Congratulations, Super Bowl LV Champions: the Officials

It's only fitting to extend congratulations to winners of championship battles. The best deserve that. Earning a place in the glorious game all want to participate in but only a few get to experience is quite a feat. A victory is an even greater accomplishment. I, therefore, dedicate this column to the winners of Super Bowl LV: the officials.

Great players always get the spotlight and its accompanying accolades. They shine, and we find ourselves watching them and talking about them throughout and after the game. Their presence is so loud, we simply cannot ignore them. They are usually credited for the game's outcome, which only makes sense because anyone whose hands are involved in the moment to moment action should, of course, receive acknowledgment when all is said and done. In Sunday's big game, those honors go to the referees, who were such an integral part of the game, how can we not pat them on the back?

Now that the sarcasm is out of the way, let's get to my point. Anyone who knows anything about sports -- who's followed a sport, who's played a sport, who's coached a sport -- knows that officials are there to keep things under control, but not to be the stars. They're in the background. In fact, the less we notice them, the better. Decent officials love the game, good officials know the rules of the game and great officials get out of the way of the game. Yes, the best of the best know the unspoken law of every sport: Let the players decide the game. As a former basketball player, coach and enthusiast (as a former soccer, volleyball, and softball player also), I can tell you this: Unless it's something so blatant there's no way you can live with yourself otherwise, as a ref, you swallow your whistle at key moments of the game. Why? Because players should decide the game, not refs. "Officials should be seen and not heard" -- that is, their whistles (or in this case, flags).

That was not the case in Sunday's game. Too much officiating -- and not fairly, at that. Eleven Kansas City penalties to Tampa Bay's four. Key penalties. Penalties that cost -- in first downs, in yardage, in morale and, perhaps more than anything, in momentum.

One thing an athlete can tell you is constant official interference affects the flow of the game and the aggressiveness of the players. You can't get in a rhythm when your opponents are the officials. You also can't play with your usual spunk because every time you turn around, you're being halted by some supposed penalty. Add to that the fact that the other team should be called for penalties that somehow go unnoticed, and you've got to fight frustration also. This all piles up and makes a deficit all the more daunting -- and, in this case, dominating.

As an honest competitor, I must say this: a championship team has to adjust -- has to. You recognize what's going on early on. It was obvious from the start of this Super Bowl what the Chiefs were up against, so they had to adjust. They weren't able to make that adjustment, and they were outplayed. I'm not denying that. Would things have ended differently if the officiating had been different? We'll never know. What we do know is the officials stunk it up. KC had to battle the Bucs, their taunting, their annoying quarterback, his history -- and the officials, who seemed all too eager to help the man chasing No. 7. They also had to contend with injuries and Coach Andy Reid's personal tragedy. Not even Kansas City QB Patrick Mahomes could get them through all of that in a one-night affair. You can turn things around in a basketball championship series, as it's the best of seven, but when the best is aiming for seven, as in this one-game Brady-fied Super Bowl, that's a whole 'nother story.

I'll reiterate, you have to adjust, you have to play better and you have to find a way to win, but in Super Bowl LV, the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs were no match for their true opponents, determined to make a name for themselves and take home the trophy. Those championship honors belong to the officials. Therefore, to them, I say, "Enjoy this moment. You earned it. I hope you're proud."

Adrienne Ross is owner of Adrienne Ross Communications and a former Southeast Missourian editorial board member.