College football official to fans: Lighten up
September 20th, 2006A college football official says fans are taking the games way too seriously and need to control themselves.
“I wish the fans would back off a little bit,” said Tommy Hunt, the ACC coordinator of officials. “It is called a football game. It’s not life and death.”
Hunt’s remarks came amid the controversy surrounding Saturday’s Oklahoma-Oregon game, in which officials blew a couple of calls.
Gordon Riese, who lives in Portland, Ore., was the replay official for the Oregon-Oklahoma game. He works for the Pacific-10 Conference and did not overturn a call on a disputed onside kick after replays appeared to show host team Oregon illegally recovered.
Riese and the on-field officials were suspended for a game by the Pac-10. Riese also told the Associated Press he has received harassing phone calls from fans and at least one death threat.
Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops, meanwhile, continues to gripe.
I agree, it is just a game.
Unless you are a player who hopes to make it in the NFL someday, and a win/loss record impacts your efforts to make it to a championship game.
Or unless you are a head coach, and your job is tied to how many games you win and lose.
Tulsa University head coach Steve Kraigthorpe put it best when he said that what makes the OU/Oregon debacle such a bad thing is that coaches get fired when they lose too much.
As a graduate of the University of Oklahoma, I believe that this was not just the unfortunate outcome of a game. Oregon overcame a 13 point deficit in 1:09 seconds, and the only reason they did is the officials made two crucial errors that directly impacted the outcome of the game. Oklahoma did all they needed to do to win, and the officials took it away from them.
Just a game? Maybe, but when the people being paid to see that the rules are followed take a victory out of the hands of one team and puts it into the hands of another, it becomes more than a game. It affects careers, goals, championships.
It screws up sports for all of us.
But harassing phone calls and death threats? Come on.
Your point is well taken.
There is no place for that, however, there needs to be a more appropriate punishment for these guys than a one game suspension.
Its a stupid question, I know, but do you remember the world series between St Louis and KC? Alright, of course you do.
That umpire had to move out of St. Louis when a radio station revealed on the air his home address. Sad.
I read in yesterday’s paper that the replay official feels terrible about what happened, and that he realizes that he made the wrong call. I certainly do not wish ill upon him or his family, but I’m glad he feels bad about what happened.
Dean Blevins, sports director for the OKC CBS affiliate, commented Sunday that the best case scenario is they made a mistake. Worst case scenario, they were on the take. I’d like to know how else one can explain how so many officials working the case could make that many blunders in such a short time, unless there were other factors at play. Either way, a one game suspension is tantamount to a slap on the wrist.
Fan…….fan-atic……….FANATIC.
Sports are amusement, entertainment. Even here in this forum, there have been examples of sports being taken more seriously than necessary. There are those, as detailed in the USA TODAY article, who truly have no perspective.
Any more questions?
“Oklahoma did all they needed to do to win, and the officials took it away from them.”
You might have more of a point if the blown calls happened on scoring plays, but they didn’t. Oklahoma’s defense still had opportunities to stop Oregon, and they failed.
A lot of people seem to have the attitude that the posession of a ticket to a game is a license act as rudely as they please, and anyone who has a problem with that can just shove it. As with the rest of our culture, basic respect for other people is pretty much absent.
Peter,
Ordinarily, what you say is true. OU did have the chance to stop them, but only a minute and ten seconds. Hardly enough time to recover from the shock of getting hosed on a bad call. If they’d had five minutes or so, things may have been different.
The blown calls did not happen on scoring plays, you are right. However, had the call been made correctly, it would have been OU’s ball, with no time outs left for Oregon, and the Sooners would have run out the clock. Argue all you want, but the refs decided the outcome of this game, putting Oklahoma on an uphill that could not be overcome.
Having said that, I do not condone the behavior of fans who threaten the official. It is wrong, pure and simple. He was given bad information, and acted on it. Not his fault. But to say that this is just one more bad call in a season that will be filled with bad calls is just ignoring the gravity of the situation. Even Oregon’s coach said that in his entire career, he has never seen anything like this. This is the worst blown call since Colorado v. Missouri, and since St. Louis v. Kansas City in the World Series.
Sad thing is, nobody wins in this. Oregon is taking no joy in this victory because they know they didn’t deserve to win. The refs don’t win, and OU’s players, coaches, and fans lose too.
BTW, did you know that the crew chief of Saturday’s game was a high school bud of Oregon’s head coach? Just a little food for thought.
Jason - my point is that the call certainly influenced the outcome of the game, but it didn’t determine the outcome. Not even close. I put it in the same category as the Bartman foul ball (apologies to Zoner) in the 2003 NLCS - everyone holds it up as what cost the Cubs a trip to the World Series, when in fact they had numerous opportunities before and after that single play to win the game. Did it play a role? Sure. Was it the reason they lost? No way.
In any sport, the official’s job is to not be noticed. If they are noticed, that means they are not doing a good job. That game was absolutley shocking at how terrible the official’s judgements were. Among the worst I’ve seen.
Now, I’m not condoning death threats, that’s just idiotic - but come on, I see no reason why someone shouldn’t take these games seriously. I’m a fan of the Braves, the Falcons, Georgia Tech, and Richmond Hill High School football. When an official makes a terrible call, I’m going to be upset about it. When my team loses, I’m going to be upset about it. When my team wins, I’m going to go insane with happiness and run in the streets and shoot off fireworks. (Fireworks are reserved for very special wins.)
Comparing a college football game with a championship series in baseball is a little bit like comparing unleaded gasoline to picture frames.
If a call is blown in the NCLS, especially early on, the team on the losing end of the bad call has actual future games to make up for it. OU will not be meeting Oregon tonight for a rematch, as they would if it were a championship series. College football has gotten to the point where one loss can and does eliminate a team from consideration in the national championship (which is why it needs a playoff system, but that is another post).
I guess I missed your point. I thought your point was it was stupid and silly for fans to call and threaten the ref for making a bad call. I agree with that. However, if your point is that the ref’s blunder did not determine the outcome of Saturday’s game, I do not agree. You could not be more wrong. The refs DID determine the outcome of the game, in this case. Did you watch the game? Or did you see the replays?
Scott, do you think it is appropriate to use language or demeanor when speaking to or about officials that would normally be considered rude or unkind?
When did I say that? No, it’s not right. Unfortunantly though, it happens. And I’ll be honest, occasionally I’ll find myself as the one doing the yelling and what not at the umpires/officials - especially in my playing days.
But, what I am saying is that I also think they deserve a harsher punishment than a one game suspension. Also, that official had no right in my opinion to say that fans shouldn’t take the game so seriously. My reasons? (a) He was trying to make it seem like his buddies did nothing wrong. (b) Alright Mr. Ref, we won’t take it so seriously - but oh no, if we don’t you won’t be getting a paycheck anymore! Oh well…
Speaking of terrible calls in NLCS’s, do you remember Game 5 of the 1997 NLCS? Eric Gregg will forever be remembered for his terrible calls in that one game. “They buried me on that game,” Gregg said. That game ruined the Braves in the NLCS.
I do remember that, Scott. I’m not a Braves fan, but that was pretty bad.
My mind goes back to that little snot who stuck his glove out and robbed the Orioles of a win in the ALDS a few years back.
The O’s haven’t been back to the post season since, and its all that kids fault. And the ump who blew the call ;>)
Oh ya, how could I forget Kent Hrbek lifting Ron Gant off of first base in Game 2 of the 1991 World Series? After he was called out, the Twins won 3-2. The series went to the seventh game, where the Braves lost 1-0. If Gant would have been safe, and scored, who knows what would have happened?
No need to apologize Peter. And you’re absolutely right–I like how you compare influencing and determining. Like the Red Sox in ‘86, the Cubs had an entire game after the incident to win. But it’s the Cubs.
There is a thing called momentum…
I rarely, rarely blame the outcome of a game on the officials, but in this case I have to say they had a big part in it. What made it so bad was that it was even reviewed and still the wrong call was made and it wasn’t even that close. There is absolutely no excuse for that! I don’t like either team, but that was terrible.
That being said the reaction by the fans is unexcusable as well. I do agree the penalty should be harsher. Either there was a fix on or a very critical mistake was made that was very preventable. I know that mistakes are going to be made every game, but this one was sooooooo obvious.