Scapegoat. Many pictures come to my mind when I think of a scapegoat. I remember my 10th grade English teacher explaining to her glazed-eyed pupils that Darl was the scapegoat in Faulkner’s thrilling book about dragging their dead Ma across Mississippi in As I Lay Dying. I also remember my 12th grade history teacher explaining why Jews were the scapegoats for WWII. However, the most prominent use of the word scapegoat in my life is in the world of sports pertaining to the officials. Whether they are referees, umpires or line judges, sporting officials make the very best scapegoats.
While playing a sport, emotions are high and the adrenaline is flowing. When something goes wrong, it’s so easy to just snap and yell at the official. In some sports, that’s what makes it entertaining—such as professional football or hockey. Officials make the perfect scapegoat.
But how does that affect the official? During professional games, it’s usually expected, but what about during small games such as intramurals? A Berry College intramural flag football game between students and faculty may not have the crowd, sponsors or atmosphere of an Alabama-Georgia game, but that doesn’t mean it’s not competitive and emotions aren’t running high. Intramurals can be just as nasty as any other sporting event, which might take a toll on the intramural officials—people who are our peers and friends. This causes tension and feelings can get hurt. Being an intramural official is not an easy task, as some might assume.
On the other side of the coin, while playing in an intramural sport, participants assume they will get a fair game with trained officials—or at least people who know the rules. However, this is not always the case. I propose a few changes with the intramural system that might decrease tensions between the participants and the officials.
First, those officiating the games should not be able to then play against teams they officiate. This is very much a conflict of interests. Officials are students too, so they should have a right to participate in intramurals. It should be ok to officiate (and get money) and play (and have fun). I’m just proposing that we limit the games they officiate. If they are on an intramural team, they shouldn’t be allowed to ref against teams they are competing with.
Conflict in intramurals can also form by having different rules for the different officials. In my experience, there have been different rules depending on who was calling our game. Some say your feet have to be this way when blocking while others say your feet have to be another way. How is it fair to be penalized for doing what one ref said but which another differs? Frustration with officials would hopefully decrease if rules were more consistent.
For some, intramurals are a big deal at Berry College. That coveted Champion T-Shirt is not something to be taken lightly. This can cause tempers to flare especially when aimed at the intramural officials. With a few minor changes such as restricting which games students officiate and making the intramural rules consistent, we might be able to decrease the amount of yelling and using the official as a scapegoat.
There are always two sides to every coin. Every person has their own perspective, their own view, their own opinion. Usually, it is necessary to see both perspectives, especially before one starts complaining. Thus, as students, I hope we can be nicer to our intramural officials; and intramural officials, I hope we can be nicer to our students. In the words of Intramural Dodgeball Champion Captain, Cameron Kapperman, “We’re all Berry students. BC all day!”