Missed Calls and Rage: An Inevitable Parternship

The following article in no way represents the feelings of the Sports section here at BWC. We acknowledge that though they are extremely frustrating at times, professional officials have a difficult job. They are never praised for good calls and have the unfortunate horror of having all their mistakes played over and over again on live television. While we at BWC Sports do not condone bad officiating, we do not wish to take an anti-ref stance. Pretty much, we want to sit on the fence. At Burnside Writers Collective, we are proud to give you, the reader, a soapbox on which to proclaim your deepest yearnings and a glass of cold water to wash down your bitter pills. Keep on writing. - ed.

For centuries a tension has been growing in modern sport. This is not about the battle between teams, or the struggles between worthy adversaries on the field, court, or ice.

This battle of good vs. evil looms larger than Magic Johnson vs. Larry Bird. It overshadows competitions between the Red Sox and Yankees, and it virtually dwarfs the strain of when Andre Agassi took the court to battle Pete Sampras.

I am talking about the unending and torturous headache that stems from the struggle between fan and referee. I consider myself, at my finer moments, to be a rational human being. I am cordial, I try not to embarrass myself while eating in public, and my last fist fight took place when I was 8, due to my being called a “raspberry turd.” However, while watching sports there is a demon inside of me that is not only awakened, it is roused to a primordial blind rage over the performance of officials, referees, umpires— you name it.

The major sports leagues (NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL) are the only organizations in the world that retain employees who regularly and blatantly fail to accomplish their jobs. These oversights take place in public, witnessed by millions of people. And yet, fans are expected to turn their eyes away from failure and accept the fact that officials get it wrong?

I want to climb the tallest mountain and scream “NO!”

I can only dream of a career where I am expected to fail and have it dismissed as “human error.” In the face of this gross negligence of officials, we as the viewing and paying public are expected to be “mature” and “sportsmanlike”, allowing bad calls and decisions to fall by the wayside. This is a pile of steaming crap. Major league sports want fans to cut the refs a break. I think we are letting them off the hook as it is.

There is something in the heart of a true sports fan that wells with joy and envy when we watch Lou Piniella scream ‘til he is red in the face, knowing full well that he is about to get booted from the game. Umpires have a homogeneous look when they, and everybody else in the stands and those watching on TV, know that they have just blown it. It is smug, confident and nearly drives me to the point of insanity. Yet, they never admit their fault.

Major League Baseball stadiums aren’t allowed to replay close calls on the jumbo-tron. MLB rules state “no protest shall ever be permitted on judgment decisions by the umpire” (rule 4.19). Is this a joke? It would appear that umps are protected by the suits who sit with Selig. And why are they granted this protection? Because they have an affinity for being wrong?

In 1999 Cleveland Brown’s lineman Orlando Brown was struck in the eye by the flying flag of a referee during an NFL game. The ensuing scenes shocked NFL viewers. Brown appeared to scream at the official and then proceeded to shove him to the ground. Brown was suspended for the remainder of the season.

As information regarding the incident came out, my blood pressure began to rise. It turns out that Brown was not only suspended for the rest of the season, he was released by the Cleveland Browns and is currently not playing football. He is not inactive because of the incident. He is no longer playing because of the injuries he suffered from the flag of referee Jeff Triplette striking his eye, causing extensive damage.

How could something as small as a referee’s flag do such damage to so big a man? Believe me, I was upset at the actions of Brown when I watched the replay; that is until I heard that Brown was suing the NFL, in part for the fact that Triplette’s flag was improperly weighted with BB’s. The NFL since deemed the incident an “accident”.

Growing up, I can remember when a friend of mine threw a snowball at a passing car. We were all shocked when the window of the car shattered and the car went screeching off the road. We were not as shocked when the driver returned on foot to verbally assault us. The snowball had been packed around a rock. My snowball-throwing friend was sentenced to pay for the window and to serve community service for this “accident”. The man still drives the car today.

Doesn’t that story sound familiar to the incident in question? All but for one thing…the referee was repeatedly apologized to. That would be the equivalent of the driver having to forfeit his wheels and apologize to the vandal who broke his window.

I do not condone violence against referees, umpires, or any official. What I am trying to say is there needs to be a release for fans, players and coaches when the refs blow it; otherwise we are all going to lose our minds or have massive heart attacks. This is an epidemic. Collectively we are a ticking time bomb with not many seconds left on the clock. Something must be done. There is no way that the leagues could have mechanical officiating, as it would take away from the sanctity of the games. Instant replay is out too, because it already slows games down as it is.

I have a solution that will let refs and umps continue their torrid pace of mediocrity for the rest of sports history while keeping the blood pressure of fans everywhere from reaching alarming levels.

I hereby petition the leagues to outfit each official with a one-way radio earpiece. An earphone that allows someone personal contact with the official but doesn’t allow them to talk back. Then, each team hires a representative whose task is to make clear the sentiment of their team and their fans to the referee via his earpiece. I dream of being able to get face to face with a ref and give him a healthy earful of what I think of his stupid haircut, the fact that he is blind, and to propose questions about why he insists on keeping his head safely tucked up his butt at all times? It would be my personal suggestion that no comments to officials ever deal specifically with the rules, but rather, on how we find them all to be inept.

This solution creates jobs and relieves the tension that plagues our sporting events. The time is long overdue to knock these untouchable men (and women—we’re looking at you Violet Palmer-ed.) from their pedestals. Lets have some accountability in sports, and OPEN YOUR EYES FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!!! C’MON!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME??!!!