Warming Heats Up

By: Mr. Wilson on October 12, 2005

Creighton men's soccer coach Bob Warming doesn't like referees. He yells at them, he insults them, and he disagrees with pretty much everything they do. And now he wants the world to know: referees are screwing him over (BugMeNot). I don't mind that coaches tend not to agree with referees. They aren't supposed to agree, at least not when calls go against their team. They want to protect their team. I don't have a problem with that. I do have a problem when coaches sink to the levels that Bob Warming sinks to. On the soccer field referees have let him get away with far too much over the years. He goes leaps and bounds beyond the line separating simple disagreement from abuse. And now he has taken his cause to the pages of the Omaha World-Herald. Writer Steven Pivovar has given Warming free reign to say pretty much whatever he wants to say, and Pivovar takes his words at face value.

Particularly bothersome to Warming are the past two matches - the tie with UMKC and the loss to Illinois-Chicago. Creighton dominated play in both matches, outshooting UMKC 27-9 and Illinois-Chicago 26-6. In both games, the Bluejays had a goal disallowed by an offsides [sic] call. A check of the tape, Warming said, indicates otherwise. "We've looked at the tapes and we have unrefutable proof," Warming said. "Usually you have a call like that a year, when you look at the tape and say, 'Wow, that was close, that was a tough one to call.' That's not the case here." (Emphasis added)

Pivovar never bothers to check up on Warming's "unrefutable proof." That's sloppy journalism. In fact, it's not even journalism. Apparently it goes without saying that the referees that do Creighton's games are idiots. How difficult would it have been for Pivovar to solicit soccer experts to review the tape? Or even to review the tape himself? How about including frame captures from the video along with the article, so that the reader could judge for himself? Or even posting video clips on the OWH website? Warming's suggestion -- that all Division I referees be given copies of the game tape to review following the game -- is a good one. I supported that even before I read this article. His motives are almost certainly not pure, but the outcome -- improved opportunities for self-review by game officials -- is a good one. Few referees would disagree. The problem with guys like Warming is that they assume referees have some sort of internal motivation to screw up. Nothing could be further from the truth. Sports officiating is a game of its own. Every good sports official wants to "win" the game-within-the-game every time out on the field. A college referee would be devastated to learn that he had erred to a large enough degree to have altered the outcome of the game. And at the Division I level he would be penalized, since each game is followed by a referee assessment. I haven't seen any of the game tapes Warming is questioning, although I have tried to find a copy of them. It's too bad Mr. Pivovar couldn't be bothered to do the same. Heaven forbid he practice journalism.

Lincolnite

Warming Heats Up

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