Officiating and the Crowd

[tarheelcoach]

There was an interesting discussion this morning on ESPN regarding the crowd's effect on official's calls. The discussion was brought about by the close 3-2 pitch in the Red Sox game that was called a ball and forced in the tying run (the pitch looked borderline to me - could have gone either way). But the discussion was about whether a loud home crowd has an effect on the officials. The former player seemed to think that officials were influenced by the crowd, the professional announcer felt otherwise.

Personally, as a former coach now official, I highly doubt that officials in any sport are significantly influenced by the crowd. Would an umpire really decide to change a call just to please fans? I can't imagine. What I would say is that an official can get caught up in the emotion of a play. For instance, a home team defender makes a diving stop, the crowd roars, and there is a bang bang play at first. The home team may get that call, simply because the umpire is caught up in the emotions of the moment.

So a home team may get a call every once in a while at home because of the crowd, but the great majority of the time, the officials base a call on what they see. I can't see a high level official allowing the emotions of the crowd influence his calls on a regular basis.