I generally don’t like to bash referees. I don’t like to blame losses on referees. I like to think that most referees are doing the best they can do, in a thankless job; after all, there are many who have no qualms whatsoever about either referee bashing or referee blaming. However, there are times when even I have to wonder about the referees and the decisions they make.

I realize games are played at a fast pace and decisions have to be made quickly. I recognize that I am in no way an expert on the rules of any athletic event, though I’ve watched enough basketball and football that I feel pretty confidant in the basic rules. I totally understand that sometimes mistakes will happen and a call will be blown. After all, the referees are only human, and humans sometimes make mistakes. Given all of that, though, when it is obvious to me, the definite non-expert in the gym or on the field, that a call has been missed, then there’s something wrong. If it were only one or two calls per game, that would be bad, but not horrible. However, lately, I’ve seen so many missed calls in every game, it’s starting to be pretty pathetic.

Of course, there are the foul calls that are missed. There is a distinct difference in the sound made when a hand slaps the ball and when a hand slaps skin. If I can hear it in the stands, the referee who is standing right there should also be able to hear it. As often as not, even when it’s all ball, a foul gets called. A few walks get by the referees. Sometimes when a ball gets knocked out of bounds, the wrong team gets it back. These are typical missed calls, and as long as there aren’t a lot of them, you can take it as part of the game.

However, there are times when there are obvious, blatant calls that are so contradictory to what should be called, that even the most laidback of fans end up screaming at the refs. A few examples come to mind. Recently, I watched a game where a girl shot and made a basket, but the ref blew the whistle and called a jump ball, and the basket didn’t count. Say what? How can it be a jump ball if it’s going through the basket? In another game, Player A and Player B are both trying to get the rebound, Player A pushes Player B to the floor, and again, the call is a jump ball. According to the ref on that one, there was not a foul because Player B did not have control of the ball. Excuse me? Since when is pushing another player to the floor not a foul? If it were a legal move to push players to the floor to keep them from catching a pass or retrieving a loose ball or making the rebound, then wouldn’t there be a whole lot more pushing players to the floor? Whether a player has the ball or not, other players are not allowed to push them to the floor. If that were allowed, trust me, there’d be a lot more pushing going on.

Then there are the instances where there’s a loose ball and you have multiple players from both teams trying to get possession of the ball or to at least force a jump ball. I know refs don’t need to make the call too quick, but there’s such a thing as letting the rolling around on the floor go on too long which, more often than not, results in somebody ejected from the game. When it becomes obvious that it’s a jump ball, call the jump ball. Don’t let the situation escalate so that tempers start to flare and pushing and/or punching takes place. Yes, the athletes should be able to control their tempers, but the longer you let three or four teenagers roll around on the floor trying to get possession of a ball, you’re just asking for trouble. It’s hard enough for adults to control their tempers in a volatile situation where the levels of emotion and intensity are already running high. Having been a teenager once upon a time and working with teenagers daily, trust me, it’s even harder for them. Why set them up to be in a situation where they will likely make the wrong decision?

I realize it’s impossible to make all fans happy all the time. It’s also nearly impossible to make most of the fans happy most of the time. And with fans from two opposing teams, it’s fairly safe to say that at least half the fans aren’t going to be happy. However, a cleanly called game, that’s fair, is really all anybody — players, fans, coaches — wants. Are we asking for too much? Is it too much to expect a fairly called game? Is it too much to expect that the obvious calls get made the right way?

This is the thing. If such blatant mistakes didn’t happen at nearly every game, it wouldn’t be so bad. But when it happens over and over and over again, it’s frustrating, not just for the fans but also for the players and coaches. What’s a foul today isn’t a foul tomorrow. What a player can get by with in one game, he or she can’t in another. Players don’t know how to play if the calls aren’t consistent, and that isn’t fair to anybody.

I don’t know if referees do annual training. I don’t know what their evaluation protocol is. And I feel fairly certain that finding referees is a difficult job, and finding consistently good referees a still more difficult job. However, we should try to get it right. And there should be some sort of system in place where referees are evaluated regularly, and if those referees consistently miss calls, especially obvious ones, then there should be a probationary period and/or eventually dismissal.

I’m still not a fan of referee bashing or blaming, and I’m still going to try to avoid those activities. Based on the games I’ve watched, lately, though, they’re sure making it hard. I realize this is just high school sports, and it’s not the end-all, be-all of anything, but athletes learn a lot of lessons while playing ball. It seems a shame that one of the biggest lessons they have to learn is that life’s not fair.