A few days from now, tens of thousands of fans were supposed to convene in Atlanta for one of the most popular sporting events in the United States/World. The Final Four. Unfortunately, they are not. This year, we are all hunkered down in our homes, waiting for the monster that has taken over our daily lives to pass. This truly is the year the Whistles went silent.
In January, we at Officially Human released our first OpEd, which included the following paragraph as the close:
“The time is now for all of us to realize that officials are human and their existence and hard work at sporting events allows all of us to enjoy the games that we love. We must start to humanize officials now, before the whistles fall silent.”
Never did we imagine that this would become reality. Not in this manner, anyway.
On March 10, the first collegiate conference basketball tournament was cancelled. From there, the snowball started rolling down the hill, and it has not yet stopped. March Madness was cancelled and replaced with a new madness! Each day, we scroll through the guide on our televisions to see if this nightmare of no new competitions is over, and it is not. The competition delays and cancellations continue, leaving us all to wonder, when will we return to normal?
As much as we are all disappointed with the cancellation of so many competitions, not to mention work and social gatherings, we have all probably learned something. For the thousands of players, coaches, fans and officials who had a season cut short, hopefully they have all enjoyed more family time, and maybe we have all realized that there is more to life than just sports. At the same time, we all miss it, and it’s amazing how much a part of our daily routine, and culture, sports is.
As far away as it seems, we will all get back to our normal routines, albeit a bit altered for a while. We will eventually get there. Games will pick back up, fans screaming at the whistles will return. At Officially Human, the hope is that as we return to the sidelines and stands, we return with a new perspective and positive attitude toward all mankind, with a special place for game officials. Sportsmanship. Every Day. Everywhere.
Please remember this time when the whistles went silent and we would have done anything to hear them again.
Brenda Hilton founded Officially Human: Behind the Stripes in January 2019 with the mission of humanizing sport officials and restoring respect to officials on the fields and the courts where they work.
