Something Needs to Change

Too many times recently sporting events have been decided by people other than the athletes participating.  I'm talking about the refs, officials, judges, and umpires that are in control of these games.  This has given me an idea that I believe every sport should look into.  Make post game press conferences mandatory for all refs, officials, judges, and umpires.  Every game that is played for a professional athlete whether they play great, or really poor they have to talk to the media and explain themselves.  Why don't theses guys have to do that? Why should they get a free pass?

Not too long ago there was one of the most controversial judging decisions in the sport of boxing.  Manny Pacquiao fought Timothy Bradley and everyone who knows anything about boxing had Pacquiao winning somewhere around 10 of the 12 rounds fought.  The decision came in at the end of the fight and two judges had Bradley winning the fight.  Pacquiao was robbed to put it simply.




Another case I have for my proposed idea happened in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals.  In a game where the Devils had all the momentum, and also needed a win the game was decided early in the first period by bad officiating.  In that period, the refs missed a boarding penalty that the NHL has been very strict about seen on the right. Gionta was without the puck which makes it an obvious penalty.  Instead the penalty was not called and literally 10 seconds later the Devils got called for a five minute major for boarding.  Both were penalties and only one was called.  On that five minute penalty the Kings scored three goals and the game was over thanks to the official that missed the call.

These poor decisions can't go without explanation.  I understand that these guys are humans and nobody is going to make the right call all the time, but there have been many times in sports where you need answers.  Something wasn't right in that Stanley Cup game, something wasn't right when Timothy Bradley was quoted before the decision saying, "I tried hard, but I couldn't beat the guy"; only to find out that the judges had him somehow winning the fight.  The suspicious calls especially when they are constantly against one team can't go without media getting to the bottom of things.  Sometimes it will be as easy as someone saying I made an honest mistake, and other times there might be a little bit more to the story.

I think that this will fix a lot of complaints that people have about officials in sports.  And the complaints are growing.  If an official knows in the back of his mind, man I gotta do my best or I have to explain to everyone on national T.V why I made this decision.  There will be much less suspicion about games being fixed and I don't think that these guys will have the guts to be ruining games, seasons, and championships.  Let's make it happen.