Subject:Ref bashing
 
Hear! Hear!
>That isn't quite true.  In well over 90% of the cases, the officiating makes
>little difference in the outcome of a contest.  Some people get concerned
>about that other 1 to 10%  The issue is critical plays.  There are probably
>fewer than a dozen "critical points" in almost any athletic contest.  They
 
Not only do "fans" complain about *THE* critical play that cost the game,
sometimes the coaches do also.  I think most players realize that any game
lasts 60 minutes or so, and that countless other mistakes could easily changed
the outcome of the game.  Had they gone the other way, of course.
 
IMHO, successful teams first concern themselves about minimizing their
mistakes.  Then try to take advantage of the opponents blunders, and if you've
still got the energy and the audacity(sp?) after all that, bitch about the
calls.  This isn't to say refs shouldn't get ragged on, they should.  But to
say, "if the call went the other way..." is cry-baby stuff.
 
Why do coaches overlook this reasoning sometimes?  Hey, its an entertainment
business.  You gotta keep the folks charged.  They also have to concern
themselves about motivating the players, although this seems to be a weak
method.  Hmmm...  Bo Schembecler (sp?) used to use this method during games -
maybe that's why he was a coach and I'm working for a living!
 
 
 
David Halonen, Center for Machine Intelligence, EDS
Ann Arbor, MI           (313) 995-0900
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