Keller @ Large: Experience Matters

BOSTON (CBS) - If you're a sports fan, you're probably still buzzing about Monday night's Patriots game and the atrocious display of incompetence turned in by the officials, who blew numerous key calls that hurt both teams. And it turns out that members of the officiating crew either didn't know the rules or were so inexperienced they were going by college instead of professional rules.

Professional, that's the key word here.

Amazingly, given the scrutiny and the amount of money involved, the NFL mostly uses part-time officials who have other jobs during the week. So much for all that rhetoric from league executives about their commitment to the integrity of the game.

And that's not the only industry where part-timers and amateurs are handling jobs that really ought to be filled by full-time professionals.

Look at journalism, where you are increasingly likely in some quarters to be getting your news from someone without basic reporting skills or an experienced editor scrutinizing their work.

And how about politics, where rank amateurs are all the rage in the Republican primary, despite the disappointing performances of two under-experienced presidents in a row.

There's no way to say this without sounding to some like an old coot shouting at the neighborhood kids to get off his lawn, so I'm just going to go for it – experience matters.

It can be the antidote to panic, confusion, and destructive knee-jerk reactions of all kinds.

Youth will be served, and new blood is generally a good thing in any profession.

But anyone who thinks greener and cheaper are better than older and wiser should realize – you get what you pay for.

Listen to Jon's commentary: