Sports Illustrated Kids - USA (2022-05 & 2022-06)

(Maropa) #1

10 / SPORTS ILLUSTRATED KIDS DAVID^ SOKOL/ WICKED LOCAL STA FF P HOTO/ USA TODAY NETWORK


OUT OF REACH
Ultimate frisbee
mostly gets by
without refs because
that’s part of the
game’s culture.

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newsstand sales. So here I am,
as usual, cleaning up their mess


with a righteous rant that’s 100%
the truth.)
Referees create cheaters. It’s


not different from how Batman
creates the Joker. Have you ever


noticed that Batman never has
to drive 40 minutes to the next
town over to fight a supervillain?


His entire rogue’s gallery lives
in Gotham City. Why? They see
Batman and it gives them the


impression that it’s normal to
dress up in a costume and get
into a fistfight on a ledge. It’s the


same principle with officiating:
Athletes see a referee and it tells


them that there’s an expectation
that they will try to get away with
breaking the rules. So they try.
Even the very act of making the
rule book creates cheating. For if
there is no rule book, there are no
rules to break. People will default
to an innate sense of what’s fair.
Have you never thought that
you could determine a catch in
football better than the confusing
definition used by the NFL?
But, you’re thinking, Athletes
break the rules all the time! The
problem would be worse without
someone watching them! I’m not
just proposing benching the
referees. Sports need a culture
change that would make the
referee obsolete. Luckily, this
idea is not just pie-in-the-sky
hypothetical. Two sports already
get along fine without zebras:
curling, a Winter Olympics
mainstay, and Ultimate Frisbee,
which could be in the
Summer Games in 2028.
Curling Canada’s rule book
starts with a code of ethics: “I will
conduct myself in an honourable


manner both
on and off the
ice. I will never
knowingly break
a rule, but if I do,
I will divulge the
breach.” The rules
even prescribe
“modesty in
victory and
composure in
defeat.” Players
have been ejected
from games for
swearing. And
there certainly
are close calls.
One of the sport’s
most infamous
moments
happened in the 1972 world
championships, when the
U.S. team lost after accidentally
kicking a stone while celebrating.
The Official Rules of Ultimate
are similar to curling’s. If two
Ultimate players disagree on
what happened, they’re supposed
to hash things out. If someone is
obviously cheating on purpose,
the two team captains meet and
make a mutual decision on how
to handle it. Some high-stakes
games use an “observer,” a
neutral third party who can help
arbitrate disputes. Other leagues
have gone so far as to hire refs—
but it’s an unusual step. Clearly
Ultimate Frisbee believes its lack
of on-field judges is a feature,
not a bug.
Contested calls still happen.
That’s when they use something
called a “spirit timeout,” a break
in the game meant to allow
players to work through a dispute,
or just cool off. Would this system
work in any of the world’s biggest
pro sports leagues? Maybe. In a

sport like hockey,
“spirit timeout”
would be a funny
euphemism for
a situation in
which two guys
are punching
each other. (More
about that on the
next page.)
Still, the
biggest problem
in dumping the
umps isn’t that
the players will
fight, but that
the fans will.
People really care
about sports.
And, hey, that’s
fine—it keeps
me in chocolate
milk. But with
the spread
of legalized
gambling,
people are literally staking their
livelihoods on the outcomes of
games. Can you imagine how
they would react the first time a
player failed to call a penalty on
themselves? Or worse: Imagine
how mad fans would be when a
player did admit to breaking a
rule, causing their team to lose
the game. Currently, fan ire gets
evenly spread between officials
and blundering players. Nobody
should have to bear the brunt of
all that anger.
That’s why leagues can’t fire
all their referees tomorrow.
But we can take the first steps
toward eventually making them
obsolete by encouraging fair play
and always honestly admitting
our mistakes. My coworkers
can start by apologizing for the
previous issue! Q
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