Reffing, mistakes and manning up

As a soccer referee, I often have some interesting experiences -- as a coach, too.

If I make a mistake, I try to be aware of it, and admit it and apologize; and I've made some pretty big blunders, and try to learn from them and not make that mistake again. Hey, I'm human, and perception is an individual thing. I may get it right or wrong, and I will make mistakes.

But it's amazing to me how unsympathetic people are, ranting and raving from the sideline as if they know -- and could do -- better. In almost every case, I'm sure they do not and could not. On top of that, most of what they are venting about has no impact on the outcome of the game.

So I felt for NFL official Ed Hochuli, who blew a call in the Broncos/Chargers game last Sunday that had a pretty direct impact on the outcome of the game.

I was not surprised that the refs association came to his defense, and that the league announced he would be graded down. I was surprised, though, that it came out that he not only admitted the mistake and apologized, but that he's responding to hate email -- hundreds of them -- that he's receiving from fans.

Good for him. One step in humanizing officials to people who seem to forget that we're people, too.

I also love one of his comments on the matter: "nothing anyone can say can make me feel worse than I already feel about my mistake" -- perfectly put.

There's no need for you to abuse and beat up most officials -- we're harder on ourselves than you could ever be. Most of the time, your rants just show your bias and ignorance of the rules, and highlight the fact that you have no clue.

He also avoided the excuse that the Chargers had the opportunity to stop the Broncos and preserve their lead and win the game -- which is true.