Letter To the Editor:
I would like to take this opportunity to present a “slightly” different view of the conclusions reached by the author of the article on the K-M LaCrescent football played on October 20th in LaCrescent. The author makes two statements in the article that maybe all people would not agree with. The first statement was that “The officials took the game away from the players on this night by calling too many penalties”. The second statement was “The officials were at least fair, as both teams had about the same number of penalties”.
I would discuss the first statement by saying I would not believe that there would be any official in high school football, any official in college football, or in the NFL that would state that there becomes a time in the game where too many penalties are called. I would further add that there would not be a supervisor of high school officials, or college officials, or professional officials that would agree with that statement any where in the United States. I can not say the same for a fan in the stands, a parent or grandparent, or maybe a sport’s writer on occasion who maybe would not agree.
I have never hear of some number where any official at any level has come up with in this area. To say that less penalties means a better game officiated would be completely absurd. I do not care what sport that you are discussing, penalties in football, fouls in basketball, etc. ARE NOT DETERMINED BY ANY OFFICIAL.
All penalties, fouls, etc. in sports are ALL DETERMINED by a player who lacks discipline in five areas, and all officials and coaches would agree, and they all spend time in all sports working with the athletes in these areas. 1. Lack of fundamentals, 2. Lack of quickness, 3. Lack of strength, 4. Lack of preparation, 5. Lack of concentration. All rule books in all sports are from 65-80 some pages, and the entire book focuses on only two areas of the game. One is the safety of the player, and the second is providing a balance between the player on offense and defense. That is the bottom line!
The second statement is that the number of penalties and fouls, etc. in each game should be about the same. No official at the high school, college or professional level would ever make such a “ridiculous” statement. If this would be the case, all officials would be checking the charts and books after each quarter to see that they are about the same on both teams each game. Games at all levels in all sports are played by players of different ability and a different level of “energy” on most nights.
I could write books on various examples of vast differences that take place in every contest at all levels every day of the year, and 99% of the people do not worry about the same penalties, the same fouls, the same points being equal for each team on any given night. I could share a moment in athletic competition that just took place a couple of days ago to make my point. Two of the best pitchers in the world were pitching for the same team the other night, and their team was playing in the World Series, and behind the plate was an umpire that is considered one of the two best umpires in the world for his plate work. Guess what happened on this night, the two outstanding pitchers proceeded to throw 15 straight pitches out of the strike zone and the other team plated three runs to put the game out of reach in this inning.
Does anyone think the umpire is going to worry about calling about 10-15 pitches out of the strike zone on the other team in the next inning. No, the two pitchers failed for one or two reasons mentioned earlier in this article. It does not make any difference at what level of game that is being played on what infractions must be called by the official, but what level the player is performing at. Excuses are easy to make, admitting that you were the person who made it is the difficult thing to do.
Unless I be accused of believing that officials at all levels are error free, I would share the following facts with you. I will take football for example as it was the one sport mentioned in the DCI, but this can apply in about the same percentage in all sports at all levels today.
The former head of officials in the NFL is from Plainview and we played our high school and college ball about the same time and we became good friends. He shared with me that on the average NFL game each day and night, there are just a shade more than three mistakes made by the officials. This is in spite of millions of dollars of replay cameras, etc. and challenges of controversial plays and with out a doubt the BEST football officials in the world. They make mistakes in the NFL and most teams are told each week of the calls that they missed in their game, although it is not to be made public.
I can only speak for college football at the Division One Level, as other levels do not have the replay cameras, etc. The latest figures released from most of the D-1 conferences, even with replay equipment, and review of controversial plays, the second best officials in the world miss almost five calls each week in each game. Now let us take the average high school football official under the lights on a Friday night. I am not going to give an answer on that one, but it is definitely more than it is in the NFL and D-1 college football, and most of these officials are never going to work in college or professional football.
I conclude by asking you as you watch high school contests in all sports in the future, remember that official loves the game as much as you do and he is probably going to make as many mistakes as any of the players do on this night, and probably feels as bad as any of the players do when they miscue, but 99% of the time he is giving his best on this night for high school athletics.
Jerry Raddatz
You obviously weren't at the game. Most nights I would agree with you completely, but this one was embarassing. The officals did not cost KM the game, for sure. But what took place that night was an embarassment to the officiating profession. The mechanics were horrible. You don't move a ball 3 times before you measure for a first down. You don't call a penalty 4 times for motion and then not call it the rest of the game, even though nothing changed. The same two teams played less than a week later in terrible conditions and had 5 penalties combined. The side judge would smile every time he threw a flag, he even had two so he could throw another later if needed. The La Crescent coach apologized to our coaching staff after the game for hte poor officiating, they had requested to NOT have that crew due to past problems, but got them anyway.
ReplyDeleteI understand you defending all referees, but his case is an exception. If you don't belive it....get a tape and watch it. That crew should never be allowed to ref another game until they are much more experienced. They didn't cost a team a victory, but they did rob everyone there of watching a football game. It was all about them. Watch the film and you will see.