Nobody likes refs.

I went to a College Basketball game the other night and I lost my voice from yelling and boo'ing so much. It was one of the worst officiated sporting events I've ever been to, and I've been to a lot. I left that game dejected. As I walked to my car with my buddy Brad I started formulating an idea for a better way. Like always, sound off in the comments if you like it or hate it. It's just the thoughts of a fan who's had his heart broken too many times by officials.

Instant Replays and Challenges were a step in the right direction and I think they have largely improved the quality of the games without effecting the flow. But in my opinion we are drastically under-utilizing the technology we have access to. Some will argue that we need to keep the human element to the game to keep it pure, and that by using too much technology we are changing the game. I believe this is a straw man argument that people use to avoid innovation. Whatever sport you're playing there have been drastic changes from the advent of that sport. These range from changes to make things safer for the players to making the game more exciting. Golf is an example of a sport that has changed to be more exciting. Clubs have gone from wood to high tech metals that have been created to maximize the distance of shots or maximize the spin of a ball. In regards to changes for safety, football has been one of the best examples of this as evidenced by the evolution of equipment. These safety measures have allowed people to change the way they play the game. Take a look at a player from the 1890's compared to today.





This is why I think the argument of the purity of the game is a straw man argument, because they've already changed the game so much. I'm not lobbying to slow down the game to make sure every penalty or foul is actually there. What I'm saying is we should be able to use the technology that is readily available to make the games more accurate and balanced. Since I'm currently most burnt up about basketball my ideas for change are going to center around basketball although I believe the principal could be applied to many other sports as well.

I was raised to believe that everyone is accountable, from the Government to my Family there have always checks and balances. These checks and balances are not present in today's sports and I think it creates an unfair work environment for the players and coaches. What I mean is, a player is accountable to his team, his coach, and the refs. If he commits a foul then the ref blows his whistle and the player is penalized. If a coach exhibits behavior that is not befitting of his position then that coach can get technicals or be ejected. Even fans can be escorted out of the building if they get out of line. But what about the referees? What if they aren't on their game on a given night? Sure, players and coaches can talk to the refs and point out things that are bothering them, but in my opinion it appears to be largely ineffective. So why don't we use technology that's already available to make tangible changes to the game? I think it'd be pretty simple if the people in charge were willing to commit to it. Sports have become such a large industry that generates billions and billions of dollars, I think it is imperative that we create a better system.

So here's what I'm suggesting, a fairly simple solution that can be tweaked to fit any sport. Like I said, since I am most recently burnt up by a basketball game, I'm going to direct my solution to the game of basketball. I think the easiest way to do this would be to provide every team with a device that they can use to input their complaints as the game goes on. Say for an example they have an iPad. You create a program that displays the players who are presently on the court for the opposing team. When something happens on the court that a coach feels is a mistake by the ref, they can input the player and the offense that they believe the ref missed. They could choose these offenses from a general list of preselected complaints. Say a player is hooking on the block to create space for his shot, the complain would read something like "Illegal Contact". It would be easy to put a time-stamp on each complaint if you have a clock running on the program that is in sync with the game clock. You could give each team 5-10 "complaints" for the first half. At the conclusion of the first half the referees can watch these complaints from both teams within a matter of 2 or 3 minutes, that would give them about 5 minutes to discuss the video they've seen, and a minute or two to explain to the coaches their conclusions. I'm not saying every time they ref is going to have to apologize, rather they can explain they are allowing that level of contact on the block for the game and the team should adjust accordingly. If the performance of a ref is below the standard set by whatever governing body of referees they are associated with these refs should be removed from the game. I don't think every time a ref calls a game poorly it's because he prefers one team over the other, sometimes I think a ref can just be off his game. If this is the case, something needs to be done to create a positive work environment for everyone. How they handle the removal of a referee is a different discussion. The easiest way to do this would be to have an extra ref at every game, but this is quite expensive. You could have a system where a ref watches via satellite and fills in when necessary. There are many solutions, but the point of this post is to address the necessity of accountability from our referees.

This change in the game is important to the players, coaches, fans, and the refs themselves. I'm a huge Seahawks fan, and I'm still bothered by the Super Bowl in 2006. A team full of players who had spent their lives working to get to that point, some that may never have another chance to get back there, were subject to awful officiating. Naturally the fans were devastated, but it's effected those referees as well. Nearly 5 years later one of the referees issued an apology to the Seahawks for his role in the game. More famously, Jim Joyce cost Armando Galarraga a perfect game. Everyone knew he missed the call who saw the replay, even after watching the replay once they knew. Jim Joyce knew after he saw the replay in the locker room. That mistake could have been avoided in 10 seconds, instead we missed what would have only been the 19th occurrence of something in 110 years. Jim Joyce has to live with that for the rest of his life, as well as Galarraga missing out on a huge highlight in his career. That's why I think there needs to be a change, because while you can tell me it's "just sports", I'm going to tell you that lives are changed because of the things that happen in those sports.

Nobody likes referee's. They have one of the most difficult jobs in sports and by the nature of their job they are going to make someone upset with each decision they make. I realize you'll never be able to make everyone happy, but I think there has to be a better way than what we're currently subject to.