Refs Gone Wild

This is getting absurd.

Yesterday, we witnessed not one, but two ridiculous displays of officials abusing their authority and unjustly tossing players out of games. First you had umpire Joe West throw out pitcher Mark Buehrle and manager Ozzie Guillen after West called Buehrle for a pair of balks in the first three innings of the White Sox-Indians game. Then there was Kendrick Perkins getting tossed by Eddie Rush for arguing a foul call in last night's Magic-Celtics Game 5.

Both instances were egregious. Buehrle was called for his first balk in the second inning, and Guillen came out of the dugout in his defense. After pleading his case for a minute, West simply tossed him.

"I went out to ask him why he's embarrassing Buehrle and he give me one of this," Guillen said, waving his hand dismissively. "When you're a professional and you have to respect the managers, the way we're supposed to respect the umpires, they are supposed to respect back."

So much for that. Buehrle was called for his second balk an inning later, tossed his glove, and was immediately thrown out by West.

Said Buehrle of West: "I think he's too worried about promoting his CD [West is a country music singer and songwriter with his own website] and I think he likes seeing his name in the papers a little bit too much instead of worrying about the rules."

Guillen concurred with his pitcher's assessment, saying that "sometimes he thinks people pay to watch him umpire."

The Perkins incident, though, may have been even more ridiculous. After being called for a questionable foul guarding Dwight Howard, Perkins looked up at Rush in disbelief before quickly turning around and walking away.

No matter. Rush T'ed him up anyway, and Perkins, having already picked up a T as part of a double-tech earlier, was automatically ejected, dearly costing the Celtics as the Magic pulled away and won the game. And since that was Perk's seventh technical of the playoffs, it was supposed to result in an automatic one-game suspension. Fortunately, the league today rescinded the tech -- basically admitting the ref was at fault. But Rush's antics still had a major influence on Game 5 and could have serious consequences on the rest of the series -- and potentially the Finals -- if Perkins does end up getting his seventh tech and has to sit a game.

Simply put, I'm absolutely disgusted by the behavior of the officials in both of these incidents.

Officials in all sports are supposed to enforce the rules of the game, not become part of the game. But some of them clearly don't recognize this fact, and think that their position gives them the power to act in an arbitrary and whimsical manner. What makes these instances especially egregious is that both involved dubious calls -- Buehrle's "balks" were inconclusive at best, and Perkins' "foul" was also questionable. For this reason, the players had the right to vent a little. And that's exactly what both Buehrle and Perkins did -- vent a little. They didn't go crazy or do anything ridiculous. But the two officials involved were evidently on such a huge power trip that they decided, "Oh, what the hell, I can do whatever I damn well please." Because of this, we've now seen and read all about West and Rush -- for all the wrong reasons. Awesome.

Both the MLB and NBA should strictly discipline their respective officials. Until the leagues demonstrate that there will be legitimate consequences for the rash, impetuous actions of the officials they employ, this clownish type of behavior will continue unchecked.