True Hoosier hysteria

Anybody who's ever followed a sports team has probably given in at least once or twice to the Evil Ref Syndrome. It always seems -- especially in close games -- that those rotten officials are calling us for fouls we never committed and letting the other side get away with murder! Why, somebody must be paying them off or something! Usually, this is all good, clean fun, emotions getting away from us in the heat of vicarious battle. But Fort Wayne Urban League President Jonathan Ray, in a guest column for us last night, takes it an unfortunate step further:

In light of fair competitions, the officials should be as diverse as the students who are playing on the floor. Year after year, children's dreams are deferred by questionable calls that appear to be biased. In the spirit of Hoosier Hysteria and fair competition, Blake Ress (commissioner of the Indiana High School Athletic Association), it's time to require diverse officiating crews.

Officials shouldn't have a rooting interest. There are many examples of why diversity matters. Here is an example of one instance of a dream deferred.

This is not good, clean fun. It's one of those accusations of racism that come from emotional venting rather than calm reflection, and it paints with just as wide a brush as those being criticized are accused of using. What Ray is saying -- let's be clear -- is that there are too many white officials, and they make calls that favor the white players. But if this their "rooting interest," in Ray's term, how do we get rid of it by simply hiring more minority officials? Won't their "rooting interest" be to make calls that favor the minority players? If we get just the right mix of white and minority officials, will there be the perfect mix of bad calls agains minorities and whites so that the officating will then be "fair"? Is that how it works?

Not very well thought through.