There’s a whole lot of things going on out there in the world of sports that just “t’ain’t right”.
While I am aware that today’s athletes are bigger, faster and more agile than in the past and, thus, make officiating the games harder than ever, there’s just waaay too much in the way of bad calls, poor decisions and lack of understanding the rules. We are seeing that at all levels. High school, college and professional sports have been plagued this year by bad calls. Is it just a bad year, like a “bad hair day” or a trend?
Many of these decisions are costing teams wins and in the college world, perhaps losing a chance to advance to the national championship. That happened to Michigan State against Nebraska last weekend. It happened in the Miami-Duke game. Earlier in the year a couple of bad decisions by the officials enabled Oklahoma State to defeat Texas. All of us that attend high school games can rattle off several more examples.  The part of this that “t’ain’t right” is that though the officials get “reprimanded”, perhaps even suspended, the aggrieved team has no recourse. Blatant mistakes, especially on the final play of a game, ought to be able to be corrected by changing the outcome, giving the victory back to the team that was wrongfully defeated.
Perhaps officials should be required to attend a post-game press conference and defend the decisions they made just as players and coaches do.  That might eliminate some of the “it’s my way or the highway” attitude that some display.
I don’t understand how league and committee chairmen  can readily agree that a serious mistake was made but make no effort to correct it by changing what happened on the play, awarding victory to where it belonged. Suspending or scolding the officials DOES NOT repair the damage. It only points out that, yes, mistakes were made but we’re not going to do anything about correcting those mistakes.  That eats at the very heart of fair competition.
Yes, the use of television replays has changed things and yes, the officials are right way more than they are wrong but is that any reason to NOT correct an obviously bad situation? T’ain’t right!
CHALK TALK
The INMATES are running the ASYLUM at MIZZOU! A boycott led by the football team has led to the resignation of U of M President Tim Wolfe.  Football coach Gary Pinkel said, “They decided to be leaders on this issue to save the life of a fellow student.” Sounds magnanimous Coach, but the truth is the student was on a self-imposed hunger strike!
Nebraska was the beneficiary of one of those non-correctable officials’ errors last weekend as they upset Michigan State. Up until that game Nebraska fans were wondering if the Husker defense was called BLACKSHIRTS because they keep getting so badly burned!
What have we learned so far in this college basketball exhibition season?  Mainly that Emporia State, Ft. Hays State and Pittsburgh State WILL NOT be able to compete in the Big 12.
How about that NCAA? They’ve had ALL Summer and ALL Fall to determine whether or not KU basketball recruit Cheick Diallo is eligible, whether he has taken the proper classes and they STILL haven’t ruled. These are the same folks who will expect a student-athlete to take a Geometry class and complete it in one short semester!
Though it may not be considered official, the Central Kansas League will end up with one true football Champion as Hoisington and Halstead, both 11-0, meet Friday evening in Halstead in the 3A playoffs. The super-strong CKL had six teams qualify for the playoffs.