I wrote almost 1,000 words on sports officiating earlier this week for my next post.
I highlighted all of it, deleted it and started over.
Complaining about sports officiating is a national pastime, but the voices have never been as loud and as pervasive as they are now.
Why is this?
I don’t think this has very much to do with the quality of officiating. I think this says more about where we are as a society than anything.
Let’s first deal with the quality of officiating and then we’ll deal with societal issues.
The Quality of Officiating
I heard a national talk show host say this week that officiating has never been worse.
If you listen to my radio show for any length of time you will know that I’m a consistent defender of officials and officiating. Of course I know that some officiating is substandard and some officials are bad apples. This is true for any subgroup of people. And, occasionally, it is worthy of comment.
Mostly, however, I believe officials do a very good job within the parameters they are called to work within.
What do I mean by that?
(1) The game has never been faster. Defensive ends and linebackers are running as fast as the fastest running back ran 40 years ago. This is true in basketball as well. LeBron James at 270 pounds is moving as fluidly as Dr. J moved in the early 80s. Officials are tasked with watching these lightning-quick movements among players, then determining and calling violations within one-half second. (Wait any longer and you’re criticized for a late whistle). The body is amazing. The human eye can take in movement and send signals to the brain where translation takes place very efficiently. But, think about it. How many times have you “thought” you saw something you actually didn’t see after a double take, at normal speed? Often. And officials don’t get a double take.
(2) Officials are tasked with determining more things than ever. How many rules have been added to the books over the past 40 years? There’s targeting. You can’t hit a quarterback low (or high). Don’t forget the slide rule, or the tuck rule. Pass interference interpretations have become increasingly complex. Now there are only certain places on the field you can block below the waist. Blind side blocks used to be fine, now they’re not. Kick catch interference didn’t used to be a thing. There was no such thing as a defenseless player 40 years ago. I could go on but I think you get the point. Today’s officials have significantly more to monitor. The more you have to monitor, the more apt you are to miss things. Most of what we scream about when it comes to officiating is the interpretation of the newer rules. The game has never been more complex and it’s very difficult to call with consistency. Even replay doesn’t get it “right” sometimes.
(3) Exposure. In the old old days, you saw one or two college football games on television per week. That increased to a handful over time. Now, practically every college football game is broadcast in some format. Of course every NFL and NBA game is broadcast in some way. If every college football game was broadcast in 1977 and social media existed, rest assured you would find the same level of “commentary” on officiating.
The Quality of Society
It isn’t the quality of officiating. The volume and the acidity connected to complaining about officiating says more about us than it does officiating.
This isn’t about the person who occasionally points out a missed call. This is about the serial officiating complainer.
Conspiracy theories have always been a thing. Today, however, you don’t have to do what Mel Gibson had to do in his movie with the same name. Gibson had to literally snail mail a newsletter to a handful of subscribers. The impact he had on society at large was minimal -- of course until one of his 100 theories turned out to be true. Good movie, by the way. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Today, all you have to do is pause and rewind your television, hit record on your iPhone and then post to Twitter and the questionable call in Sunday afternoon’s game can be seen by half a million people within a couple of hours. Multiply that over and over again and you can see how a narrative about officiating (or anything else) can get into the psyche of the people.
And here’s the thing: People never post or comment about questionable calls that favor their team. The only calls officials miss are the ones that hurt their team, of course.
This mindset further exacerbates the victim mentality that is epidemic in America.
Everyone is a victim in some way today. I doubt serial officiating complainers would ever see themselves as adding to the victim mentality plague here in America, but they do. In fact, a lot of officiating complainers would probably be the first ones to pound their fist and decry America’s victim mentality groupthink.
I’m waiting for the first call to my radio show to start with “Lance, I watched the game this weekend and my team got every single call from the officials. I can’t tell you how bad our opponent got hosed over and over again.”
No. We’re always the victim. If it isn’t the officials, it’s the conference, or the league, or the commissioner, or the networks. Look hard enough and you can find someone to blame.
Browse Facebook or Twitter or just pay attention to what is being said at the water cooler. We’ve never looked harder for someone to blame for something, anything.
The Result
What is happening now is that our grass roots officials -- those that call junior high, high school and recreational games – are hanging it up. NFL and college officials are paid well enough to deal with a lot. High school or rec officials are not paid well enough to deal with their increasing level of harassment.
More high school games are being held on Thursdays and Saturdays in some places because there are not enough officials to go around. Rec leagues are being officiated by whoever can be found, regardless of whether they have any experience or even know all the rules.
This will come to no good end.
Eventually, we won’t have any rule keepers. If you think the game is bad now, just wait until we try to play it without rule keepers.
It is your right to complain about officiating within common sense parameters. But, ask yourself if doing so is worth contributing to the end result.
(Photo Nathan Shively shivelycreative)