The current sports climate is similar to the political climate in that a lot of people get triggered very easily. At the prep level, it might be parents who have hopes for collegiate or laughably even professional visions for their children in the future.

The WIAA recently released an opinion piece that takes aim at spectators of prep events. The biggest concern for the WIAA is simply that officials are leaving every sport at a remarkable pace — so much so that it is getting difficult for schools to schedule competitions due to a lack of available referees.

Without referees, the dream of your child playing beyond a high school varsity sport is basically all but shattered.

I used to be a certified official in the IHSA. It was a perk of some solid class scheduling in college. While my umpiring/refereeing experience is limited in a general sense, I’ve empathized for many years, because the job can be harsh. That’s not to say there weren’t moments as an athlete (let alone a fan), where I voiced my displeasure at a call. 

But the thing I’ve always tried to remember myself is that these prep and amateur league officials are just normal people we pass by in the grocery store in our daily lives. Sure, they might make a tank-full of gas worth of a paycheck to call a game, but that’s basically a “thanks for allowing us to do this” gesture.

Life doesn’t stop with prep sports — it begins. That’s advice my older brother gave to me my senior year, and I always found that to be true. Prep sports prepare us for life — and sometimes that means a close call doesn’t go our way. Adjust your response accordingly, but don’t complain.

Now, professional-level officials? My empathy shrinks.

Yes, the scrutiny will be stronger than at any other level, but they are there because they are the best, and get paid accordingly. And at the professional level, where the job of the official is to get the call “right” on every play, there needs to be more accountability when the call isn’t made correctly.

Jim Joyce showed humility and that he was sorry after ruining a perfect game from Armando Galarraga in 2010. The game wasn’t in balance, but the etching into stone of one of the rarest feats in all of sports was lost.

In football we’ve seen the “Fail Mary,” where replacement officials blew a Week 1 game that handed a victory to the Seahawks over the Packers. Green Bay would miss out on a sorely needed bye week later in the season, but they still had 15 games to right the ship.

Basketball has had bad calls, as has hockey. Ireland was kept out of the 2014 World Cup because the officiating crew failed to catch a handball on a goal by France.

Sports around the world have begun to (finally) add technology. These sports are multi-billion dollar industries, and the emphasis should always be to get the call correct. I personally would rather wait an extra minute to make sure the football crossed the goal line, or that the baseball touched the chalk than to say, “oh well, let’s move on.”

But the display from this past weekend’s NFL games were nothing short of the word “atrocious.” New England had the Chiefs where they wanted them, but the officials had a couple of bad calls that helped Tom Brady and Bill Belichick reach yet another Super Bowl thanks to an overtime victory. I’m fine with how it ended — I picked the Pats to win anyway and while it’s annoying to see Brady’s heroics once again, you can’t help but know that by now it’s just how things happen.

But in the Rams-Saints game, well, the NFL needed to do something about that blown pass-interference call.

If you weren’t watching, the Saints had a third down play inside the red zone with just under two minutes to play in a tie game. The Rams had one timeout. As QB Drew Brees threw a pass along the sidelines (enough for a first down), Rams defender Nickel Robey-Coleman flattened New Orleans WR Tommylee Lewis before the ball could get there. Robey-Coleman didn’t even make a move on the ball and admitted as such. There was never a more blatant pass interference in a critical game, let alone that moment, like that in the history of football, and yet, all the referees missed it. Other penalties could have been called, too, including targeting and illegal contact. But no call was made and the rules do not allow penalties (called or not) to be challenged.

So, the Saints settled for the field goal, and then would let the Rams tie it moments later. Eventually, LA won in overtime on a FG after a Brees INT. 

I didn’t have a dog in the race, and the Rams were one of the best teams all season. The fact that they are in the Super Bowl matters not to me. But had the flag been thrown, NO could have knelt the ball and kicked in a chip-shot FG at the buzzer to reach SB LIII. But they never got that chance. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and the league apologized to the Saints for missing the call, and Goodell has Putin-level authority to either change the outcome or do a replay. But none of it happened, because of course it didn’t. 

So now the Pats will top the Rams, and hopefully Brady will retire.

But I doubt it.

— Adam Krebs is a reporter for the Times and would like to remind you that “over-the-back” is not a penalty in basketball if body contact doesn’t force one player out of position. Also, pitchers and catchers report in just 16 days. Adam can be reached at akrebs@themonroetimes.net.