who was given a whistle. 

What we must remember is that it is a person making that call—and people make mistakes.  It just might be possible that the official doesn’t have any money on the game, but you vehemently accuse of him of doing so anyways during your kid’s tee-ball game. (As long as the ump isn’t Tim Donaghy—too soon?)

What’s the point I want to make? Well, I want to point out the best and worst officiating leagues.  Let’s start with the NBA, or maybe basketball in general. 

We’ve all heard the phrase “that was a makeup call”, referring to when a ref makes a bad call then makes another bad call against the opposing to make right.  According to this theory, two wrongs make a right.  That inherently does not sit well with me, so I don’t believe basketball officials do a fair and accurate job calling games. 

Although in the NBA they do make use of replay to a limited extent.  The outcomes of games do not necessarily have to be determined by officials.  In a close game. every sport can be determined or changed by an official—that is the nature of their job.  However, in basketball if the ball goes through the hoop it is one, two, or three points and that is obvious.

Let move over to the gridiron.  Football games are the best officiated.  In the NFL they have seven officials on the field with different responsibilities, compared to three in the NBA and four in MLB.  The more sets of eyes the better. 

The NFL also makes use of a replay system with fair rules governing the use.  There are many rules the NFL has in place, so it is tough to officiate.  The outcome is not usually determined by an official.  It does happen (Miami vs. Ohio State, Fiesta Bowl ’02) but you generally cross the goal line or didn’t, or the ball went through the uprights or didn't—and they have replay for that.

Baseball.  The guys in blue.  I don’t think officials in any league get heckled as much as an MLB umpire (maybe that's why they show off so much).  The umpires have the most effect on the outcome of a game.  They call the balls and strikes, the outs, home runs. 

Unlike officials in other leagues, who just penalize players and teams, umpires are required to make a call to continue the game (There has to be either a ball or strike called by the umpire). 

This is also the toughest game to officiate.  So many calls are made during a game that bad calls inevitably happen.  The game is tough to officiate because they need to determine “Did that 95 mph ball nick the side of the plate?” and “Did that ball hit the yellow line 200 ft. away from me?”  There is no replay in MLB; however, recent reports are saying they will test it in a fall league. 

Officials are humans, and will make mistakes.  Baseball is the hardest to officiate given the amount of calls that must be made during a game and until they have replay available they will be the worst.  The NFL is doing a good job with officials, while the NBA has to hope no more officials bet on games and I’d like to hear less of a phrase “makeup call” while watching basketball game.