Sports officiating is heading toward NY Knicks territory

by user DRE-LO

The officiating in MLB as well as sports in general is slowly creeping towards the abyss. This notion was reinforced while watching the Yankees/Mariners series this week. Two of those games were altered greatly by horrible calls. As much as I'm a New York fan, Jorge Posada was clearly out on first base in the ninth inning on Tuesday night. And before Mariners manager Mike Hargrove can even utter a four letter word, he was thrown out. These umpires make these moronic calls and then actually expect the managers to sit back and take it up the rear. It was more of the same in Wednesday's game. On this particular play, Alex Rodriguez clearly had slid home safe and beaten the tag by the catcher. Mike Hargrove saw it differently and ran to the umpire to plead his case. With the ball still being in play, Andy Phillips made a heads-up play and ran from 2nd to 3rd. The umpire blew the play dead in the midst of Phillips making his move!! This got Joe Torre off the bench and in an umpire's face in a hurry. As a result, Phillips had to go back to second base.

I've watched many baseball games and I've never seen opposing managers arguing with umpires simultaneously.

I'm beginning to wonder whether these officials passed their eye exam with a 65% score. {13/20} As i said, it's not just MLB.

The NBA Finals had more than a few questionable and spotty calls against the Mavericks that had them crying foul. Let's not forget the controversial call at the end of Game 5. In no way it is an excuse for the Mavericks blowing two 4th quarter leads and falling flat in Game 6, but in a series with the big prize on the line it is unacceptable to have subpar officiating.

Need I remind NFL purists and Pittsburgh Steelers fans of the near crisis that took place during the Steelers/Colts divisional playoff game this year. The play in which even a person half-blind could have seen the interception by Troy Polamulu. Imagine the controversy if the Colts had went on to win that game. It would have rivaled the "tuck rule" controversy with Tom Brady vs the Oakland Raiders. And it will be left up to NFL Films Productions to determine whether Big Ben really crossed the endzone with the football during the Super Bowl.

You didn't think I was going to go through this article without mentioning the officating in the World Cup? The USA/Italy game and the Portugal/Netherlands had some of the worst officiating ever. Hard fouls that would have drawn a warning earlier in the match would draw a red card later. Even the FIFA executives wanted to know what the officials were smoking during the World Cup. Not to mention the various touch fouls that were drawn inside the penalty box during many games including the World Cup final!!

Now this article is not meant to spurn on the Mavericks or Seahawks fans that were the hard-luck losers in their various title games. But the fact of the matter is that officating is not getting any better. It's becoming quite common unfortunately to speak highly of a great game and then to switch the conversation to subpar officiating. Something's got to give.

Mandatory eye exams would be a start.

Date

Thu 07/20/06, 4:36 pm EST