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Jim:
The belief that officiating does not win or lose games is based on a simple premise:
Even if a bad call allows the winning run or score in the final inning or seconds of a game, the teams had ample opportunities to win or lose throughout the game.
Dropped balls could have been caught, good pitches could have been swung at, missed tags could have been made, balks didn't have to happen and coaches could have utilized better strategy.
Teams have literally hundreds of opportunities to win or lose a game. One bad call by an official does not offset that fact.
That said, the obviously unethical umpire in the Hawaiian game went out of his way to have an impact on the game. While there's no accounting for that kind of behavior, even then he had to work hard and make numerous obvious bad calls to counter the will of the players.
Short of such intentional immoral behavior, officials do not decide contests.
And, to your question as to why officials are hired: primarily for knowlege of the rules and game mangagement and to gurantee equal treatment, good or bad, to both contestants.
[Edited by GarthB on Dec 7th, 2003 at 02:42 AM]
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GB
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