“Referees are only human, I think.” – Phil Kearns

I spent two thirds of my life involved in athletics, as a player, a coach and an athletic director. In athletics, I can say without hesitation, not one bad call by an official cost me a chance to win a game. I ‘ve always believed that if we had played better, if I had coached better, the call should not have made a difference in the way the game turned out.

Now those of you who were my players or my fans can attest that there were times when I got “lit up” over bad calls and made sure the referee or umpire knew about it. I have been ejected from games and banished to the dugout during a twelve-inning state championship game.

I have been on the receiving end of both bad calls and good calls and I assure you, I never went out to an umpire and said, “You know, that last called strike was a ball. It was clearly out of the zone. It was the wrong call. I think you ought to change it.” After all I am much better at calling balls and strikes from the dugout than the guy behind the plate.

I consider myself a man of honor, so why not do just that? Mainly because people would think I was insane but referees are a part of the game, and bad calls are also a part of the game. They happen and for every close call, half the people in the stands think the referee was right and half think he was wrong.

Which finally brings me to my point about Folarin Balogun’s being shown the red card during his last World Cup match and being suspended only to have it overturned after President Donald Trump made a call to the FIFA, futbol’s and the World Cup’s ruling body.

To be clear, I believe the call on Balogun was wrong and the referee and replay got it wrong. I also believe FIFA got it wrong too when they changed their ruling after President Trump made his phone call. Rules that aren’t enforced are no better than having no rules at all. FIFA went against its own bylaws to overturn the ruling.

I don’t necessarily blame President Trump for making his call, he was defending the US team, but I do blame FIFA for reversing it. Their reversal reeks of politics (and FIFA is political) and should the US win, a dark cloud will descend not only on that victory but any other victories the US might earn.

Am I glad Balogun is playing? Yes. Will I pull for the US despite the FIFA reversal, yes. Is that hypocritical, maybe. I choose to believe that two things can be true at the same time. I can be happy for Balogun and unhappy at FIFA.

Do I believe that President Trump put pressure on the head of FIFA, reminding him that his administration handled charges of FIFA’s graft and corruption with kid gloves (He did)? Yes, I do.

Side note: President Trump made his phone call in at least partial defense of a young man who is only on the US team by virtue of birthright citizenship, the same birthright citizenship President Trump would like to end. Oh, what tangled webs we weave.