Tim Floyd Is Mad As Hell And He's Not Gonna Take It Anymore

This past Thursday in Tempe, UCLA's attempt at a comeback victory was wiped away when a potential go ahead basket by Darren Collinson in the last minute was ruled a charge, despite the fact that ASU's Jeff Pendergraph clearly stuck out his hip. Video evidence below (ignore the chicken wing by Collinson that the refs also missed):




Tonight it was USC's turn to experience the Sun Devils' home court mojo when Daniel Hackett drove into the lane in an attempt to cut the lead to three, only to find himself being undercut by a sliding defender. One official was prepared to call the block but was overruled by David Hall, the overzealous head official, at the baseline. Rather then confer amongst themselves to make sure the call was correct, the refs went the alternative method of "most demonstrative call wins" and stayed with the charge call. Tim Floyd then responded in typical Floyd fashion, by subtly expressing his displeasure with the call:



It should be noted that while both games were in Tempe, it was a different officiating crew for each game. You've got to hand it to Pac 10 refs- at least they're consistent in their calls. Unfortunately for basketball fans, they're consistently awful.

"Greatest Super Bowl Ever" Hyperbole Overshadowed By Overblown Officiating Controversy

If the early blog reports are any sort of indicator, then it appears that the biggest storyline of a very entertaining Super Bowl will once again be the lackluster officiating of the game. While MJD makes a very compelling plea for fans to rise above dwelling on any controversial calls, I'm sure he does so while realizing that diehard Cardinals fans (you know, the ones who just learned their head coach's name four weeks ago) and Steelers haters will find it difficult to let go of a few of the plays from that game. Cardinals fans would like you to think that had the final Cardinals' play been reviewed, and had it been ruled an incomplete pass (unlikely), then given one more shot, Warner would have chucked the ball into the endzone; and Larry Fitzgerald would have leapt up amongst five defenders and been the one to come down with the ball for a game winning score. Actually, that last part isn't so tough to believe afterall.

But The Hater Nation does bring up a good point. It does seem like historically, the Steelers do disproportionately benefit from the referees' decision making. (Perhaps that's what makes them the "model franchise in all of sports.") There certainly are some similiarities in the camera work between the Immaculate Reception and Santonio Holmes' game winning touchdown catch. It's amazing that with all of the cameras at that game, there wasn't a definitive shot of his right toe hitting the ground. Fortunately for NBC, much like in the Olympics when they couldn't get conclusive video of Michael Phelps winning the 100m butterfly, there are still photographs which verify that the correct call was made.

However my favorite diatribe about the officiating comes from Chris Chase of Yahoo Sports. What got my attention wasn't actually the enumeration of the controversial calls (and yes, the roughing the passer penalty was ridiculous, but not any moreso than 90% of all the other roughing calls made during the NFL season). No, what I found fascinating is that Chase took a screen grab from Warner's final play and then plastered a watermark onto it. Like this:

"Ooh...my DVR has a pause button. I better make sure nobody steals this image without giving me credit!" I know people want to protect their content, but is there really anything even remotely special about a screen grab from a play that was already seen by 300 billion (unofficial, logistically impossible estimate) people worldwide?

I'm not even sure what the picture is trying to prove. Since it's a frozen image, the viewer has no idea if Warner's arm is being cocked back or moving forward. I do think the shot of Santonio Holmes in the background is cool tho.

But Chase gave me an idea. Like everyone else on the planet, I was watching the Super Bowl too. And I happened to have a camera with me and took a few pictures during the game. Perhaps I could post some screen shots from the game with my website's name on them and see if anyone wants to use them on their blog to establish any points; and in the process, give me some free publicity (click for larger image).

For example, Sidebar: Why is Ben Roethlisberger wearing eye black for a night game?

Point: The Steelers are cheaters! Look at how the left tackle here is obviously lined up off of the line of scrimmage:



Observation: Look at the strange look in Ben Roethlisberger's eyes. Could it be that he was using nonverbal hypnosis to mesmerize the officials and compel them to call over 100 yards in penalties against the Cardinals?



Counterpoint: The officials weren't only throwing the flags against the Cardinals. Here's proof of a Holding call that went against the Steelers:



Lost Storyline: History tends to highlight the winners and bury the losers. There were quite a few great performances made by Cardinals players that will be forgotten in short time. For example, Darnell Dockett was in Ben Roethlisberger's face all night long.




As you can see, when you view game photos in isolation, you can make them say whatever you want. It's all a matter of perspective. For example, some of you may have been in such denial over the Cardinals' loss that you didn't even notice a football game being played in these photos at all. For those people, it's alright. The healing will come in time.


Special thanks to Madison Scott for being such a good sport. Be sure to check her out in all kinds of illicit content that I can't even consider linking to from here.

For A Good Time Dial 976-Fix-IsIn

According to court documents obtained by Fox News, former NBA referee Tim Donaghy had a phone pal in the league. It seems that while he was fixing games, Donaghy had a propensity to give fellow NBA official Scott Foster a call just before or after a game in which Donaghy had placed a wager. The court records show a total of 134 such calls.

The records of course don't indicate the content of these calls, but honestly, what else could it be? What reason would a guy possibly have to call anybody over a hundred times in a year? I don't think I've called any individual 100 times total in my entire life. If you were to survey 100 men and ask them who they might call 100 times over the course of a year, 99 of them would say his bookie and one whipped guy would say his wife. That's it. Those are the only options.

So if Donaghy wants to explain the calls, he only has two alternatives- he and Foster were either co-conspirators, or they were young lovers. Donaghy can say that he called Foster either to tell him that the point total was 198 and he needed the over, or to let him know that everytime he blew his whistle, he'd be thinking of Foster's cock. Since Donaghy already faces 33 months in prison, he might want to go with the former option.

Ask Not For Whom the Whistle Blows

After watching the fallout from the UCLA/Cal game on ESPN and a few other blogs, I can essentially give my response by copying and pasting my post from the Stanford game and changing the names. Yes, it looked like Westbrook fouled Anderson with his offhand (although the strip appeared to be all ball from my baseline seat). The Shipp shot was also borderline legal- tho really it seems like a misguided rule that needs to be looked at during the offseason. While some folks are upset that a call wasn't made, they should keep in mind that the director of Pac-10 officiating had just come down on the ref from the Stanford game for making a deciding call in the waning seconds. So it shouldn't be very surprising that the next set of officials would swallow their whistle in the critical moments of the very next game.

Once again, the point needs to be made that this wasn't the only bad call made during the contest. There were many missed calls in both directions during the game. Honestly, there's no reason to expect that Dave Libbey would ever be the leading member of a competent officiating crew?

As it is now, Cal fans should actually be happy about the way the game ended. Had Cal won the game, it might have saved Ben Braun's job and set the Cal program back a few more years. This way, Berkeley fans can say that really beat UCLA but the refs "gave" the game to UCLA and they can still get rid of Braun this summer. It's a win-win.

Given ESPN's myopic presentation of the last two UCLA games, it's reasonable to expect that there will be some backlash from college basketball fans come tournament time. But before making such a decision, please remember that if you do root for UCLA to be eliminated, you're also asking to say goodbye to the UCLA dance team. Keep that in mind if the Bruins end up meeting a Big 10 team in the 2nd round.

Why Is Everyone Acting Surprised That Pac-10 Officials Are Terrible?

In the aftermath of UCLA's 77-67 overtime victory over Stanford to clinch the Pac-10 championship, most of the focus from the game has been on the questionable foul called on Lawrence Hill which gave Darren Collison two free throw attempts to tie the game. While it was probably a foul by the strictest interpretation of the rules (Hill was jumping forward rather than straight up when body contact was made), most sports fans would agree that the contact was incidental to the block and probably shouldn't have been whistled; and UCLA should have just been given the ball out of bounds with 2.5 seconds left and a chance to tie or win. If Stanford fans (or UCLA detractors) want to be upset about that particular foul, that's understandable. But to suggest that the officials somehow "gave" UCLA the victory -as talking heads such as Fran Fraschilla are doing - is both foolish and misinformed. The truth of the matter is that the Pac-10 officials are easily the worst amongst the major conferences and make so many bad calls in each game that it's impossible to single out any one call as being the difference maker. The best fans can hope for is that all of the bad calls will eventually even out in the long run. Perhaps in this case, they did.

For those that only saw the highlights, the reason UCLA was trailing by two points at the end of the game was because of a Lawrence Hill basket after breaking UCLA's full court press. Here's how Stanford's own paper, The Stanford Daily, describes that play:

"With the game tied at 61 and seven seconds left in regulation, Stanford (24-5, 13-4 Pac-10) junior forward Lawrence Hill drove right into the paint and banked in a running right-handed hook off the backboard. He looked to have either travelled or charged, but there was no whistle on the play."

These were but two of many questionable judgments by the refs during the game. Brook Lopez' pivot foot looked like it was on a roller skate all game long, but only a few early travels were called. Kevin Love drew a key phantom foul on Robin Lopez during an out of control spin move. Rebounders for both teams were allowed to go over the back, but aggressively blocking out with the backside was a foul. There really is no rhyme or reason to what a Pac-10 ref will do at any moment.

Also, for those that believe in karma, it should be noted that a little over two weeks ago, Stanford was "given" two go-ahead foul shots near the end of regulation at Arizona when Chase Budinger was whistled for a foul on what looked to be a very clean block on Robin Lopez's shot attempt. Had that call not been made, Arizona would have likely held onto the victory and last night's Stanford-UCLA game wouldn't have been for the Pac-10 title anyway.

Finally on a related note, I have to give Stanford credit for the class they demonstrated both during and after the game. (Honestly, I wish they'd cut it out. It's making it really hard for me to root against them.) Both Lopez twins were seen repeatedly helping opposing players up and making sure they were ok after fouls or loose ball scrambles. Despite the bad calls that went both ways, nobody other than Stanford coach Trent Johnson was very demonstrative in their disagreement (on the last play of regulation, Johnson could be heard echoing the sentiments of Pac-10 fans for years, "Oh my God! Unbelievable!). After the game, Lawrence Hill refused to criticize the officiating ("No, if I fouled him, I fouled him," he said), even while in the opposing locker room, Darren Collison was admitting that it was all ball: "That was a complete block," Collison said. "We were fortunate to get a call on that."

Over the past month, the Pac-10 may have lost their status as the best conference in the country, but nobody is ever going to dare wrest the claim of worst officiating away from them. Such will be the legacy of Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen. Well that, and getting rich while refusing to give football fans a playoff system. Geez, no wonder there's an east coast bias in sports.

At Least We Got a Peak at Ashley's Judds

Hope you all had a nice weekend. If you actually went on vacation and were away from a tv, you didn't miss much in the sports world. If you want proof of just how slow it was, head over to the AOL FanHouse and you'll find that they were only able to come up with 50-100 filler articles over the three days, which is seemingly a tenth of their normal productivity. Seriously, not one article about a B list athlete's mundane holiday activities? (suggested story: "Jeff Garcia Likes Bratwurst On His Grill"). C'mon guys, step it up! (I kid, I kid.)

A few other reflections from the past couple days:

Manu Ginobili has turned flopping into an artform, much in the same way that a guy spreading his feces on a canvas has turned that into an artform. It was however poetic justice that Derek Fisher was the player victimized by Ginobili's antics since Fisher was the original small man to incorporate flopping as a legitimate defensive strategy.

While the Euros get most of the heat for all of the rampant flopping, I also put some of the blame on the NBA refs. There was a time in basketball where you would always hear an announcer say that the block vs charge foul was the most difficult call for a ref to make. Somewhere along the way, officials just decided "Screw it, it's too tough. Let's just call them all charges." While this Western Conference Final might not be very good immediate entertainment, hopefully it will be good for the long term health of the league, as these teams are forcing the NBA to find ways in the offseason to curb all of the flopping.

While you'd never know it by looking at his face, which looks like Droopy Dog in the episode where his mom had to be put down, Jeff Van Gundy has to be loving his gig as a commentator for ABC. He finally gets to criticize the officials all he wants, and rather than being fined 100 grand, he's collecting a check from ABC. Eat that, David Stern.

If the NBA wants to improve its ratings during what remains in the playoffs, might I suggest that the quasi-burlesque Pussycat Dolls actually remove some clothing during the commercial cutaways? Don't get me wrong, I like the "leaning over, pushing the boobs up beyond the neckline of the jersey tank" move they go with now. It's a timeless classic. But maybe to mix things up a bit, they could start out in warmups, then strip down to jerseys before halftime, and then either a tube top or an NBA Authentic bikini top for the 4th quarter . And if the game goes into overtime? Then, I guess they just hold two basketballs in front of their chest.

Switching over to baseball, since the 2003 season, MLB and ESPN have made the Red Sox-Yankees rivarly the preeminent storyline in the league. Now that the Yankees are quickly becoming irrelevant this season, does that mean that MLB is becoming irrelevant as well, or only ESPN's coverage of the league? More likely, ESPN will drag out the Yankees coverage for at least a few more weeks until Clemens gets a few starts, but after that, they'll need to shift gears and act like they've been following guys like Travis Hafner, Adrian Gonzalez, and JJ Hardy all season long. (In case you only get your MLB coverage from ESPN, those players are on the Indians, Padres, and Brewers respectively.)

Finally, while I missed the live coverage of the Indy 500, I did catch some of the photos from the event; and Ashley Judd can stand braless in the rain all she wants. It's hard for me to believe that she's already pushing 40. Some might say that she's getting too old to play the role of rabid fan. But if she doesn't have to grow up, then neither do I. And if she doesn't mind me enlarging these pics (click for larger version) to steal a glance at her nipples, then I don't mind that either, dammit!

Wilbon Calls It Like He Sees It

As frustrating and irritating as ESPN has become in recent years, there are still a few ESPN personalities who I do like. Dan Patrick and Eric Allen come to mind, as does Michael Wilbon.

Today, a judge granted an injunction on the two game suspension of the #1 high school player, OJ Mayo, which had been the result of two technical fouls he received in a recent game. Here is what Michael Wilbon had to say about the entire incident, as well as some new camera angles taken by fans:
(sorry about the static in the audio at the beginning; it clears up after 8 seconds or so...)



Those are some harsh words for the future USC guard. Having seen the new footage, OJ is a little more culpable than I originally thought. But I still think the ref took a dive.