It is part of America’s national pastime to sit down on a couch or at a seat at the stadium, enjoy any sporting event from little league football to olympic figure skating, and yell at any official who makes any sort of questionable call against your team. What is more frustrating is when you are participating in the game and you a questionable call may have cost you the game. However, after a loss that involves any sort of questionable officiating, you always hear somebody say, “Now, you can’t blame the refs.” While this can be true to a certain extent, the official can never be completely absolved of all blame.
In the same way you can never expect an athlete to always throw the perfect ball, shoot the perfect basket, or make the perfect kick, you can never expect the official to always make the perfect call or no-call. Thus, officials play an underrated role in the outcome of any competition. The umpire that calls the winning run safe when the runner is really out definitely has as much effect on the outcome as the outfielder who dropped the routine fly ball that would have ended the game. As both an athlete and as a spectator, you can’t entirely discount the role an official has on the outcome of the game because they, like the players and coaches, are imperfect.
A perfect example of this is an episode that many fans of St. Louis sports are familiar with. Up three games to two and nursing a 1-0 lead over the Kansas City Royals in the bottom of the 9th inning in the 1985 World Series, the Cardinals had just three more outs before they would become world champions. Royals pinch-hitter Jorge Orta hit a routine ground ball to 1st baseman Jack Clark, who threw to pitcher Todd Worrell (a future WCA father!) who was covering first. Orta was clearly out, but first base umpire and crew chief Don Denkinger called him safe. This led to a series of events that resulted in the Royals winning the game 2-1. They won the series the next day, crushing the Cardinals 11-0.
Denkinger’s call caused the Cardinals to lose the game and thus keep the series alive another day. However, while his call was catastrophic, the blame for the result cannot be pinned entirely on him. The Cardinals committed several errors immediately following the blown call. Without these errors, the Royals would have surely not have had as great of an opportunity to score. Also, the Cardinals had an opportunity to win the next day, but were demolished. Thus, while Denkinger’s call definitely played a role in the result of the game and thus the series, it would be wrong to pin the blame on him alone.
Keep in mind that since the officials can’t help being imperfect, you must expect that they will make mistakes. Officials don’t want to make bad calls. If they did there would be bigger problems to deal with than just a few blown calls. Therefore, if an official makes a blown call, cut him some slack. He’s human, just like you. Don’t be the idiot fan who starts throwing trash down onto the field and at the ref just because he makes a call that you disagree with. Doing that makes you look more stupid than the ref. In the same way, if you are an athlete participating in the game, running your mouth at the ref after he makes a call that you disagree with makes you look stupid and is a great way to get your team a penalty and you ejected from the game. After Denkinger’s famous blown call, he received numerous letters from enraged Cardinals fans that insulted him and his officiating skills. While understandably disappointed, the people who wrote these letters were foolish for expecting perfection out of a human being.
The official should not be a scapegoat. Putting all of the blame on the official when he clearly is not at fault and your team and your coaches are is not right. If the official deserves a little blame for costing your team a game, that’s fine. Go ahead and blame him. If, however, you are just blaming the ref to absolve your team of, if you are a participant, yourself from blame, you again make yourself look worse than the official, especcially if the ref made the right call.
While it’s fun to blame the official, it is sometimes inappropriate to do so. If the official makes a bad call, free free to start blaming him. However, be honest with yourself. Don’t blame the official to make yourself feel better. Don’t expect absolute perfection from officials as so many fans and athletes tend to do. And whatever you do, don’t make yourself look worse than the official, especcially if he’s right.
