Official Talk

In his recent article in the Washington Post, John Feinstein suggests that officials should be made available for post-game interviews. His argument centers on the fact that officials don’t have to defend their bad calls and because they are paid professionals, they should have to walk up to microphone. Feinstein is making his point because the official in the Ohio State-Xavier game last week seemingly missed an obvious flagrant foul call on Greg Oden at the end of the game.

While I believe the call was missed too, what good would it do to have the officials talk after the game? If they admit a mistake, will the teams return from the locker rooms and pick up play from that point? I hated when umpires made bad calls during my career and I can’t tell you how many times my coaches told us to not leave a game close enough where a missed call by the umpire could determine the outcome of the game. However, mistakes by officials are part of the game and we just have to live with it.

Would you like to see officials speak to the media after games?

(Photo provided by Getty Images/Andy Lyons)