BLS: ..Referee = A Trigger Word in Chapel Hill

OFFSIDES
BobLee
December06/ 2015

Being reminded recently of the fragile snowflake-like sensitivities of (some) Chapel Hillians…. in fear 24/7 of Trigger Words and the Refereesurgent need for Safe Places…. uttering the words “ACC REFEREE” would surely be a Hate Crime today on Franklin Street.

It is a certainty that more than one TruBlue lunatic has researched the voter registration of each member of the officiating crew.  Whether or not any are “Christians” and/or member of the NRA as well.  Hopefully at least one is black.  It would be helpful if a couple are gay too, of course; or at least “bi”.  I guess a black – homosexual – muslim – Prius-driving Head Linesman is too much to hope for, huh?  Seriously, it might help the recovery process.

Lets cover the basics really fast for any of you who claim you don’t know what happened about 11:45 PM Saturday night in BOA Stadium in Charlotte.

UNC trailed Clemson 45-37 with a 1:00 remaining in the 2015 ACC Championship.  Larry has three TOs to spend.  If The Fedorians can (1) execute an on-side kick…. (2) drive for a TD…. (3) execute a 2pt conversion….. they can (4) send the game into OT…. and (5) who knows what might happen…..

Executing a successful on-side kick was just the first of Five “gotta happens” necessary to change the outcome.

Anyhoo…. The UNC kicker uses the “Big Hop” method of on-side kicking…. the UNC recovery gunners charge Clemson’s “good hands guys”….. big dog-pile ….. UNC guy recovers – Aye Zigga Zoomba – God Loves Choo Choo – Hark The Sound…. uh oh.

….. “There’s a Flag for Off-sides”. OFFSIDES

The ACC Referees (a/k/a Swofford’s Goon Squad) call off-sides on UNC.   Rekick….. The Dabos recover the 2nd attempt.   Victory Formation …… 00:00 ….. Dabos Win …… Aw Shucks….. Oops…. HOLD EVERYTHING…..

Umpteen angles of the first on-side kick using satellite lasers and who knows what all reveal No One Was Off-Sides.    Swofford’s Goons BLEW THE CALL.

Off Sides

This was NOT a goal line dog pile with TA’s knee in there somewhere.
This was NOT a bang-bang “knee touch – ball come loose – too close to call” fumble.
This was NOT a “juggling the ball as he went out-of-bounds”.
This was NOT a – Review – Review – Review Some More and Still Get It Wrong Miami Miracle versus Duke.

This WAS Every Replay Angle Clearly Shows – No UNC player even has a toe, or a tar heel, near the line.

This one was “A Blown Call”…… AND:…. and here’s why “This One” will be cussed / discussed / cussed even more long after TruBlues forget how to spell “Willingham”……

Off-sides calls are Not Reviewable….. PERIOD.

“The Rule Book” is very clear on….. Which calls are/are not reviewable.

Why?   I don’t know how/why certain calls are/are not reviewable; but it is specified “in the rule book.   I do know that if EVERY call was reviewable, the average game would last 4-5 hours minimum rather than the current 3+ agonizing hours.

If the situation had been reversed and Clemson needed the on-side kick to try and tie the game with a minute to go….. Off-sides calls would STILL Not Be Reviewable.

The only exception to this being, of course, if NC State were involved somehow.    “Waive any rule in order to screw NC State” is always an available option whatever the circumstance. ….. THAT, believe it or not, actually is “in the Rule Book”.

Should “they” change the review rule for the last two minutes of “a Big Game” and review everything?  Maybe.

Could “they” do that now….. bring everybody back and let UNC try to score in a minute?  No, that’s silly.  Dabo already ordered all the pizzas.

Remember ‘dem boys?   The ‘dem boys that Mack Brown lied too way back when he vamoosed to Texas.   Well now ‘dem boys who worked so hard all season “got cheated by those darn refs”.   WHAAAAAA….. “It’s Not Fair”.

Yes, the ‘dem boys in C-Blue got denied a chance to try and tie the game because of a “bad call”.   That is unfortunate.   Kirk Herbstreit thought so.   BubbaTheRealAD thought so.   Don Denkinger woulda thought so (google Don Denkinger).   I’m sure Tommy Hunt and Albert and Dick Knox all thought so.   I think so.   Somewhere on ABC Island at least one beady-eyed constipated hard-core ABCer probably thought so….. maybe, just one. ….. Alas.

Millennials wishes aside…. Life Is Not Fair.  Wouldn’t you like to have a nickle for every time “…. not fair” has been uttered since midnight by dejected Carolina Way-ers.  Hark The Sound of “that wasn’t fair”.

It never will be “fair” even long after John Swofford is retired….. or hit by a bus.  Ask families of those 9/11 victims who came to work early on that fateful morning.   There ARE consequences “dire-ier” that losing a Big Game.   Ask those bald kids at St Jude’s Hospital.

If Life Was Fair then azaleas and dogwoods would bloom year-round.

One of the values of youth sports is to teach that in sports, as in Life, some times the outcome “is not fair”.   Hopefully the other values of youth sports are learned better than that one. ….. sigh.

Each of the handful of rational humans that follow sports always want the outcome of the game decided by the athletes….. not by the officials.   We want “it” to be a game of inches….. not a game of “calls”….. correct or “blown”.

Speaking of “bad calls”….. that Clemson LB that was ejected for “targeting Ryan Switzer”….. you do realize that Switzer lowered his head at the last nano-second and that the Clemson LB was clearly aiming for his chest, NOT his helmet.   No way could he have avoided Switzer’s helmet.   Nothing “intentional” about it.   THAT was also “a bad call” that could have affected the outcome of the game.

No one on Franklin Street is complaining about THAT call.

Also…. if Dabo had pulled out an axe and beheaded that poor punter in front of a national TV audience (I think he would have if one had been handy) it would be very difficult to find twelve jurors that didn’t see him do it.Dabo yells

BobLee to Dabo:  Dabo, that was Horses*** how you reacted with your punter.   Yes, it was a bonehead play… and no doubt Clemson lunatics were tweeting death threats to the kid as you were making a fool of yourself; but you make $4,000,000 and oughta know better than to do that. ….. Yes, I realize Nick Saban did sorta the same thing earlier in his game.   BOTH of you oughta know better.

The “blown call” coulda been worse.  Did you see the game-winning TD in the final seconds of the Michigan State v Iowa game?  Was his knee down before he extended his arm with the ball?   THAT CALL was even more “crucial” than the phantom off-sides….. UNLESS you only care about dubious calls involving “your team” which pretty much describes every fan on the planet.

Speaking of beheading someone with an ax….. Wonder what delightful comments Buck Sanders will have for the ACC referees after THIS? ….. If Deems May still blows hard on the post-game show, I’m sure he was a sheer delight. ….. What’s My Buddy Chansky gonna say? ….. Dr Debbie?

Ever notice….. All these goggle-eyed whackjobs who go BONKERS about “the officials” never offer a practical solution.

Full-time officials ??  Nope, forget the $$$$ issue, any official is still limited by what they see / think they see in a split-second.

Know The Rules??  It’s not a matter of “knowing the rules”.   It’s the refs’ “lying eyes” telling him what he did/didn’t see in a split-second.

Fire all of’em and Hire new ones…. from what universe of all seeing / all knowing non-partisan Solomons do you go to for “new ones”.

Just get rid of ….. the Ones Out To Get “your team”.   But…. like in jury selection, you only get a set number of “reject” cards to play.   Maybe NC State fans could buy up extra “reject cards” from less paranoid fan bases.

I still like MY IDEA.   On every reviewed play – and Hellfire, lets indeed make EVERY play reviewable.   4-5 hour games?  Why would I care?

On every call – use the American Idol / DWTS method….. fans get to text / call-in THEIR VOTE on the call.   That would encourage schools to really develop larger more aggressive Lunatic Fringes to “go to the phones” and cast your vote.   I’m calling that The Finebaum Solution as Paul’s Callers would surely be calling in on every play.

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In Conclusion… Despite what you mighta heard “on the Internet” – If The Fedorians had indeed somehow won NO ACC school would have made it into the Final Four.

THAT omission would have cost each ACC member institution a LOT of $$$ from their 1/14th  of 1/4th of the CFP pot o’ gold.  A LOT of $$$$$ indeed.

So, Clemson’s winning last night had significant $$$$ value for every other ACC school. ….. I’m just sayin’

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The Fedorians have had / are having a TERRIFIC SEASON…. “BEST EVER” ….. one call should not define a season, but it will with a certain type of fan.

GREAT NEW QUIRKY News Features …. LINK

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