officials Page 1 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Officials to wear pink in World Cup match at Miami Gardens
Officials at Monday evening's Group H World Cup clash in Miami Gardens between Uruguay and Saudi Arabia will be wearing pink shirts in what FIFA says is a tribute to South Florida's largest city.,Unofficially, it also could be a nod to the most well-known MLS club side outfitted by Adidas, the same ...

NBA Finals officials include first-timer Curtis Blair
The league announced the 12 officials assigned to the 2026 NBA finals on Tuesday, with Curtis Blair making his first appearance and Scott Foster his 19th.,Game 1 between the New York Knicks and host San Antonio Spurs is on Wednesday night at 8:30 p.m. ET.,"Being selected to work the NBA Finals is th...

Celtics' Jaylen Brown fined $50K for comments on officials
The NBA fined Celtics star Jaylen Brown $50,000 on Tuesday for his public criticism of the officiating after Boston was eliminated from the playoffs by the Philadelphia 76ers over the weekend.,Brown made his comments on a livestream on Sunday following the Celtics' 109-100 loss to the visiting Phila...

Mavs coach Jason Kidd fined $35K for ripping refs
The NBA fined Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd $35,000 on Monday for public criticism of the officials and using profane language during a media interview.,Kidd's remarks came after the Mavericks' 111-107 road loss to the Houston Rockets on Saturday.,Kidd was upset at the referees for not call...

Shawn Smith to referee Super Bowl LX
Shawn Smith will head up the officiating crew for Super Bowl LX, the NFL announced Tuesday.,Smith will serve as the referee of the Super Bowl for the first time in his career. He joined the NFL's officiating ranks as an umpire in 2015 before being promoted to a referee in 2018.,Umpire Roy Ellison wi...

Rams WR Puka Nacua rips refs in since-deleted tweet
Los Angeles Rams star wide receiver Puka Nacua is creating headlines both on and off the field this week.,On the field, Nacua had 12 catches for 225 yards and two touchdowns in the Rams' 38-37 overtime loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday night.,That performance came one day after he performed a...

John Harbaugh: NFL admits officiating error in Ravens' loss to Steelers
Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh thought game officials got two out of three crucial calls correct in Sunday's 27-22 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Unfortunately for the Ravens, the NFL felt differently in all three cases.,Two calls late in the game were reversed after initially being called i...

SEC: Refs missed 'unfair tactic' on Oklahoma TD in win over Auburn
The Southeastern Conference criticized one of its officiating crews for missing a "hideout tactic" used on a touchdown pass by No. 11 Oklahoma in its 24-17 victory over No. 22 Auburn on Saturday afternoon in Norman, Okla.,The Sooners should have been assessed a 15-yard penalty for team unsportsmanli...

Big 12 punishes officiating crew for rules violation
The Big 12 Conference reprimanded an officiating crew Tuesday for a gaffe in Missouri's weekend win over Kansas.,The rules violation occurred following a first-quarter touchdown by Missouri, when the Tigers were penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct. After Kansas blocked the extra-point try followin...

Will Muschamp Went Ballistic On "Gutless" Officials After Crucial Missed Penalty
South Carolina dropped a tough one against Florida yesterday, giving up three touchdowns to the Gators in the fourth quarter to lose 38-27. Their bid for a second straight top-ten upset unraveled in frustrating fashion, as officials seemed to miss clear penalties on two of the biggest plays of the g...

Patrick Mahomes's First Pick Of The Season Happened After A Bizarre, Sketchy Officiating Decision
With the Kansas City Chiefs leading the Texans by a touchdown in the second quarter of Sunday’s game, quarterback Patrick Mahomes drove his team to the edge of the red zone, only to throw it to Houston safety Tashaun Gipson in the end zone. However, officials flagged cornerback Lonnie Johnson Jr. fo...

Heroic Cycling World Champion Wins After Fixing His Own Dislocated Shoulder, Only For Officials To DQ Him Over Bullshit Rule Violation
The cycling world championships have been replete with heartbreak, and today provided the coup de grâce....

Pac-12 Admits Officials Missed Critical Penalty On Last Play In Arizona State's Upset Of Michigan State
Things got weird at the end of Arizona State’s ugly 10-7 victory over No. 18 Michigan State in East Lansing last Saturday. The Spartans were in ASU territory and with 11 seconds left in the fourth quarter, MSU kicker Matt Coghlin appeared to connect from 42 yards and redeem two earlier misses by sen...

What Happened To All The Interesting Refs?
One of the nerdier things a basketball fan can do at 9 a.m. Eastern Weirdo Time is to go to the NBA website and glom onto the identities of the officials who will work whatever game interests you True, NBA ref nerddom is an exceedingly small subset of Nerdvania, but let a thousand sets of hipster gl...

The Blues Got Screwed By Yet Another Officiating Disaster
Images the NHL wants to linger after an hard-fought overtime game: the jubilation of the goalscorer; his teammates erupting on the bench and spilling over to celebrate on the ice; the disappointment and hard-earned exhaustion of the losers, skating off in disbelief....

The Avalanche Were Sunk By A Bad Rule, Badly Applied
Pretend you don’t know anything about hockey. Take a look at this frozen moment of action. Where is the puck? Where is the play happening, and where is it not? Who is involved in the action, and who still has the potential to affect it? Who is violating the rules? More importantly, who is violating ...

If This Is Rockets-Warriors, Let's Just Get It Over With As Soon As Possible
In case you ever decide to hate sports without the crutch of a rooting interest, financial, familial, or simply laundry-based, here’s your ticket. The pre–NBA Finals NBA Finals are already a drunken bar argument, and they’re only going to get worse. The Houston Rockets ... the Golden State Warriors ...

A Fortunate Bounce Helped Virginia Beat Auburn For A Spot In The NCAA Tournament Final
The officials at last night’s Auburn-Virginia Final Four game missed a pretty big call and caused a controversial ending to a game that deserved a lot better, as college refs are wont to do. With less than a second remaining, Auburn’s Samir Doughty committed a worst-case-scenario error and fouled Ky...

Cardiff City's Neil Warnock Had An Intense Staredown With Match Officials After They Cost His Team Vital Points
Cardiff City manager Neil Warnock was understandably furious after his relegation-threatened squad lost 2-1 to Chelsea on Saturday when Ruben Loftus-Cheek scored a heartbreaking late goal in the 91st minute. Once the referee signaled that the match was over with a whistle, Warnock left the technical...

The NFL Isn't Quite Sure How To Fix Pass Interference
The NFL acknowledges that pass interference is kind of a mess. Not only is it perhaps the most subjective of judgment calls officials are asked to make, but the very nature of it—often with more than five or 10 or even 15 yards in the balance—means it has the potential to swing games more than any o...