Maybe Officials Aren't The Problem

I am still trying to wrap my head around exactly what happened at the end of the Arizona State/Wisconsin game on Saturday night. I made an attempt to do so in my impromptu game recap (since I thought I was done writing before that hot mess ensued) so I don't want to waste time going through things again here.

I do, however, want to expand on something that has been kicking around my head for a while now. It's more attuned to something I think about when I hear fans and/or media bitching about blown calls or teams getting jobbed or robbed.

I feel that we, in sports, have unrealistic expectations of everyone involved.

We expect and demand perfection at a level that I do not think is realistic.

Now, before you start to dismiss this line of thinking out of hand, my college team was involved in two of the more controversial finishes in history (video of said finishes after the jump):




So believe me, I think I have a grip on possibly being jobbed by the officials.

But I do think that the standard of perfection that we expect as followers, observers and reporters of the games are, to be fair, ridiculous.

I know, I know; we have technology now, and technology can aid us in minimizing the mistakes that are made. And that is true. Technology can help. But I don't think many people would really be willing to live in a world where the cold, unblinking eye makes final calls and determinations without a possible mechanism to overturn things.

Besides, technology is prone to error as well. Machines still need to be programmed and calibrated by humans. It won't necessarily be the panacea that I think supporters of automatons expect.

Maybe I'm just more forgiving than others. Mistakes are going to happen. They're a part of sports. I don't want to hear about games being fixed or college football being compared to the WWE. I think that does a disservice to those who are playing the game and working the game and trying their best. Even with reps, even with trying your hardest for all 60 minutes, you're going to screw up. A spot might be a half yard off. A holding call might be missed. Sometimes it happens right in front of your eyes and by the time it has occurred, the time to rectify it has passed you by.

That doesn't mean that you're out to get someone. I understand the calls for suspensions, although I wonder how many people who demand an officiating crew be suspended for every mistake that they make in a game would enjoy that level of scrutiny in their day-to-day work. I wouldn't.

(By the way, everything I say at my day job is recorded and everything I do is checked by another set of eyes.)

Did the officials in the Arizona State/Wisconsin game make mistakes? Sure, they did. But Wisconsin didn't exactly execute at the top of their game either. Again, errors are going to happen. Is it really the "beauty of sports" that they do? Of course not.

But human error is a part of life, and maybe more acceptance of that will make the viewing of the games more tolerable in the future.