If you go to any team's fan site after a game, you will see multiple claims that the refs were biased and unfair. If you come to Patsfans.com after most games you will often see the same claims. Maybe not this week, but certainly last week with respect to Gronk. This week it is the Steelers complaining about the reversed "catch" amid accusations that "New York" wants the Pats to win. Of course over here it is generally believed that "New York" wants the Pats to get screwed (making the assumption that the replay crew are in Goodell's pocket).
So let me try to clarify what I think is going on. When we see Gronk getting unfairly refereed (and I think most here agree that is in fact the case), it sticks in our minds - it has high "salience" for us. When Gronk draws an OPI call, we immediately think of all the other unfair OPI's he's been called for. When Gronk fails to draw a DPI call, we immediately think of him being held in the endzone on a certain other infamous occasion. But the opposing fans simply don't see those calls or non-calls in the same way. When he slightly extends his hands they think "push-off!" and when someone holds him they think he's so big and strong he was barely impeded. So the two sides see the same events in completely different lights.
It is important to remember that we do the same. When one of our corners doesn't draw a borderline flag we barely notice it. When Tom draws a ticky-tacky roughing-the-passer call, we are happy and perhaps think of the calls he should have gotten that he didn't. But in both cases, those favorable non-calls or calls don't stick in our heads - we skate over them. After the game we barely recall them or more likely we didn't even notice them much in the first place.
What I am saying is nothing new - indeed there was a famous 1954 study of a Princeton/Dartmouth game that showed the same thing, even after fans rewatched the game:
They Saw A Game: A Case Study
http://www.all-about-psychology.com/support-files/selective-perception-they-saw-a-game.pdf
There is a very famous video on selective attention that likely almost all here have seen. But if you haven't, you won't be disappointed after viewing this quick video:
So bottom line here is that mostly the referees and the replay officials are not in fact biased even though we sometimes feel they are. Officials are human, games are fast and sometimes they will miss stuff.
