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From the Sidelines: Officiating is no easy task

It's not just 3A. There are poorly-officiated games everywhere.

At the 6A girls' basketball tournament this past week in Emporia, officiating was at its worst.

Officials, either by blowing or not blowing their whistles early, set the tone of the game. If they are going to allow physical play, they can't start getting whistle-happy in the last few seconds of the game.

In first round action of the Blue Valley North-Olathe South game, BVN trailed by one with 2.7 seconds left. A player attempted a three-pointer in the corner (a miracle shot) with a girl in her face. As the shot went up, the ball went straight down and a whistle blew.

Three shots.

From the other side of the gym it looked like a clean block. But as a fellow reporter told me, "you can only make that call if the girl ends up in the third row."

Now, she still had to make her free throws (she made two-of-three) to win, but the officials had let much rougher play go without a whistle.

Olathe South's 21-1 season ended in the first round, and the sound of that whistle will surely never leave the players' heads. (Although I'm not arguing because BVN is my alma mater).

For the rest of the tournament the officials continued to make inconsistent calls during each game on both sides.

Maybe the inconsistency was actually consistent, but the bad calls continued to pile up. If they can't get consistent, good officials for a 6A state tournament, where can they find them?

Then the answer popped into my head.

Officiating is hard. Especially in a pressure-packed state tournament environment.

If National Football League refs were ridiculed during the playoffs, how can anyone expect high school officials to be any better?

Fans will continue to yell at refs. Media will continue to bash them in the papers and on TV, and officials will continue to make bad calls.

It's the circle of sports. While coaches and fans have the right to disagree with calls, they can never blame an official for the outcome of a game.

Officials too can think coaches and fans are rude, but they have to understand that's also part of the game.

From 1A to 6A, to the NBA, officials will mess up. It's part of the game. The only thing anyone can ask is for them to be fair and consistent. One 6A state tournament coach told me, "nine out of 10 times a ref makes a bad call because of something a player failed to do."

That doesn't mean officials are always off the hook. Sometimes after a blown call they will blow another call for the other team to make it "even."

Can't happen.

A long as they are giving 100 percent and show respect on the court, just as players, coaches, and fans should do, high school refs need to be shown respect as well.

After all, they aren't doing it for the money.

Editors note: Look for a story in next week's edition about a former Marion High School athlete who found success at the 6A state tournament.

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