Influencing refs

[Matt]

Originally Posted by Pantherdreams

Ie. You pass on a borderline call in a game where no one seems to care or notice you move on. While if you pass on a borderline call in a game and now kids/coaches fired up and game starts getting chippier; you make sure you get what you need to from now on to clean the game up. You aren't changing calls or making calls because they react but you understand that managing their reactions and emotions may require you to make more tighter calls or even unsportsmanlike calls to manage the game.

That would be changing calls.

As a stats analyst, I don't see an issue with the analysis in the OP.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by Matt

That would be changing calls.

As a stats analyst, I don't see an issue with the analysis in the OP.

I'm not changing calls based on crowd reaction, however I might alter my filter a bit if the players are getting chippy and we need to reign it in. I've done that in crowded gyms, and I've done it with empty gyms. I've done it with vocal coaches, and with quiet coaches.

There may be a statistical correlation with chippy games and vocal crowds/coaches, but I can assure you coach input shouldn't change the way I'm calling. The higher you get, the more scrutiny there is with game film, so I'd venture to guess those calls are even less likely to be altered.

[Adam]

And I just read the article. I'm not going to pretend to speak for NFL refs on this, since my football experience is very limited in context.

Statistically, I'd be looking for other correlating variables and need to see the raw numbers. I really don't have time to look into it, though.

And yes, there's perhaps a bit of bias coming from officials who read this, because we know better. We know better because we know as well as anyone the pressure to please a sideline or crowd, so we actively fight it until it no longer affects us. As we get to higher levels, the only crowd who matters is the crowd of officials evaluating the games we do.