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Poor officiating is hurting sports

By Drew Koch

LEXINGTON, KY - DECEMBER 31: Head coach John Calipari of the Kentucky Wildcats calls a play from the bench during the second half of the game against the Georgia Bulldogs at Rupp Arena on December 31, 2017 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Bobby Ellis/Getty Images)
LEXINGTON, KY - DECEMBER 31: Head coach John Calipari of the Kentucky Wildcats calls a play from the bench during the second half of the game against the Georgia Bulldogs at Rupp Arena on December 31, 2017 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Bobby Ellis/Getty Images) /
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NEW ORLEANS, LA – APRIL 02 (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
NEW ORLEANS, LA – APRIL 02 (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /

Officiating has become a serious issue in collegiate athletics. The Kentucky Wildcats game on Saturday night was just another example.

Officiating across professional and college sports is very bad right now. Kentucky’s game Saturday against Tennessee was just another example of how poor the officiating has become.

Okay, before we go down this road, let’s get one thing straight. The Wildcats did not lose to the Volunteers because of poor officiating. There, now that we’ve set the record straight, let’s continue.

John Calipari’s Technical Foul

Why was John Calipari called for a technical foul early in the second half? We have Cal’s comments from his post-game press conference via CoachCal.com:

"“He said I was out of the box, which you’ll have to look and see, but I wasn’t. The box in front of my bench, not the 40-foot one. The other one. I was back. I don’t know. He called one on him (Barnes) and then he called one on me. I’m like, ‘Why’d you call one on me?’ Then I asked him to go back to the TV and check it, ‘Can you take it back?’ They said they couldn’t, they’re not allowed to.”"

Really? A technical foul for Calipari for stepping outside the coach’s box? C’mon. Rick Barnes was berating the officials for 30 seconds after his player flopped. The officials then went to the monitor to review the contact between Wenyen Gabriel and Tennessee’s Grant Williams. Why are we wasting time watching a slow-motion replay of a player feigning a charging foul?

Sacha Killeya-Jones receives a technical foul

Later in the game poor officiating struck again, this time involving both Sacha Killeya-Jones and Tennessee’s Lamonte Turner. As you can see below, the contact was minimal at best. Does this kind of behavior warrant a technical foul? And remember, in college basketball, a technical foul counts toward your total for the game.

I’ll be honest, I can’t stand instant replay. I think it’s overused in all sports. The human error is part of sports and instant replay should be used only to fix egregious mistakes. We see it week after week in the NFL, where referees are pouring over frame-by-frame shots to see if a wide receiver catches a football. In college football there are constant reviews to determine if a player led with the crown of his helmet and deserves to be disqualified. Picking apart the minutiae of sports has got to stop.

If officials review the intent of a tackle or if contact was made to a player’s head, then everything should be review-able. Then at that point the sport becomes unwatchable.

What happened to sports being about the game itself and not the officiating. The officials need to call the game consistent and to the best of their ability, while the players just play. And don’t get me started on Benny Snell’s ejection from the Music City Bowl.

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