Refereeing is the epitome of sport and is the main talking point of every match, whether the game is important or not. In light of the Tim Donaghy scandal and the contempt I have for Dan Crawford, I will fire the bungling NBA officials.
The worst referee in sports has to reside in the world of men’s college basketball. As much as I love college basketball with a passion, the officials are so inconsistent and biased that it seems like some teams are playing 5-8.
The college game is already enough of a crapshoot, with its star players only staying one season and a three-point line that 10-year-olds can stroke at least 40 percent of the time. Both of these observations make upsets more likely to occur in addition to mixed referees either signaling any contact between players or waiting for a player to draw blood to whistle.
The best examples I can think of are the NCAA Tournament and every game at Cameron Indoor Stadium, home of the most boring team in college basketball: Duke.
In the NCAA tournament, a referee still fails to place a star player in trouble early in the first half of an intriguing game. The calls lean toward either the home team in the regular season or the underdog in tournament games.
The Blue Devils get every call on every possession at Cameron Indoor, including those famous charge calls that Shane Battier and JJ Redick have made careers on. Referees over-address Mike Krzyzewski and psychopathic Cameron Crazies.
This year, the victim of horrible and incompetent officiating in the NCAA was Georgetown center Roy Hibbert. In the match against big underdog Davidson, Hibbert only played five minutes in the first half and was not a threat after being whistled for two cheap fouls early in the match. Davidson won that game and nearly beat eventual national champion Kansas.
Some changes that need to be made for the improvement of the college game are that top NBA officials need to train NCAA officials, conference affiliations with officials need to be eliminated, and better communication between coaches and officials must be established.
Top NBA officials can train NCAA referees to make consistent decisions during a game and develop the mental toughness needed to make the right decision, no matter how unpopular it may be.
Officials no longer need to be affiliated with conferences due to calling inconsistencies in the NCAA Tournament.
The physical style of play of the Big East and Big 10 is too different from the fluid styles of the ACC and Pac-10. Officials need to communicate more with coaches to reduce anxiety caused by certain referee decisions.
Despite my criticisms of college basketball referees, basketball is the most difficult sport to referee due to the speed at which the action occurs in many cases. Referees also face the same hostile and rude environments as the visiting team and the abuse that comes with the territory.
Basketball is the sport in which officials play the greatest role in the outcome of games. As Tim Donaghy proved, a referee can determine the outcome of a match without help from other referees. A certain referee can expel a player or coach from the game without explanation and without appeal. Referees can make a player a non-factor by calling fouls on that player or by calling infractions such as palming or moving.
Ted Valentine would have to be the best official I’ve seen. I don’t really follow the officials at the university because there are so many, but Valentine’s name sticks because he is an ACC official and I live in Atlanta (ACC country) .
