It amazes me how it is common place for everyone to blame refs after games. I'm pretty sure we teach kids to NOT blame them. I think it sets a bad example. Someone loses a game and then the next day all over the tv people are pointing towards the refs. Maybe you should've made that free throw. Maybe you shouldn't of committed that error. Maybe you should've caught that pass. Don't leave it in their hands. Grow up and quit pointing the finger at someone else.
Blaming refs
- Thread starter Desoto
- Start date
Refs sometimes do deserve criticism, but there is so much of it that the legitimate criticism gets lost in the noise.
Before I actually officiated legitimately, I'd disagree. But with that said, we get as many close calls in our favor as we do against us.
I always tell people watch a game where you have nothing vested in either team. It's not a coincidence the officiating gets "better." Officials do make mistakes, though.
I always tell people watch a game where you have nothing vested in either team. It's not a coincidence the officiating gets "better." Officials do make mistakes, though.
I don't know what instigated this thread since I don't "live" on six pack, but I do hate to see officials make bad calls at the end of games that can decide the outcome. It happened at the end of the Tenn-Mich game with the offensive foul on Stokes. It happened in the Arizona-Wisconsin game but Wisconsin won anyway. Whether it's wrong or right, officials usually "let them play" at that stage of the game, especially post season.
Except for the BYU game at DWS. The officials deserved all the criticism they got, and then some.
In the AZ game, did you really think the arm bar push off while driving to the rim was a bad call? How is that not an offensive foul every other minute of the game? He created space by pushing off.
The fact that people disagree on calls in games that neither person has any emotion vested in just highlights how subjective officiating is. Its just the nature of the beast.
The fact that people disagree on calls in games that neither person has any emotion vested in just highlights how subjective officiating is. Its just the nature of the beast.
I am pretty sure that instant replay has a lot to do with the fanbase crying "Ref" after every game. Take last years Egg Bowl. The refs blew 4 huge plays in that game. 3 of them were change of possession plays that they didn't even review. So, there you go. The refs are trying to be the all knowing force they were in the 80s prior to instant replay review.
We make it worse by not having good refs. In basketball in particular, we put guys in their late 50's out there and ask them to keep up with a game that's too fast for them. We're asking them to do things that are unrealistic, and it shows.
But I agree, blaming the refs is usually uncalled for. Even when they do a bad job, it usually comes close to balancing out. There may be one particular call in critical point that does a lot to sway a game (say a bad foul call that gives a star player his 4th or 5th foul in basketball, or that results in a change of possession in football), but as long as there's not a clear bias, you have to take it in stride.
But I also agree with the poster about the BYU game. When you incompetent and biased, there should be consequences.
I agree that refs get criticized WAY too much. Heck the NCAA tournament has shown us that close calls late are difficult to get right EVEN with instant replay. I do believe that SEC football officiating is among the worst because its built on a good ol' boy system. Most every guy out there has some affiliation to an SEC school. It wrought with guys that I'm sure have good intentions but have built in biases (whether they will admit it or not). I personally do not believe any SEC refs should be affiliated with any SEC schools. Would just like to see conflict of interest eliminated as much as possible. Obviously even currently you can't referee a school you graduated from or have an association with but I don't think that goes far enough.
Soccer is even worse. Its just as fast and subjective, but play is more spread out, and the decisions can be absolutely devastating to the team they go against.
I thought the defender jumped into the offensive man first. The push off looked like self defense.
Yeah, they replayed the sequence from a baseline camera and I could see that as a possibility.
But there was a push off to create space, which is what the ref happened to see. And in that limited window of visibility, an offensive foul happened.
The defender closed out, but it didnt seem to affect the play, so I could see a no call for that.
Basketball rules are a *****.
But there was a push off to create space, which is what the ref happened to see. And in that limited window of visibility, an offensive foul happened.
The defender closed out, but it didnt seem to affect the play, so I could see a no call for that.
Basketball rules are a *****.