In the world of sports, there are two types of people that control games- athletes and officials. An athlete is the one that trains extremely hard, eats right, makes sacrifices, and studies to be successful.  An official works out just enough to stay fit, attends meetings and studies as well to be successful.  Successful preparation for a game by athletes and officials alike require good planning. The athlete controls the game by their play and an official controls the game by the calls they make, according to the rules.  There are emotional ties for both the athlete and the official hence they must show no emotion.  The athlete and official are constantly on each other’s mind.  An athlete wonders if they violated a rule and if they did, how can they get it right or continue to get away with it.  An official just wants to make the right decision.

The athlete and the official have a goal to achieve.  The athlete wants to be known as a being great when he or she steps in the arena.  Ultimately, the athlete wants to be known as a champion.  The official simply wants to make the right call.  Overall, the official wants to be credible, so when he or she steps into the arena, people will know that they will be honest.

        
     Are their conspiracies in sports?  Are politics involved?  No one really knows.  We can make assumptions- which is the mother of all screw-ups.  The one thing we do know is that athletes and officials will do everything to make the game have a positive outcome.  Do officials make bad calls with or without technology?  The answer if yes because no one or thing is perfect.  Do officials make bad calls on purpose?  No one really knows that either, but the Tim Donaghy issue does not help.  Donaghy is facing federal charges for illegally betting on games he officiated. 

        
    There are times officials  have to make a judgment call according to a situation or player.  Athletes test officials and have long memories.  From experience, an official will nail an athlete when they get a chance as soon as he does something wrong.  Fool me once.  Officials must have a short memoies like athletes in regards to making mistakes.  Officials make the right calls most of the time and that is remarkable considering how fast the game is today.

      
      Communication between an athlete and an official is the key.  An athlete can inform an official to watch out for things that happen illegally.  An official can inform an athlete by giving him or her a warning.  When an athlete and an official start intimidating each other, things will go south.  An athlete must play the game right to keep the fan base for themselves and their sport.  An official must be consistent with their calls to keep the field of play fair and not cause fans to think foul play was involved.

    
        Just like life, bad calls and missed calls in sports are going to happen.  It is up to athletes and officials to handle the miscues properly to avoid the same issues in the future.  Although, it is unfair that athletes suffer the consequences for speaking out about officials or a call.  One bad or missed call can hurt a player’s or a team’s season and all the hard work they put in during the off-season can go down the drain.  If every sport needs instant replay to help make proper calls, the fans and teams are willing to wait a few minutes longer.  Athletes will be fined and, at times, a team will lose.  When officials make bad or missed calls, they get slapped on the hand or may miss out on big games.  There are conspiracies in the world with people and companies having secret agendas.  Let’s not have people thinking it is in the world of sports.  Sports are the best reality television in the world and it has to be kept in a good light. Team owners and fortune 500 companies do their part for sports, but to keep the integrity of the game, it is up to the athletes to play the game right and the officials to call the games right.

Written By Barry Barnes