Should officials have press conferences?

[UmpSC]

According to the mad pirate, yes.

http://www.scout.com/college/football/story/1673052-leach-proposes-referee-press-conferences

[BrendanP]

I'd do it.

[AlUpstateNY]

Absolutely not, there's simple no real need.  It's still a game and when it's over, it's over and absolutely nobody is interested in what happened, unless it favors their interests,  For major issues there are "league" responses.

Press conferences for officials, would be like political press conferences, where the press is ONLY interested in a candidate saying something wrong that they can pounce on.

[theunofficialofficial]

...the press is ONLY interested in a candidate saying something wrong that they can pounce on.

I feel bad for the coaches and players that have to do it, cause the same is true. They are just looking for their 2-3 second sound bite as to why they won or lost the game. Number one rule here - "Don't make the news."  Let the league/supervisor be the spokesman for officials so it is a consistent answer.


Hopefully the league/supervisor doesn't throw officials under the bus and supports them.

[Rulesman]

Not real interested in what Leach "thinks", but if it flies, maybe the first question the crew can throw out to him is how he managed to let Portland State beat him last year. At HOME, no less. 

[bama_stripes]

I'll take questions from the press as soon as I'm allowed to holler & scream at the coaches about their dumb in-game decisions & lack of rules knowledge.

Waiting.......waiting.......

[BrendanP]

I'll say that I understand why one would want such a thing. A friend of mine said to me not too long ago that I'm the most coddled guy in all of sports. As an official, if you call me names, you get flagged. If you criticise me, you get fined. If you touch me, it's a felony. But as we all accepted, our judgement has just as big an impact on the outcome of a game as does the players'. So I get why someone would feel that way. I wouldn't have a problem talking to the press if I ever got to officiate games that actually matter to people, but a press conference will never happen because it only takes one crazy.

[AlUpstateNY]

As an official, if you call me names, you get flagged. If you criticise me, you get fined. If you touch me, it's a felony. But as we all accepted, our judgement has just as big an impact on the outcome of a game as does the players'. So I get why someone would feel that way.

Sorry Brendan, but everyone who participates in ANY organized sports understands and accepts (or should have been taught to) that there will be officials (other humans) who's job it is to make judgment calls, impartially and fairly, but not necessarily infallibly.

They certainly may disagree with judgments, but in no way do they earn any right to insult, verbally assault (criticize and/or argue), or (God forbid) touch an official in anger.  Most experienced officials have learned to appreciate the intensity of emotions often associated with sporting competition and have developed "thick skins", patience and the ability to ignore inappropriate (stupid) comments, up to a point.

However consequences from ANY & ALL stupid comments are the total responsibility of the speaker, subject to the (unknown) tolerance of the individual target, which may vary considerably from target to target and situation.  There are NOT, nor should there be, any presumption of ANY guaranteed "free shots" or expectations that ANY stupid remark will, or should be, consequence free. 

Procedures for rational questions and reasonable disputes are provided in stated rules, and exceeding those guidelines is done so (as it is specifically intended) at the offender's peril. 

[Osric Pureheart]

If I had my way, we'd do away with press conferences with players and coaches.  I can count the number of insightful things I've ever heard at a press conference for a team sport on the fingers of one hand.  All but impossible for it to get out from under all the media training in how to talk for 60 seconds and say nothing.

[DallasLJ]

I like Mike Leach -- but this is a NO GO.  Officials do have to answer for their actions -- we just do not do it in the public.  We answer to our supervisors, conferences, etc.  If you make enough mistakes, you are invited not to continue in the league or conference.  If bad enough, you are taken off the field immediately. 

  Since we are not the media darlings that coaches and players are, there really is no need for an official to stand up in front of the press and explain the level of contact he saw to decide in his judgment to pass on calling pass interference, or why the restriction was not material enough to impact the play to call holding.  These are nuances of the game.  These are not play calls or interceptions or fumbles.  All the fans understand the big parts of the game, but so very few understand the nuances of what it is we do.  And without the ability to put our jobs into context, giving explanations to the public is just a recipe for disaster.

[Ralph Damren]

As the state interpreter, I get several calls from coaches each season and a few from the media. My response is:
 
  To the coach : "Coach, I'd be happy to talk to the crew involved and get their opinion of how the rule was applied. That is, I want to hear both sides of the story before I decide how the story should have ended. Fair enough?"
  To the media : "I'll need to discuss, with the crew, how that rule was applied before I explain the rule to the press. I don't want to be comparing blueberries and potatoes (Mainer version of 'apples and oranges'). I'm sure you understand." IF he/she/it doesn't, I continue with : "Every good reporter knows he needs two sources. I do, too, your opinion and that of the crew's".
 
 Often the correct rule was applied. It may have been the judgement that was questioned.

If it becomes a media issue, I tell our officials to tell them to contact me. I'll get their opinions before I respond and will not throw them under the bus.

IMHO, it is never a good idea to respond to anyone other that your crewmates when you're still hot from the heat of battle ,and remember, as you weave through the fans on the way to your locker room, the fans have ears.

[getnbetter]

Not a good idea at all.

[Etref]

Old adage is

Silence can never be misquoted

[HLinNC]

Or "better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt"

[yarnnelg]

No,no,no,no,no

The majority of So called journalists wouldn't know how to open a rule book if you laid it down in front of them with step by step instructions.

This is the reason why. I was coming home from the Chick Filet Bowl, racing to get through Tampa before the Outback Bowl finished. Jack Harris announcing. Georgia return man misjudged the kick, caught the ball over his shoulder at the one, into the endzone and OOB in the corner. Harris is yelling for a safety and goes on and on...

Two weeks later at an awards dinner, I am beside him at dinner. " You are an Official?" "Yes Sir" " Did you see the Outback Bowl?" "No, I listened on the radio." "The Officials really messed up on the missed safety. What do you think?" "I won't tell you the names I was calling you as I drove through Tampa. Do you know anything about the momentum rule?"
Momentum took the return man into the endzone and out the corner. The covering Official bagged at the one and put the ball there.

Exactly how do you get through a press conference with people who eat the covers off the rule book? We get evaluated enough, sometimes where we question the sanity of the evaluator. Why subject ourselves to those who would remove all doubt?

[Welpe]

I'll be ok with it if the Referee gets to act like Popovich from the Spurs.

[Bwest]

I'll be ok with it if the Referee gets to act like Popovich from the Spurs.

Or Belichick

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZJfa_w2fuw

[J12]

I don't even like it -- especially at the college level -- when the losing team has to sit for press conferences.  I'm old enough to remember when the losing head coach or manager would come out maybe 15 minutes after the game and give a 10 minute or so interview and that was it from the losing team.   Now college kids have to sit for long press conferences after being eliminated from the NCAA tournament. It's already absurd and having press conferences for officials is just another step in the wrong direction.

[Rulesman]

I don't even like it -- especially at the college level -- when the losing team has to sit for press conferences... Now college kids have to sit for long press conferences after being eliminated from the NCAA tournament.

It's for the benefit of the media. Since the media is forking over the big bucks, some things, including the losing team having to sit and answer stupid questions, comes with the territory. 

[VALJ]

Old adage is

Silence can never be misquoted

And "a closed mouth gathers no feet."