Sports Byline USA Insight

Officiating, Not an Easy Job

It’s said two things are for certain, paying taxes and dying. I can add a third: sports fans always claiming NFL officials, baseball umpires, and NBA refs are morons and have robbed their team of a win. It’s life’s “great conspiracy”, officials making bad calls in order to cheat a fans’ favorite team of the joy of victory. I don’t mind people making the claim, but at least have some semblance of thoughtfulness or commonsense. Otherwise, give it a rest and get a life.

More then 90 million people in the U.S watched super Bowl XL. I heard from about half that many that the zebras cost the Seahawks the game, that they were out to get them, that they wanted Pittsburgh to win because Jerome Bettis was a good guy and retiring, and so on, and so on. One fan even suggested that since the officials were so obviously biased against Seattle that the Super Bowl should be declared null and void and replayed. The only people who would be happy about that would be the city of Detroit and the ticket scalpers. There was nothing sinister in any of the penalties called in the game, and especially those called against the bumbling Seahawks. Yes, some of the Seattle penalties were close calls. And, yes, the penalty call on Seattle quarterback Matt Hasslebeck’s cut block tackle, after Ike Taylor picked off his pass, was a blown call. But, none of the calls affected the outcome of the game. In fact, rarely does an official’s call affect the outcome of a game. The only bad call I can think of that did is the blown call at first base by umpire Don Denkinger that allowed the Royals to comeback and win the ’85 World Series. But, that was the exception, not the rule. Game officials are there to apply the rules of the game, not to determine the games’ outcome.

If you take a look at the history of sports, when there has been cheating, it has come from the players not the officials. Baseball’s infamous Black Sox scandal involved players. All the college basketball scandals were players shaving points. Horse races have been fixed by either jockeys or trainers. The only sports cheating scandal involving game officials, I can recall, is the recent European soccer scandal. So, to think that the NFL or the game officials did anything shady in determining the outcome of the Super Bowl is ludicrous. Sports cheating comes about only when there is something to be gained, usually financially. NFL officials are gainfully employed outside of football so there’s no motivation to cheat in order to gain from it financially. The risk of being caught, especially in a highly scrutinized league like the NFL, and a game like the Super Bowl, is so great that only a truly stupid person would cheat. An NFL official being caught cheating during a regular or post season game, with the consequences of being fired, going to jail, embarrassed and being marked by society for life, makes their cheating improbable. A more believable scenario would be a player dropping a key pass or fumbling at an inopportune time.

In a recent Sports Byline poll, nearly 50% of you fans voted for full time NFL officials. While on the surface it may make sense, let me point out the absurdity of it. The main point of contradiction is that Major League Baseball and the NBA have full time officials, but that doesn’t stop them from making questionable calls or mistakes. Again, I point to the Den Denkinger call in the ’85 World Series. Whether it’s fulltime or part-time, as long as human beings are game officials, in any sport, the human element will come into play, and there is nothing technologically that can be done to change that. As instant replay has shown, all technology can do is aid game officials in making the right calls and possibly correcting the wrong ones. Even with technology, the human element can still make a mistake, as shown in the referee’s misinterpretation of the Palomalu interception in the Colts-Steelers playoff game. Humans have and always will make mistakes.

So, what can be done in the NFL to lessen the fans’ angst over officiating? Two suggestions. First, the game is so fast, and the players are so big and physical that younger, better-trained officials should be recruited. And, an age limit of 50 years old, except for referees, should be mandated. Second, when it comes to the NFL playoffs, teams of officials who have worked all season long together, and graded out highly, should work playoff games, especially the Super Bowl, together. Familiarity will help eliminate questionable calls and indecision. All of which will lead to better overall officiated and played games.

Finally, there is no such thing as perfection. The best sports fans can hope for is a complete effort and to do their best on the field, that means the officials as well as the athletes.

I’m Ron Barr

Ron Barr is an Emmy award winning writer and the host of the nationally and internationally syndicated sports talk show, Sports Byline USA.

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