Which league has the worst officiating?

[Indiana Sev]

NHL
NBA
NFL
MLB
European Football
Other

[Indiana Sev]

It's a close call between the NHL and the NBA. I guess I'll go with hockey because it's the least consistent.

[Haddonfield]

I agree Sev, Basketball is a train wreck when it comes to calls esp traveling. They are very inconcistant. But I too am going with the NHL for the simple fact that in the rule book obstruction is not allowed yet we know the obvious, so hence, every game we have watched this season, both refs have missed about 50 calls on both teams...hence the NHL has the worst officiating.

[Grebdron]

NBA, easily.

[horrorfreak13]

Let's see NBA has a rule book and attempts to call it the same with NFL, and the same MLB.

Does the NHL call it by the rule book no they don't so I'm voting for them because the officiating in the NHL at most times is consistenly inconsistent.

[mattjk_17]

I can't judge the NBA, NFL, NHL or MHB as I don't really follow them. I must say that the English Premiership has some really bad officiating at times. Last night's Leeds/Man City game for example (the penalty decision, or what I heard of it, was ridiculous), Aston Villa vs Arsenal (earlier this season) with Arsenal's star man... the referee! As well as most games that Uriah Rennie is refereeing.

[AnnoyingQuestionAsker]

The NBA because most of the time the officials can't see what is going on in the play. They just assume contact is made and call a foul. They don't know the travelling rule. The officials make it difficult to enjoy the game.

[bmain77]

It's hard to argue with the fact that the NHL has the worst officials, but I'm going to try it.

I'm going with college football and more specifically Big 10 Football. It just seems like sometimes the officials get together before the game and flip a coin to decide which team they are going to scew over that game. I'm not going to deny it. I can think of a couple of games where Michigan has definitly gotten preferential treatment from the refs. The UM Illinois game about three years ago comes to mind. But there have also been other instances when Lloyd Carr and JoePa were probably right to blow their lids.

It just seems like they are too inconsistent. They'll start out the game allowing them to be really physical and then start calling it tight later on and vice versa. They need to sit down and decide exactly what consitutes pass interference. It seems to change every week. I for one am happy the Big 10 err 11 is going to experiment with instant replay.

[Cyd V]

Since the cfl isn't on the list i'd go with the NHL. They're a joke to all pro sports, the refs don't even try to control games, they're like prison guards who turn the other way when someone drops the soap in the shower...:eek:

[jeo4]

I'd say the NBA and the NHL are both very inconsistent. I voted for the NBA by a hair.

[Shakamaker]

NBA, easily. Turning a blind eye to travelling just so we can see more dunks has taken the skill level down a peg or two. Now the league is full of men who can dunk spectacularly, but can't shoot for shit.

[blankpage]

Just for this year alone I'm going with the NHL.

[martyds761]

Other........ NCAA College Basketball sucks............. As for Pro, Basketball there as well.

[tbone]

The officiating in the NHL is fairly bad, but in the NBA it is awful.

[krazy drako]

No question NBA. I'm a basketball ref, not great or anything, but they blow calls that the most inexperience ref would catch.

[MickeyKnox]

I'm gonna have to say the NBA.

[AceD]

It's the NHL.

"NBA, easily. Turning a blind eye to travelling just so we can see more dunks has taken the skill level down a peg or two. Now the league is full of men who can dunk spectacularly, but can't shoot for shit."

I understand your sentiment, but I watch a TON of NBA games, and traveling is not as rapant as people make it out to be, go to a high school game and watch the star big man change his pivot foot when he shoots his hook. Traveling is such a sketchy rule that isn't called consistently on any level. As far as the bad shooting, yes, there are bad shooters in the NBA, but the great shooters of today (Peja, Dirk, Redd, Kobe, Bibby, Voshon, to name a few) are better than the great shooters of the past.

[Indiana Sev]

Seems like this would be an appropriate thread to bump considering the officiating incompetence being witnessed this year in the MLB playoffs.

[brodeurnumber1]

Hard to say really. Superstars get away with everything in the NBA. Superstars get away with a lot in the NFL(well receiver push-offs and such, and the Denver chop blocking is horseshit). The NHL officiating is inconsistent. The MLB has been horrid lately.

But I have to see the NBA, because everyone knows David Stern fixes games every know and then.

[horrorfreak13]

EArlier in this thread I said NHL, and the NFL certain players(and at times certain teams) get away of a lot of calls but you know after what I have witnessed the MLB umpires take the fucking cake this year.

The difference is NFL and NHL has instant replay the ability to at least get it right which MLB dosen't haveand after what I've witnessed the past week they should have it now.

[mindkiss69]

Originally posted by AnnoyingQuestionAsker
The NBA because most of the time the officials can't see what is going on in the play. They just assume contact is made and call a foul.

yeah, I can't really speak on the NHL refereing, but I know for a fact that the NBA officials are garbage. There have been some many games that have been blundered because of them. The NBA, more than any league, seems to give the star players special treatment when it comes to calls.

Everyone remembers the Jordan push-away on Russel, that was never called.

[Buck Turgidson]

Major League Baseball. It's not really even close, in my mind.

I take second to no one in my contempt for most NHL and NBA officials, who are arbitrary and affected with a huge God complex. But those games are both (especially Basketball) largely free of restrictive rules based on lines and spaces. Most hoops whistles deal with utterly subjective calls about handling the ball or what is or isn't a foul. The only calls that hinge on objective, concrete facts about the playing surface are things involving the end lines and half court and the like. Rarely are they likely to be the subject of real controversy. The same is largely true of the NHL, especially after they instituted the rules changes this year to free up the puck to move more.

The NFL plays such a fast paced, precise game that there is a huge level of room for poor work for the officials, but the advent of instant replay has obviated much of that. Catches, foot positioning on lines, fumbles...all of these things are matters of objective, demonstrable fact and all are far more likely to be made correctly now with replay as a tool. The judgement calls, like holding and offsides and illegal procedure are all still soley up to the real time call of the officials, but they're rarely determinative of the outcome.

Baseball...it's just a train wreck. It's in the nature of the game to be wholly dependent on officials, calling every single pitch that isn't put into play. So many things in Baseball are likewise matters of observible fact (feet on bags, over or under the yellow line, fair or foul, catch or trap) and they blow them over and over and over again.

As a game, by it's very design, Baseball requires smart, alert and honest men to police it. Often times they can't get even one of those criteria to come to bear.