Welcome to the inaugural issue of The Shake-Up, which every week will take a hard look at one aspect of sports today and make a big change. I’ll cover individuals, teams, sports, media; anything is fair game. Sometime soon I may even try to give the Boston Bruins a shake-up, but that might be a little too big of a mess.

This week in The Shake-Up we’ll tackle an area of sports that seems to have been declining over the past few years: on-field officials. Errors in judgment aren’t confined to this past weekend in the NFL, although there were more than enough occasions to warrant consideration. The phantom interference call on Asante Samuel in Saturday’s Broncos/Patriots game looked like some of the worst officiating I’ve seen since I can’t remember when. Not only was it an unbelievably horrible call, but if anything, it should have been offensive interference, not defensive.

Then Sunday came, when Troy Polamalu’s interception was overturned and I could easily remember the previous worst call I’ve seen. But this one was even worse. I even said right after the interception, “Tony Dungy should challenge this play, because the refs have been bad enough to overturn it.” I thought it was a funny joke until I learned that the joke was on me, and the Steelers.

Today, the NFL even admits that the ref made a mistake. Luckily, it didn’t end up affecting the outcome of the game, but it very well could have. The NFL had better thank their lucky stars that Indianapolis didn’t come back and win the game, and then have to explain to the world that Pittsburgh got the short end of the stick.

This wasn’t close to the beginning. We’ll all remember last October when A.J. Pierzynski struck out in the playoffs only to reach first base when the ump basically retracted his own call. There are plenty of other times when officials have made huge mistakes: Chuck Knoblauch’s phantom tag, Brett Hull’s skate in the crease, the Thanksgiving Day coin flip fiasco, and Jeffrey Maier’s catch come to mind immediately. And it seems to be happening more and more.

It’s time to get things right before they continue to go horribly wrong. Will Peter Morelli, who overturned the Polamalu interception, face any punishment for making the wrong call? Fat chance. The bad call will affect his grade with the NFL, but this punishment hardly fits the crime. No fine, no suspension, and maybe only a few scary phone calls from Steelers fans. There has to be some way to hold these officials accountable.

We can start with this:

Overseeing Body: While unions will be impossible to eliminate, the government should create an overseeing body to cover all officials in all professional sports. They will establish standards, initiate punishment, and most importantly, offer credibility to an aspect of sports that has taken a huge hit in recent years.

Inclusion: The Polamalu interception was overturned by one man’s judgment. Would it be too much to include at least the official who made the call on the field? How about include two others so that there can be a consensus on the call? Since the NFL seems to want to keep instant replay around, why not remove the burden of judgment from a single man?

Baseball Reviews: I’m neither a traditionalist nor a revisionist when it comes to baseball. I appreciate the need for evolution but also respect the traditions of the game. But it’s probably about time that a limited number of reviews enter into the game. How about adding reviews for foul/fair balls (especially homeruns)?

Make NFL Officials Full Time: NFL officials have other jobs during the off-season. So instead of concentrating on NFL rules, reviewing their calls during the season, and trying to get better at their job, they’re off selling stocks, doing your taxes or flipping cheeseburgers. Give them more money and make them year-round employees. Heck, they’re already making a decent paycheck, but a small investment in making the officials better will pay huge dividends in league credibility.

It is that ‘C’ word that’s at stake in sports today when the officials can’t get the calls right. It’s sad, because I certainly have to believe that all these blown calls were made by men who believed they were right, but it just seems that the only way they can be so wrong is if they’re trying to be. Of course there isn’t, but the fact that suspicions can be raised means it’s time for the shake-up to happen.