I broke my own rule last night. I “got emotional” at the end of Wisconsin v Arizona despite having no dog in that fight whatsoever. This pathological over-saturation with “instant replay” reviews may be a worse plague on sports than “board monkeys”. OK, nothing is THAT bad.
The Wiscy / Zona game was as fine a competitive basketball game as I can recall. That at several points there were eight white kids on the court out of ten was irrelevant but OMG…. we haven’t seen THAT since the game BEFORE Rupp’s Runts played Texas Western in 1966. Really, it looked like a noon pick-up game at Raleigh’s Downtown Y. I kept looking for Smedes York, Danny Lotz and Lou Pucillo. …..
Where were The Three Raging Revs – Jesse, Al and BullyBilly to storm the court in spittle-spewing outrage and protest?
It was a terrific game with the lead going back & forth like a ping pong match. Great athletic moves by both teams. Wiscy had this goofy 7-foot kid that looked like he was stoned but Yee Haaa that youngster could fill up the basket from “downtown” and “in the paint”.
Incredible game especially the last several minutes of regulation and the first 4:57.5 of overtime….. then, with two seconds + to go in overtime with Wiscy up by a single point….. Everything Stopped. There was a bang-bang play on an out-of-bound ball. Who touched it last? If Wiscy’s ball, the game’s over – Badgers Win. If Zona’s ball, they have the ball at their end with all sorts of conceivable possibilities to pull out a W.
I am NOT opposed to the refs “getting it right”. I appreciate all that was at stake. But what transpired was a TRAVESTY of too much technology and paranoia taking over sports.
If the delay was “just five minutes” it seemed like an hour. The refs did their “put on headsets and lean on the scorer’s table peering at a monitor” thingy, while the TV crew showed 38 views of the play….. exactly what the refs were seeing. It was impossible to discern UNLESS one was wearing overtly partisan goggles, of course.
A Great Game completely taken away from the players at literally the final two seconds while the refs stared at a monitor like two pervs peeking in Kate Upton’s bedroom. They FINALLY ruled it was Zona’s ball…. Zona missed the desperation shot and Wiscy won…. but I was OUTRAGED. Even Blondie was beside herself. And neither of us was partisan.
The network cut to the studio and Barkley, Kenny & Company were also beside themselves at how such a great game got hijacked by the interminable “instant replay” delay. This wasn’t the first time this has happened in this tournament.
I don’t have the answer…. maybe 60-second max limit to stare at a monitor….. but what happened last night was RIDICULOUS. Make the freakin’ call and know that the fans of the team that you rule against will scream FIX regardless. Like TruBlue loonies did on “the lost two seconds”. Put the game back in the players’ hands and not a techno-geek out in a TV-truck. Jeeezzzzz !
Is Wuffs had been involved, we could assume what the refs were waiting on was confirmation from Swofford of the $$$ transfers to their Cayman accounts. 🙂
Oh…. I know K-haters do go on about his facial expressions in the heat of battle. Did you catch Archie Miller’s older brother Sean on the sidelines? His expressions were “Chucky”….. as gnarly and demonically angry as any K can muster up. A rough night for Millers. Both Sean and Archie lost. BUT they were THERE and no other brother combo was….. so there!
Oh…. and there was street rioting in Tucson after the game….. of course. There was a dubious charging call right before the out-of-bounds play. It WAS “dubious” I admit, but such is sports. Close calls…. narrow defeats….. street rioting. The natural order of things in American Sports 2014.
Fans never forget the ones that go ‘agin’em but quickly forget the ones in their favor. That way they can always whine….. “we NEVER get the close call”. Of the 200+ schools playing Div 1 basketball ONLY ONE school actually NEVER gets the close call. I won’t name that one, but I’m sure some of you will.
Speaking of Never and Always….. a Triangle-area player is transferring – Wuffs’ Tyler The Hobbit…. one of those incredibly fine young men with marvelous personalities who, we all thought, were indeed “NC State kind of young men”…. whatever the hell THAT means. Apparently not.
So of course….. “whenever a kid transfers from School A…..” the board monkey gang at School A immediately trash the traitor with “he’s a loser”…… “good riddance” …… “couldn’t play defense”….. “a daddy’s (mama’s) boy”….. or any of two dozen slurs to fit the occasion.
Meanwhile over at Rival School B; their low-life board monkeys screech “this PROVES their Coach _____ is a low-down dirty bird and probably a child molestor” …… “what a trainwreck of a program they’re running (at School A)”…… “all their coeds are ugly and their mascot is a weenie” …… or any of two dozen slurs to fit the occasion.
If you missed this intellectual debate about Tyler The Hobbit (or other recent Wuff defectors) transferring; simply google Wear Twins or Larry Drew II and just flip the comments. Ain’t an iota of difference in the respective monkey mindsets….. not one iota.
