Moody column: Usage of all-star crews is not the problem

Much has been made about the reversed ruling in last week’s Dallas-Detroit game. It was the wrong call and I’m glad the NFL came out and admitted it.

Many people are pointing the finger at the NFL’s usage of “all-star crews” for the playoff games, and that wouldn’t have happened with a crew which had worked together all season. Ridiculous notion. The reason why the play turned into such a fiasco is referee Pete Morrelli made the announcement even though two of his teammates had differing opinions.

To me, it was just a lack of good communication on the crew’s part, nothing more.

Maybe less would have been made if all parties talked and then made a decision. How much is Morrelli to blame? After all, he’s running the game.

The NFL rates its officials on every play; every call made during the season. The best guys should get the biggest game. I don’t have an issue with “all-star crews” because it’s the only fair way to do things. If you assigned by crews, it screws the guy who has been doing a good job on a sub-par crew. He’ll never get an opportunity to work a post-season game, and that wouldn’t be right.

I like the way baseball does it. Its postseason umpire selection system is supposed to minimize mistakes.

There’s consideration given to an umpire’s experience level (overall seniority and previous postseasons), his proficiency at handling situations that arise, his health and time missed during the season, and a number of other factors.

Among the 79 umpires who called at least 3,000 pitches during the 2014 regular season, the difference between the most accurate and the least accurate was only 4.4 percentage points. Because full-time umps can call several thousand pitches in a season, though, minor differences in accuracy add up:

The gap between the best and lowest comes out to 193 incorrect calls over the course of a typical umpire’s season, or roughly seven per full game behind the plate. In the end, that tells me anybody MLB puts out there, is going to do a creditable job. It’s all about consistency, and most MLB umps are consistent. Umpires are going to have bad days.

They’re going to miss calls. After all, they’re human, and there are no perfect umpires.

One thing I learned after umpiring college ball for 12 years in the Bay Area that coaches want different things depending on whether they are at bat or playing defense.

Umpiring is the only job I know where you’re supposed to be perfect to start and get better from there. Go figure.

•••

Carson City native Krysta Palmer remained perfect on the season for the University of Nevada swimming and diving team, winning her third diving title in as many tries after placing first in the 1-meter springboard at the Hawai’i Diving Invitational in Honolulu.

Palmer scored a 317.65 at the Duke Kahanamoku Aquatics Center. She bested 11 other competitors — including the runner-up by more than 30 points — to win her second 1-meter title of the season.

Palmer opened the season by winning the 1 and 3-meter dives with career-high scores against Fresno State, earning Mountain West Diver of the Week recognition.

•••

Basketball as it wasnot meant to be played. I’m talking about Friday’s McQueen-Carson girls game. The shooting was hideous and so was the defense. The score was 1-0 in favor of McQueen at the end of the first quarter, and McQueen led 12-3 at the half. Nobody watching the game would attribute it to good defense. It was ugly offense. Period. Carson did grab a 29-23 win, as Maddie Preston thankfully started scoring some points. She finished with 15, and the Senators needed every last one of them.