Flag on the Referees

AMAYA BROOKS / SPORTS EDITOR / THE USD VISTA

Referees have been a key component to games since the dawn of sports. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “umpires, referees, and other umpire officials preside over competitive athletic or sporting events to help maintain standards of play. They detect infraction play. They override penalties, according to the rules of the game.” Referees play a significant role in games because of their enormous influence. They are, however, inevitably going to make choices that alter the course of games because of their immense power. Referees have also been the subject of contentious decisions that have hurt the outcomes of extremely important games.

In the National Basketball Association (NBA), there have been multiple controversial decisions made by the referees that resulted in teams winning games they were not destined to win. The Lakers and Celtics met in a tight game on Jan. 28, 2023, during the NBA season 2022–2023. There were just 4.1 seconds left in the game’s final quarter, with the score tied at 105-105. The star forward for the Los Angeles Lakers, LeBron James, was struck in the arm by the Celtics’ Jayson Tatum as he drove into the paint for a potential game-winning basket. Normally, this would register as a shooting foul, which forbids an opposing player from making physical contact with the shooter’s body while the shooter is attempting to shoot the basketball. As a result, the shooter would be permitted to attempt free throws, which depending on whether you are fouled outside the three-point line or within the three-point line are essentially two or three unlimited shots from the free-throw line and are worth one point each. But the referees in this game made the decision to not blow their whistles. The alleged missed foul call clearly enraged LeBron James and the Lakers. However, this did not prompt the referees to reevaluate the action or reverse the call. After the game entered overtime, the Celtics defeated the Lakers 125–121.

Anthony Davis, a star power forward for the Los Angeles Lakers, quoted in the Los Angeles Times, gave his remarks on the missed foul call on LeBron James.

“He fouled him [LeBron James]. He fouled him. Clearly. “Clearly!” Davis exclaimed. “It’s bull—. But, at the end of the day …It’s not fair. And I guarantee that if the refs started getting fined for missed calls, it’d be a lot better.”

Right now, referees have the ability to drastically alter the momentum of games. A missed call might determine whether a team wins or loses a game. A possible way to stop the referees from making bad calls is to fine or punish them. Thanks to modern technology, referees can make informed decisions. However, they continue to commit the usual error of failing to call a foul or calling one that wasn’t there. Given how effective and precise they must be, it is understandable why referees have the most challenging job. 

Throughout the history of the NFL, many people have complained about the referees and how they need to be better. This past Sunday during the Super Bowl, there was lots of controversy due to a referee’s last call made against Philadelphia Eagles cornerback James Bradberry, who supposedly held Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, while he was receiving a pass from quarterback Patrick Mahomes. When watching the replay, it looks as if Bradberry is not holding Smith-Schuster. That makes this call controversial, because if the call was never made, then the Chiefs would have never been able to run out the clock and win the game. The Eagles would’ve gotten the ball again and had a chance to potentially score and win the game.

 A referee from the game, Carl Cheffers, spoke about the call and explained why he made it. 

“The receiver went to the inside, and he was attempting to release to the outside,” Cheffers stated. “The defender grabbed the jersey with his right hand and restricted him from releasing to the outside. So, therefore, we called it defensive holding. It was an obvious case of a jersey grab that resulted in a restriction. There was no debate.” 

Cheffers also stated that the other referees who were working with him all agreed on the call the referee made. Even though the referee himself came out and said that the call was fair, many people still don’t agree with the call and feel as if the game could’ve ended differently had the call been different. 

 This year wasn’t the first and only time the referees made controversial calls. In last year’s 2022 Super Bowl between the Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals, there were some controversial calls as well. Three back-to-back calls in the last two minutes of gameplay upset fans. The first call during the Rams’ touchdown drive was on third and goal, from the 8-yard line; Cooper Kupp missed a throw from Matthew Stafford, and it would have been a fourth down, but the referees called a holding penalty against the Bengals, giving the Rams a first down. On the next play, there was a touchdown, but referees called penalties on both the Rams and the Bengals, and the touchdown was revoked.

Next, Kupp missed a pass from Stafford, but the pass fell incomplete. The Bengals were called for pass interference, which put the ball on the one-yard line. Two plays later, quarterback Stafford eventually found Kupchak, and they scored a touchdown. Many fans were not happy with these game-changing calls and felt as if the refs were on the Los Angeles Rams’ side. 

These two instances are not the only instances in the NFL of controversial calls made by the referees. Many NFL fans want the league to start holding the referees accountable for all the bad and controversial calls they make.

Overall, both NFL and NBA players are dissatisfied with the refereeing throughout their respective games. Their calls can significantly affect the course of a game, they can cause irritation and general outrage among players and spectators.