Are officials taking it too far?

One universal truth the applies to all sports at all levels is that there will, with a doubt, be a call made by an official, umpire, or referee in every game that a players or coach will not like and mostly likely will voice their displeasure with.  For as long as there have been sports players have been clashing with the referees, umpires, and officials working those games.  It happens in almost every game in every sport, but with the outbreak of ejections in recent days I have to wonder, are the officials, not the players, taking it too far?

It started Tuesday night with Carl Crawford of the Tampa Bay Rays getting tossed for arguing balls and strikes, not an uncommon thing in professional baseball.  What was uncommon about it was that it appeared the umpire initiated the contact with Crawford, not the other way around.  Crawford was then ejected and the home plate umpire continued on to call the rest of the game.  Something about that just seems wrong.

Then Wednesday there was another round in the Ozzie Guillen – Joe West saga.  West really enjoys tossing Ozzie out of games and Wednesdays’ game in Cleveland was no different.  West called balk on Mark Buehrle.  It was clearly not a balk and Ozzie came out to talk to West about the call and was tossed before he could get a word in.  West then called a second balk on Buehrle, seemly out of spite, then tossed Buehrle for questioning the call.  The MLB is “looking into” the incident with Ozzie and West but its unlikely any major punishment will come from it, at least not for West.

Also Wednesday, Kendrick Perkins was called for 2 technical fouls and ejected from game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals.  I won’t argue with the first technical, but the second one was ridiculous.  Perkins was called for a very questionable foul and with good reason, didn’t like the call.  He said something to the official then walked away in disgust, the official then called him for technical number 2 and tossed him from the game.  And if that wasn’t bad enough, it was his seventh technical of the post season which means he gets a 1 game suspension.  I would like to make it clear that Perkins was called for the 2nd tech AFTER HE WALK AWAY FROM THE OFFICIAL.  The NBA did the right thing by reviewing it and rescinded the 2nd “T” but there will be no reprimand or punishment for the official who made the call the NBA deemed incorrect.

I would like to make in clear the officials and umpires have an extremely difficult job and, regardless of how good they might be, will always be criticized on a fairly regular basis.  But that comes with the territory and they should except that not overreact to situations.  In the Joe West-Ozzie Guillen-Mark Buehrle incident, it was very clear that the incorrect calls were made for a reason.  Buehrle has one of the best pick off moves in all of baseball and has been called for 1 balk in the last 3 seasons until Wednesday’s game, when he was called for 2 in just over 2 innings.  Neither of them was even a questionable call and West has a history of run-ins with Guillen and has been known for questionable calls against the White Sox.  So I ask you, where are the consequences for West?  Guillen can get suspended for commenting on West but West gets off free and clear?  Doesn’t seem right.

I would like to share an idea I have on how to keep the egos of officials and umpires in check:  make them face the media after games.  Players have to face questions about bad plays or errors, coaches have to face questions about calls they made during games.  Why shouldn’t officials have to sit at the podium and answer questions posed by the media about all their questionable calls during the game?  Ask Joe West what he saw in those balks or why he gave Guillen and Buehrle such quick hooks.  Ask the official what he was thinking when he called the second technical on Perkins.  Most fans would love to know that kind of information, I know I would, and I think the players involved are entitled to an explanation.  Everyone makes mistakes and umpires are only human, but making them own up to those mistakes after each and every game will only make them better at their jobs.  Hiding behind the protection of their respective leagues only feeds their egos, their sense of power, and the problem that seems to consistently be getting worse.