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This call is so bad it feels like a fix.Referees generally catch too much flak when they botch a call, but this one from the New Jersey high school basketball playoffs utterly defies belief. The No. 3 ranked Camden Panthers were on the verge of winning vs. Manasquan when their opponents took the ball down the court and hit a very obvious buzzer beater. Cheering and sadness then reversed, as referees inexplicably waved off the final shot — saying it came after the buzzer. This isn’t even a borderline call. In real time it’s incredibly clear that Manasquan got it...

These referees need to be hit with technical fouls. Three refs at a Colorado youth basketball game threw punches and tackled each other in the middle of a court surrounded by horrified onlookers, shocking video shows. The brawl broke out during the fourth quarter of a fourth-grade boys’ game between Cherry Creek and Legend Blue on Saturday morning at the Gold Crown Field House in Lakewood, according to a clip of the live-streamed game posted online. Two of the refs walk toward each other aggressively as one of them takes a swing before a third runs over and tackles one...

Sunday was one of the worst-officiated days in recent NFL history. While everyone makes mistakes, and officials are no different, there were multiple high-level mistakes made by the league's officiating crews on Sunday. Three calls stood out. In the Browns at Colts game, a brutal "pass interference" penalty on an uncatchable pass helped give Cleveland the win. In the Rams vs. Steelers game, a questionable spotting of the ball helped give Pittsburgh the win. And in the Eagles vs. Dolphins game, a blatant missed facemask penalty was uncalled. How do you miss this?

The New York Giants and the Minnesota Vikings had a back-and-forth game on Sunday, but a horrible roughing the passer penalty almost played a huge role in deciding the game. The play occurred late in the fourth quarter with the Vikings trailing 31-24 and driving. New York defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence applied pressure on Minnesota quarterback Kirk Cousins, forcing an errant pass and sending Cousins to to the ground. It looked like any normal hit on a quarterback, but officials flagged Lawrence for a roughing the passer call, which seemed completely ridiculous in real time and worse when looking at...

The Chris Jones sack of Derek Carr takes the leadAs football fans, thought nothing could top the roughing the passer penalty called on Grady Jarrett during his fourth-quarter sack of Tom Brady during Sunday’s game between the Atlanta Falcons and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. We were wrong. During Monday night’s game between the Las Vegas Raiders and the Kansas City Chiefs, defensive tackle Chris Jones accomplished something that in over three decades of watching football I did not think was possible. Commit a roughing the passer penalty while holding the football: Jones breaks around the edge and tracks Derek...

Watch and enjoy football referee: https://youtu.be/g4kA1dCWwJc

The brawl, which occurred in an Atlanta suburb, doesn't have a known root cause yetJust a week after an ugly brawl in FIBA World Cup qualifiers between the Philippines and Australia, another one broke out at an amateur game in a suburb in Atlanta. This one, however, was between players and referees, rather than players from both sides. Chicago's R.A.W. Athletics were facing the Houston Raptors on Sunday when the brawl occurred. Doug Jones shared a few videos on Twitter of the brawl, and they're certainly ugly.That clip shows the onset of the brawl, with the official being knocked to...

A Covington police officer who arrested two referees during a high school football game in October, igniting a firestorm of controversy, has been suspended without pay for 10 working days and demoted from lieutenant to sergeant, Police Chief Tim Lentz announced. The officer, Stephen Short, must pass a fitness-for-duty evaluation before he can return to work, Lentz said. The disciplinary action is effective Monday (Dec. 30). In accordance with Civil Service rules, Short has 15 days to file an appeal to the Civil Service Board. Lentz and Covington Mayor Mike Cooper said in a joint statement: "When an officer uses...

As reported by WWLTV, the New Orleans Times-Picayune and the Associated Press, among other outlets, two referees who were working the St. Paul's School (Covington, La.) against Mandeville High (Mandeville, La.) football game were arrested on intimidation charges related to threats they allegedly made against a Covington police officer during the course of the game. The officer in question then reported the threat and shortly thereafter, both officials were escorted off the field by a group of three other police officers. The delay occurred in the middle of the third quarter of what eventually became a 20-3 St. Paul's victory....

Gloves and shoelaces won't be the only pink items on the gridiron this week as the NFL continues its recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Referees working Sunday's game between the Miami Dolphins and New York Jets at MetLife Stadium will call penalties by throwing pink flags. The move to ditch yellow and go pink was the brainchild of a fifth-grader, who suggested the idea in a letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

A West Park youth football coach was arrested Monday for allegedly hitting a referee so hard, it knocked the referee to the ground, the Broward Sheriff's Office said. But Monday afternoon, Sheriff Al Lamberti questioned why Dion Robinson, 43, an assistant coach for the West Park Saints, was allowed to coach children in the first place.

-excerpt- According to several reports from many sources, the two sides have agreed to the details of a multi-year collective bargaining agreement that will bring the real officials back from their lockout and on the field for Thursday night's game between the Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns.

The NFL and NFL Referees Association are close to coming to an agreement to end the lockout of the officials, according to multiple reports. ESPN's Adam Schefter tweeted that the two sides will work to get the regular officials on the field by this weekend's set of games.

*Thursday, September 27* Cleveland 0-3 at Baltimore 2-1/8:20 p.m. [Line: Ravens by 13] Prediction: After a number of questionable calls in the first half, two of the replacement officials stagger on to the field with visible facial bruising to begin the third quarter. Ray Lewis denies any knowledge of what happened, but curiously the uniform he started the game with is never found. -RJ's Pick: Baltimore by 9

Ladies and gentlemen, several of the NFL's replacement officiating crews allegedly weren't even good enough for the Lingerie Football League. Yes, you read that correctly. The Lingerie Football League! The LFL and commissioner Mitchell Mortaza released a press release early on Tuesday morning, which was picked up on by Jack Dickey of Deadspin. The statement reads as follows: "Because of the LFL's perception it is that much more critical for us to hire officiating crews that are competent, not only for the credibility of our game but to keep our athletes safer. Due to several on-field incompetent officiating we chose...

A Florida father refereed a backyard brawl between his son and another youth, then pummeled the 16-year-old who fought his child, according to police. Gary Leroy Johnson, 35, was arrested on charges of aggravated battery, child abuse and filing a false report after footage of the vicious beating appeared online. Johnson allegedly organized a fight between his son and another youth behind his Palm Bay home on Aug. 19, according to CFNews13. After his son quit fighting, Johnson -- described as 6-feet 5-inches tall and 220 pounds by WESH -- exchanged words with the other teen. "You want to get...

Prior to wearing the familiar black and white striped jerseys, NHL referees wore cream colored sweaters, as well as neckties, which made for a quite dapper look. The cream sweaters lasted into the early 1950's. 1940's NHL referee's sweater Hockey Hall of Famer and first American referee Bill Chadwick wearing a cream colored referees sweater, complete with necktie Following the cream colored sweaters, in order to differentiate themselves from the home player's white sweaters, NHL referees changed in March of 1953 to a bright orange style with a half zip front, which sadly meant neckties were no longer worn. Hall...

They don't all need glasses. But if you always suspected basketball referees are biased — well, you're right... Refs favor the home team... They're big on "make-up" calls. They make more calls against teams in the lead, and the discrepancy grows if the game is on national TV. The professors studied 365 college games during the 2004-05 season and found that refs had a terrific knack for keeping the foul count even, regardless of which team was more aggressive. Exhibit A: The 2005 Final Four meeting between Illinois and Louisville. The Illini, known for being more aggressive defensively, got whistled...

An academic study of the National Basketball Association, whose playoffs continue tonight, suggests that a racial bias found in other parts of American society has existed on the basketball court as well. A coming paper by a University of Pennsylvania professor and a Cornell University graduate student says that, during the 13 seasons from 1991 through 2004, white referees called fouls at a greater rate against black players than against white players. Justin Wolfers, an assistant professor of business and public policy at the Wharton School, and Joseph Price, a Cornell graduate student in economics, found a corresponding bias in...

Welcome to The Pulse, the place to find out what the sports world is thinking. Every day on ESPN.com, SportsNation registers its opinion on a wide range of topics by casting votes and chatting with experts in The Show. We collect the daily highlights and put them in The Pulse. Story of the Day: Super Bore Bill Leavy wasn't the only unhappy viewer. Upon further review, SportsNation finds insufficient reason to get excited about the Pittsburgh Steelers winning Super Bowl XL in Detroit on Sunday. By beating the Seattle Seahawks 21-10, the Steelers gave Jerome Bettis the perfect parting gift...