I've been reading all of the comments on officiating here on the
other side of the pond, and I decided to add my 2 cents (or
2 Danish kroner) worth.
In my younger days (i.e., college undergrad) I was a student
manager for the University of Minnesota basketball team.
You could say I was biased.  The end of the bench I was
sitting on at an Ohio State game in Columbus got a technical foul
for protesting a foul too loudly.  Coach Musselman read me the
riot act after the game, but I don't know if he talked to our trainer,
too.  I think that was the beginning of a change in my perspective
of officials.  While you don't always agree with them, they always
have the last word and they are unlikely to reverse a call.  The
only thing that happens to you is that you raise your blood pressure
(and maybe get a headache as one poster already mentioned).
Also, as I have gotten older (and matured?) it's easier for me
to leave at the end of the game and be able to say "It's only
a game".  Working behind the visiting team bench at Mariucci Arena
the last 10 years has helped me become much more objective, too.
Through pre-game meetings and between period interaction with game
officials, I've learned that they really are human beings just
like you and me.  That has helped me look at them differently
than the normal fan.
I will now get off my soap box and say
GO GOPHERS! (I still have a little fan left in me.)
John Feigal