Sports Officials

In the grand scheme of life, sports mean little. Beyond it being a profession, all a trophy means is that the player or team is at the top of said profession. That being said, I have to comment on referees in both college and professional sports.

When referees get it wrong on the field it is said that is because of the real time quickness of the play. That the play is fast, and the referee can’t be looking everywhere at the same time. So because they are human they will from time to time make errors. That is reasonable. Given that I am a human being and have made mistakes in the heat of the moment and not, you get no argument from me on the frailties of human beings. Sports have evolved and so the human error factor is no longer the case.

Referees in all sports have the benefit of the best technology to help them get the call correct. First off as with every other facet of our society cameras and invaded and sports is no different Go to a stadium and there are cameras everywhere. One can hardly go to the bathroom without being seen on a camera at least half of the way there and back. So this begs the question. Why are there so many missed, or botched calls in professional sports? What is the problem? The human factor has been taken out of the equation. The camera sees everything. It missed nothing. There is the end zone camera, the pylon cam, the goal post cam and there was even a gondola cam that a punter in the Super Bowl was aiming at every time he punted. He hit it once. Anyway, with all these cameras, why so many missed or botched calls? It is so rampant that it has become a source for comedy material. What can and or has to be done.

Referees need to be full time, not part time. They need to know the rules, not their interpretation of the rules, the spirit of the rules also. The rules need to be changed to such that the play is reviewable by numerous people. If we are going to micromanage referees, then that outcome should be correct, not a haphazard blanket of calls or botched calls that may or may not be correct. Referees have a difficult job, no doubt about it. They have the technology to get every call correct, but yet they still miss calls. They have no excuse now to miss calls. With this help let us hope that the officiating will get better, because right now that is the only way it can go.