The Realities of Officiating

I recently attended a college basketball game to see my beloved Providence Friars take on the Villanova Wildcats. After being down by 20 with less than 9 minutes to go, I came very close to writing off my team. But then the Friars went on a frantic run to close within 1 with less than a minute remaining. Then the unthinkable happened. 3 completely, absolutely, God-awful calls were made by men that call themselves referees. To make a long story short, PC lost and there was a near riot in Providence with people calling for the refs' skulls on a platter. Most notably that of Timmy Higgins, undoubtedly the worst referee in the country by a large margin. He is so bad I know his name! How does that happen?

I have been involved in sports all of my life and have witnessed some great officiating and some poor officiating. The definition of great officiating in my eyes is when you do not even realize the referees are there. Referees are necessary to keep order in any sport. Rules are in place for them to enforce and they should not abuse them or ignore them. That is when trouble occurs.

I am currently a high school basketball coach and have had my fair share of experience with many different personalities in the reffing community. You have the cocky and arrogant "gentlemen" that believe they walk on water and are the second coming of Christ. In reality they are both (with respect to these cultures) blind and deaf. You have the guys that must let everyone in the gym, rink, or field know that they are in fact there by blowing their whistles repeatedly and running to the center of attention to point out some obscure ruling. You have the guys that show up and saunter through the game. They have no pride in their job and are clearly there to pick up their paycheck. Lastly, there are guys who come and put in a solid effort and are there to do their job. Unfortunately, these guys are in the vast minority.

I firmly believe that referees are never to be held responsible for a team winning or losing a game. Unfortunately, these past couple months I am starting to waver in that belief. They are a variable in which no one can control. More often than not I have seen games come down to the wire in recent weeks and a blown call is what determines the outcome. It is absurd!

Time and time again, I feel that officials come under heavy scrutiny. Tommy Heinsohn is notorious for letting refs know how he feels about how poor of a job they are doing. As he should. In the wake of the Tim Donaghy scandal in the NBA, refs are under even more of a microscope. Common sense would dictate that referees would be able to handle their position, call the game, and be done with their day. It is way to bad that there is nothing common about common sense.

I find it wildly unfair that a variable dictates the outcome of a contest. It is time something is done with sub par performance from lackluster officials. The integrity of sports is being compromised by people that have no clue what they are doing. It needs to stop and it needs to stop now.

-Hustle