Men in black (and white) sure could use some glasses

Thursday, April 23, 1998

Men in black (and white) sure could use

some glasses

COLUMN: Referees taking games into own hands ruins integrity of
sports

We’ve all heard the classic "Get your eyes checked" and the more
hip and lewd (Lew-insky-ed works too) "Get off your knees ref,
you’re blowing the game."

Refs are only human, and making bad calls is just part of the
game, right? Well, lately it seems bad referees are about as
abundant as fights on Springer. Something needs to be done, and
quick.

My journey through time begins on Sept. 6, 1997, my 18th
birthday. I had a six-pack of Coronas, a box of Winchell’s, and the
home opener of the Bruin football season against No. 3 Tennessee
was about to begin.

But this utopian scene would soon fade to black (and white) when
the refs repealed a UCLA touchdown scored by Eric Whitfield on a
fumbled punt return, claiming the play was dead prior to the muff.
The Volunteers were a big favorite, and do you know any referees
who are in debt with their bookies? Me neither. Instant replay of
this blown call may have lead to the upset over Tennessee and a
trip to the Rose Bowl.

March 15, 1998. As a result of one of the most ludicrous and
preposterous calls I have ever seen, our UCLA women’s hoops team
suffered a 75-74 loss to Alabama in the NCAA tournament.

Apparently those genius officials believed that with 0.8 seconds
remaining, Alabama, down by a point, had time to toss the ball 90
feet, have it tipped by one of their players back to a teammate,
who bobbled the ball, picked it up and shot it through the
hoop.

All that in eight-tenths of a second? Just how quick is 0.8
seconds? It just went by. And again. And again … It just flew by
twice.

The refs fled the court after the horn sounded, and by rule,
their jurisdiction ended once they left. These imbeciles in stripes
were sent home for their mistake, and all the Bruins got was an
apology. Apologies aren’t trophies. These women had spent the
entire year working to get to the tourney, only to be dismissed
because of the refs’ idiocy. This is unacceptable.

April 12, 1998. In an NBA game with playoff implications, Allan
Houston nailed a short banker with over one-tenth of a second to go
to give the Knicks an 83-82 win over the Heat. But, and this should
be predictable by now, the basket was waved off by the officials,
who wrongly ruled it came after the buzzer.

The Knicks filed a legitimate protest, and NBA Commish David
Stern admitted the refs erred. But he couldn’t muster up the balls
to reverse the call, asserting the NBA lacks a replay rule that
allows refs to correct blown calls.

Isn’t it time they learned from their mistakes and invoked this
type of rule?

I could go on and on with examples. There’s J.R. Henderson’s
phantom foul on Todd MacCullough that gave Washington a one-point
victory over UCLA in March, and who can forget the infamous Jeffrey
Maier incident (if you’re clueless, ask an Oriole fan).

What can we do about this mess, you ask? We should protest and
hold rallies. Everyone else is doing it. We can call ourselves
Educated Youth Eager to Prevent Refs, Officials from
Blockheadedness, Ludicrousness. Extreme Measures Sought
(EYEPROBLEMS for short). We’ll boycott striped shirts and
black-and-white TV until we see a change. That’ll show ’em.

So why don’t they have replay for controversial and
game-deciding calls? They have surveillance cameras in banks
because it’s a lot easier to catch a thief with the aid of a camera
than with the human eye. It’s the same way for sports.

If the leagues want money, make the teams pay for utilizing
replay on a contestable call. I’d bet UCLA and the Knicks would
have gladly forked over a fee to receive their merited wins.

True, there are many great officials patrolling the world of
sports, but none can be as objective and concise as the unbiased
eye of a camera.

Kmiotek is a Daily Bruin Contributor who loves getting e-mail at
[email protected].