Do Refs and Umps Stink?

Let me start off by saying if you are a sports fan you have had an official make a call the wrong way against your favorite team so let’s just throw that out the window. But, one would seem with all of the rule changes and now instant replay one would think that officials would be getting more calls right and I think that is what all sports fans want…just get the darn calls right. However, I am not sure if it is the fact there are more cameras on every event or we are able to break things down in super slow motion in real time that has caused an uproar at almost every single event. But do they really stink? Are they worse than years past?

Well let’s start off with the elephant in the room. After game two of the NBA finals one of the head officials for the NBA came out and said that they do base their calls off the time of the game and the score. We have seen this in the NFL as well. When speaking about the NBA, you can look back at the Tim Donaghy situation where he was busted for fixing games. One would think that to keep the integrity of the game this type of thought process would no longer be a thing. Add on top of all of this, the huge boom in sports betting would also seem to call for said integrity, to be top notch. Yes I know that these folks are human and we all make mistakes and they are making split second decisions in real time and you could not pay me enough to have that job. But when you are a professional one would think you would be better at your job. Another theory is that officials seem to want to make the game about themselves. They want to interject their opinion or put their thumbprint on every game that they work when in a perfect world their presence should not really be known and just have the game flow smoothly. Can you sense my frustration as I write this? LOL!  

So after that rant I want to say that I am not suggesting that all sports go to robot officials. I still think any game needs a human touch to things. So what is the answer? Are officials really getting worse? I honestly think so. We are seeing a lot of the more seasoned officials retiring and either stepping away from the game or they are going to the tv side. So with all of that experience walking away we are left with the new up and coming officials and they don’t really seem to have the same goals, eye, or integrity that their predecessors seemed to have. Now I don’t think that it is all their fault.  With the 8k cameras in every stadium in every sport and the ability to slow things down frame by frame has allowed us as fans be able to pick every play apart second by second. I mentioned instant replay and one would think that with this technology plays would tend to be called correctly in the end but that doesn’t seem to be the case all the time. Lastly, it seems like rules are being changed every season and in some cases, midseason so I am sure that cannot be easy to keep up with.  

So do I have a solution? Well, maybe? One possible solution could be paying these folks more.  In some cases these officials are only part time. With all the money that each of the sports are making should trickle down to these folks and let’s be honest, they play a very important part of the game so why would you not want them to do this full time and only focus on one job. I think too this could help find new and better officials. With that being said, I have a feeling that things are going to get worse before they get better. With more states allowing mobile sports betting there will be a need for more consistent officiating to help keep the game clean. So with that being said, let’s hope I am wrong and we see our favorite games flow and things get tightened up because the product on the field is what we came to see…not the officials.  

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