This also applies from a coaches point of view because different groups of officials are more likely to call games a certain way. Knowing this you can prepare your team and let them know what they can "get away with." This is just like lawyers wanted to get a judge that rules a certain way because it will benefit their client.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Officials in Sports and Legal Realism
There has been some discussion about sports officials and their authority but I believe that athletes and coaches use a legal realism mindset when playing sports. Think about it, when Michael Jordan played he knew he could get away with this that other people could not get away with. Knowing this he used it to his advantage all the time. Now, some say that it should not matter who he is, the rules should apply to everyone the same way, but can we blame the guy for exploiting the system to his advantage since most of us know we would have done the same thing. Holmes said that "a legal duty is nothing but a prediction that if a man does or omits certain things, he will be made to suffer in this or that way by judgment of the court." So, we could said that Michael Jordan (a man) really has no reason to follow the same rules as everyone else because he will not foul out(suffer) by judgment of the official (judge). This happens in every sport, in the National Football League Tom Brady gets roughing the passer calls that other quarterbacks do not get, in the NBA now Kobe and LeBron get calls that others do not get, and in the NHL Crosby and Ovechkin get calls that others do not get.
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I have been witnessing this ever since i started watching sports and i found it most prevalent in the MLB playoffs. Every game there is a new umpire with a different strike zone. They usually stay pretty consistent with their calls but i've noticed that when a pitcher or batter starts to complain about close calls, they will get "make up" calls soon after. There are set laws in baseball but there is also a lot of discretion on the umpires part and this is where the legal realism comes into play like you pointed out.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Andrew's comment. I have witnessed the occurence of "make up" calls by officials in almost every sport. One sport that really stands out is European League Soccer. It seems that players always dive to get calls. They fall on the ground and grab their leg when they weren't even hit and officials call a foul. This especially occurs with superstar players. Why have rules when they are not fairly enforced?
ReplyDeleteI don't agree that dive calls would be considered "make up calls," but instead view it as similar to the strike zone issue. Some referees are far more liberal with awarding yellow cards and free kicks than others but it is completely based on judgment.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Chris’s statement because it is true that high profile players often get more calls then other players. These players get more calls because of national pressure and the American people wanting to see these players succeed. Many officials feel pressured to call penalties that could have gone either way towards the more high profiled side. This is apparent in college football where Florida often gets many pass interference calls because they are such a nationally recognized team and the prominence of their quarterback Tim Tebow. Having high profile players like this often lead to calls in their favor which was shown in the Florida v. Arkansas game a few weeks back were Arkansas was penalized for horrible pass interference calls, which led the gators to a game winning drive
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