Tuesday, December 09, 2014

Pandora's Box

This can't be good.

Officials in an Oklahoma high school football playoff game incorrectly administered a penalty, thereby negating a winning TD and causing that team to lose the game.

The situation has gone to court, and now a district court judge will be ruling on the case.

You can read all about it here.

Was the penalty administered incorrectly?  Definitely.

Did that change the outcome of the game?  Definitely.

But sometimes bad stuff happens that doesn't go your way and you need to deal with it.  Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes you get screwed.  Some days you're the hammer, some days you're the nail.

The point is, if this case is upheld it will give every person and every team a legal reason to cry, "Foul!" and, "That's not fair!" and run to a lawyer and the courts every time there is a real or perceived bad call that kept them from getting what they felt they deserved.

Don't get me wrong -- I'm not defending the crew here.  They made a terrible mistake.  There really is no excuse for a game official, let alone five of them, to not know the penalty enforcement on a relatively easy situation -- we aren't talking any of the really screwy stuff that can sometimes happen when that oblong, pointy ball starts bouncing around the field.  And I've read on a couple of forums that the crew has been disciplined by the powers that be and that there will be at least one, maybe two, officials who has/have chosen to retire from officiating, never to work another game again.

That is a terrible way to end a career and those five men will have to live with that mistake the rest of their lives.  And no court decision will ever allow them to get over it.

Sometimes life just sucks.  If the Oklahoma court upholds this appeal and decides to replay the game, or award the victory to the aggrieved team, I can guarantee you life will suck even more.

Especially for the men and women in stripes.

4 comments:

Lady Anne | 12:10 PM, December 11, 2014  

I read that the judge had declined to make a ruling in this matter. One remark made was something to the effect that "ruling on football games could become a fulltime job, especially in some areas." I can only imagine what it would be in the Deep South!

Reverend Ref + | 2:22 PM, December 11, 2014  

I hadn't heard that. If that's the ruling and the case is closed, then that's a very good thing.

Lady Anne | 1:58 PM, December 12, 2014  

Here is the link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/12/sports/court-wont-intervene-in-oklahoma-high-school-football-playoffs.html?_r=0

Hope this helps.

Reverend Ref + | 2:09 PM, December 12, 2014  

Thanks for the link.

Good to know the judge declined to hear this case. Maybe now I can quite having dreams about officiating in the CBL.

First time comments will be moderated.