Younger generation (most posters) didn't watch games in the 80s or early 90s to see how "interference" was used to create offense.
Right. And it still is today, but it goes both ways.
I think a lot of fans not knowing the rules is also a factor. It's also the lowest hanging fruit with replays and such. It's akin to yelling "shoot" on a power play.
It doesn't make the officiating good, bad or otherwise...and sometimes the people that yell "shoot" aren't wrong either...but it doesn't make it poignant discussion.
I think a mountain gets made out of a mole hill with it...a lot, and by a lot, I mean most of the stuff that is complained about WRT officiating on hockey message boards is not in the realm "correct"...and it covers a lot of ground easily for discussion purposes: It's something to say when you cannot or do not want to comment on the game itself, no doubt it will be popular because everyone complains about officials, so there's no chance anyone will call you out for being wrong (which is a YUGE deal on the internet and in real life), it's a built-in excuse for your team's failure and the other team's success, it has heavy and inherent confirmation bias, as no one notices officials unless they "mess up" in their own mind and once they do once, that's it, they had a "bad" game...no one ever comments on a "good" game, no official has ever had a good game...and in extreme cases, it lends itself to being the worst person to have a discussion with: a conspiracy theorist...
Officiating can always improve. But unfortunately, it's used as a crutch way too often...under the left arm, "fans" use it as a reason to complain and talk in place of actual game talk, to the point that it makes you wonder if they know what's going on on the ice at any time at all sometimes...under the right arm, there's this vague concept that the league's officiating is keeping it from being a more popular sport in America...which makes no sense, as how would the people that don't watch it know any better and how would people know that that the officiating is bad unless they watched every night? And that's beyond the well-staked claim that the NBA is the worst officiated league in America ripe with documented game-fixing...bad enough, that the league issues a three minute apology every night of the playoffs on TNT or whatever...naturally, the NHL is not far behind the NBA (and is ahead in many shared markets), despite it having a big head start in many ways...did people tune out when the "replacement refs" came into the NFL? Seems unlikely. The NFL and MLB have video review systems that appear to not even fix incorrect calls (particularly, the NFL) or even erase correct calls...and let's not even get on the FIFA train, I don't think anyone complains more about anything than that corrupt entity...most popular sport in the world still? By a mile.
It can improve in any sport, just like the players could and the coaches could. Unlike being a professional athlete or athlete in general, officiating in any sport is accessible for most. There are clinics for it in every sport around the country. House leagues, youth leagues, semi-pro leagues, amateur leagues all pay for quality officials...you can work your way up the ladder, and if you're as good at picking out what the best in the world do (and as someone that watches other leagues on a semi-regular basis, these guys are clearly the best in the world) from your couch, then you will be dynamite on the ice or on the diamond or the floor...and if you're not, at least maybe it will give you some better perspective...
