Three or Four Strikes and You're Out

For all the complaints about Pac-10 officiating, today's USC-Stanford game may have contained some of the ugliest calls collectively in recent memory.

Daniel Hackett fouled out on a play on which he didn't touch the other player. Huh?

He was also on the receiving end of a vicious charge and was called for the defensive foul. What?

How about USC being penalized when one of the Lopez twins was blocked by the backboard? Seriously?

I've been a licensed soccer official for about 12 years. In all sports, there are rule changes and gray areas that lend to confusion and inconsistency. But for the most part, the rules are good. Joseph "Sepp" Blatter, President of FIFA (soccer's worldwide governing body), recently said, "FIFA's rules are practically perfect. What is the problem with football today? It's not the rules. It is the refereeing."

As a referee, I'll be the first to admit that I'm human. I can't see everything. I only have one set of eyeballs and they only give me one angle on the play. That's why at higher levels, like you see in Pac-10 basketball, there are several officials involved in each game. Sometimes mistakes will be made, but it's inexcusable to have them on a consistent basis.

In the last two minutes of today's game, Stanford kicked the ball out of bounds. Officials rewarded the ball back to them.

Yup. It is the refereeing.