Fans: "Refs you suck!! Refs you suck!!"

[chi777]

I have watched a lot of hockey so far these playoffs and I have heard this chant nearly every single game. Almost every game. I rarely every hear this watching any other sport. Not to say the refs are perfect in other sports, but it seems the NHL is consistently bad in this regard.

Officiating in this league is a travesty. Fans know it. We all know it. Fans are getting very vocal about it.

We are all aware of the very situational nature of calling games. Games are called differently based on time of year, whether that be beginning of the season or after the all-star break or playoffs. Then there's also changes from period to period; the first period is called differently from the 3rd which can be called differently in overtime.

It's maddening.

Is there any other league in the world that embraces being so casual towards their own rules. In the NFL or the World Cup, the games have pretty consistent calls throughout the whole season or tournament. The refs don't "put their whistles away" to "let the players decide the game". If you can't be bothered to follow and enforce the rules, why have them.

Take a look at what bad officiating has done to just this years playoffs. It let game 2 of the Bruins/Leafs turn into a farce. Then tonight, it let the Sharks back into a game that they clearly didn't deserve to win.

This bad officiating can have bad consequences for players and franchises. Does Kadri blow his top if refs call a straight game and keep that game 2 from turning into a sideshow? How much revenue is it going to cost LV by not playing another round? Are there fans in Vegas that now see the NHL as a joke after having to endure this disgrace?

As a Sabres fan, we've been humiliated by bad officiating one numerous occasions. Too many to count, really. So has most fan bases but I sincerely believe it doesn't have to be this way. We should demand better. We spend enough money and time on this league that we deserve better.

How do we fix this?

Click to read more...

 

[Pizza!Pizza!]

Start throwing zebra shirts and stuffed zebras on the ice during stoppages in play.

 

[Papa Francouz]

“S#ck”

 

[WingsMJN2965]

Or maybe fans just suck and we have an increasingly whiny society.

 

[Alexei Yashvalev]

No matter what the Refs did no one made Kadri turn into a complete moron except Kadri himself.

 

[Scott Stevens]

Or maybe fans just suck and we have an increasingly whiny society.

This is spot on
The age of entitlement

 

[tny760]

Is there any other league in the world that embraces being so casual towards their own rules.

the NBA

 

[Hokinaittii]

There is hardly anything wrong with NHL referees, at least if you compare them to the ones we have in Europe in IIHF tournaments.



The official explanation for this mistake was that the goal judge had fallen asleep. Let that sink in.

Also, officials in hockey shouldn't really be compared to other sports officials since hockey is so much faster paced than football, soccer, basketball etc. I'd assume it's a lot easiler to miss something as referee in hockey.

 

[Finlandia WOAT]

In the NFL or the World Cup, the games have pretty consistent calls throughout the whole season or tournament

Or maybe fans just suck and we have an increasingly whiny society.

It's a vicarious us vs them, an emotionally charged environment with total investment and zero control. It'd make any sane person anxious, and that anxiety isn't going to project itself.

Plus it's fun when you're at an arena to get all angry at the refs.

 

[angusyoung]

Not cool.

 

[KingsFan7824]

I don't know what you would do instead, but maybe don't take a player off the ice due to a penalty? They don't take players off the playing surface in the NBA, NFL, or MLB. Complaining about refs is hardly a new thing though. It happens in every sport. Maybe crowds don't chant as much, but everyone complains about refs. Certainly NFL fans do. NBA fans have been talking about star treatment for...well forever I guess. Umps in baseball, the inconsistency with balls and strikes, yeah, endless complaining.

Once AI really gets going, just put an eye in the sky, and it can make calls, and review in real time. Until then, you're going to have to live with refs.

 

[Asinine]

Know that every time they chant that, they would be cheering if the call was made on the opposing team.

 

[Mikeshane]

In 2018, MLB umpires, made 34,294 incorrect ball and strike calls for an average of 14 per game or 1.6 per inning.

 

[PurpleMouse]

NBA fans chant it as well.

 

[Tage2Tuch]

How would you like to go to your job, work hard, travel, keep in shape, keep up with the speed of the Fastest, most skilled league in the world and make judgments on the spot where everyone else has the benefit of no judgment and replay,.... then on top of that have hundreds of thousands or millions of people judge you watching in tv on social media and every other platform, as well as twenty thousand chanting you suck right in front of your bosses.

Refs are human and it’s a thankless job. Let’s see if you could do better is what i always say.

Ps the chants are ridiculous. It’s immature, redundant and does the home crowd really think the refs are going to be kinder to the home team after those chants? It’s completely idiotic.

I have watched a lot of hockey so far these playoffs and I have heard this chant nearly every single game. Almost every game. I rarely every hear this watching any other sport. Not to say the refs are perfect in other sports, but it seems the NHL is consistently bad in this regard.

Officiating in this league is a travesty. Fans know it. We all know it. Fans are getting very vocal about it.

We are all aware of the very situational nature of calling games. Games are called differently based on time of year, whether that be beginning of the season or after the all-star break or playoffs. Then there's also changes from period to period; the first period is called differently from the 3rd which can be called differently in overtime.

It's maddening.

Is there any other league in the world that embraces being so casual towards their own rules. In the NFL or the World Cup, the games have pretty consistent calls throughout the whole season or tournament. The refs don't "put their whistles away" to "let the players decide the game". If you can't be bothered to follow and enforce the rules, why have them.

Take a look at what bad officiating has done to just this years playoffs. It let game 2 of the Bruins/Leafs turn into a farce. Then tonight, it let the Sharks back into a game that they clearly didn't deserve to win.

This bad officiating can have bad consequences for players and franchises. Does Kadri blow his top if refs call a straight game and keep that game 2 from turning into a sideshow? How much revenue is it going to cost LV by not playing another round? Are there fans in Vegas that now see the NHL as a joke after having to endure this disgrace?

As a Sabres fan, we've been humiliated by bad officiating one numerous occasions. Too many to count, really. So has most fan bases but I sincerely believe it doesn't have to be this way. We should demand better. We spend enough money and time on this league that we deserve better.

How do we fix this?

Oh god.

I know I may embarrass sabres fans with my Eichel promoting but please don’t say us sabres fans have it hard from the refs like it’s some kind of con, or some kind of grudge against the sabres and we always take the worst of it. We’ve been a bad team for a decade, you have to be good to be lucky and lucky to be good. It works the exact same way with being bad to be unlucky.

You just said it yourself that you’ve heard the chant about the refs in every arena. Every teams fan bases go nuts.

Go to the boards of every team especially a Canadian team that loses and watch the chaos.

Listen to the biased announcers usually colour guys who throw every call in question.

Every team gets screwed. It’s part of the game, ask Vegas how there season ended tonight? Sabres have it no different then any other team.

We use the reffing thing as a reason to feel better about ourselves like it could be us that’s part of the problem, it’s a misguided victim complex and people need to see it how it is.

I’m not saying you’re crying or anything about it I’m just making sure you realize Ll thirty other teams get hosed as much as we do.

 

[Tyrolean]

Fans seem to know more than the refs. Hire a fan to be a ref lol.

 

[unknownbrother]

The average fan at the arena is a moron. 95% of the time it's not the refs fault your team lost.

 

[boredmale]

 

[CJV123]

We are all aware of the very situational nature of calling games. Games are called differently based on time of year, whether that be beginning of the season or after the all-star break or playoffs. Then there's also changes from period to period; the first period is called differently from the 3rd which can be called differently in overtime.

You left off favoring the home team. Refereeing is biased and aligned with the monetary incentives for ticket buyers to be happy. Until this fundamental corruption is overcome, sport will suffer.

 

[Braunbaer]

Fans also bash against the glass with both hands all game long.
What does that tell you?

 

[Anomie2029]

Blaming referees for losses has been happening increasingly in all sports for years. In Australia, the hashtag #RefsFault was started by supporters in the NRL because of how much of a joke it had become.

Referees make bad calls, but they extremely rarely cost teams games. For example, in game 2 of the sharks-knights series, there was a bad goalie interference call and penalty that went against the Sharks. After the game, all I read from fans was how that call cost the team the game. Not the fact the sharks went 1/8 on the PP that night.

Now with the game 7 major penalty, Vegas fans are saying the referees cost them the series. NOT the fact their PK allowed 4 goals in that 5 minutes, or that they had a 3-1 series lead that they couldn’t take advantage of (including allowing a short handed goal in 2OT in game 6).

It’s a broader culture beyond hockey that irritates me. I was always raised to accept that referees screw up, but it’s how you respond that will effect the outcome. To this day that’s something I look at with teams I follow and play on.

 

[Burke the Legend]

Blaming referees for losses has been happening increasingly in all sports for years. In Australia, the hashtag #RefsFault was started by supporters in the NRL because of how much of a joke it had become.

Referees make bad calls, but they extremely rarely cost teams games. For example, in game 2 of the sharks-knights series, there was a bad goalie interference call and penalty that went against the Sharks. After the game, all I read from fans was how that call cost the team the game. Not the fact the sharks went 1/8 on the PP that night.

Now with the game 7 major penalty, Vegas fans are saying the referees cost them the series. NOT the fact their PK allowed 4 goals in that 5 minutes, or that they had a 3-1 series lead that they couldn’t take advantage of (including allowing a short handed goal in 2OT in game 6).

It’s a broader culture beyond hockey that irritates me. I was always raised to accept that referees screw up, but it’s how you respond that will effect the outcome. To this day that’s something I look at with teams I follow and play on.

Even extends to the players. Notice how whenever they get a penalty they ALWAYS chirp the ref on their way to the box even when it's a totally obvious call? Can't you just shut up and skate off? Very rare to see that. NHL tolerates this mouthing off way too much and it feeds into the fan whining, then the coaches get to summon the ref over and rant at him. In MLB players/coaches get tossed quickly for that, something for the NHL to consider.

 

[southernbeardown54]

I will say I hate the way the refs pick and choose what they want to call.

Back in 2013 the Blackhawks versus wings game 7. Saad tripped zetterberg NO CALL. Then a wing defensemen tackled saad and punched him in he face NO CALL. Then saad reaches up and pushes the defensemen and the ref calls matching penalties...

The ref waited until he could even up the calls in his mind he watched the entire sequence play out it was ridiculous....

At least it’s not an entire joke like the NBA though.

 

[MartyOwns]

move the zebras to the stands. more off ice officials, and they can sound a horn to signal a penalty. just leave linesmen for offsides, icings, faceoffs, and breaking up skirmishes. also, the linesmen can use lassos to break players up when needed

 

[slybel]

Been like this for ever... I remember in the 70s, my dad used to get extremely upset at them... I picked it up from him I guess.

As a HABS fan... that Alain Coté goal was good btw...