I used to referee High School basketball games years ago when my boys were in High School. I wasn’t a trained professional, just a parent trying to help out and volunteering to help the team save some money. Refereeing games, especially important games in tournaments was a terrible experience and I didn’t do it for very many years. I tried as hard as I could to see everything and to make good calls, but it was an impossible task, so I just did the best that I could. I had a conversation after a game with a particularly critical and verbal parent, I said to him, “If I make a bad call, do you think that I purposely decided to make a bad call to help the other team or to make you mad at me? or could it be that I am trying as hard as I can to call a perfect game, but because I am not perfect in my vision or judgment I make mistakes?” “And a second question, does your yelling and cussing at me help me to do a better job or does it get me so uptight and nervous about making a bad call that I do worse?” And then I added, “ If you don’t know the answers to those two questions, I do, and I will tell you if you cared to know.”

I thought the Super Bowl was an amazing game with great performances from both quarterbacks, and I enjoyed it very much, but it got ruined a little bit with all the criticism over the holding call at the end of the game. It was on all the Sports news and social media as if the outcome of the game was illegitimate. There was a non-call of holding on the same defender that was clearly holding and cost the Chiefs a first down early in the game, but it didn’t get much attention. There is no perfectly called game because there are no perfect referees. That is life and it is part of football. It seems that the fussing about outcomes and blaming others for those outcomes has become a national disease.

I was very impressed with the defender who got called for the holding penalty, James Bradberry, who when asked about the play admitted that he did hold and the call was right. The Eagles coach, Nick Sirianni when asked about it said, “that call is not what cost us the game, there were so many other calls in the game, the Chiefs just played better than we did.” It is nice to see character on display like that, it is too bad we don’t see more of it in our political leaders.

Something I am very sure of is that I want to represent Jesus Christ well as a believer, follower, and an ambassador for Him. Very few things cause a Christian to be a poor representative for Jesus as much as grumbling, complaining, and being critical and judgmental does. Being critical of referees is part of the game and part of the fun and group experience of of a bunch of guys watching a game together, but I try to leave that behind when the TV gets turned off, and sometimes I succeed.