Respect The Call! - Sports media owes Pac-10 referees an apology

In the wake of the Jake Locker unsportsmanlike celebration penalty for throwing the ball high in the air near the end of the BYU and Washington game, we see the media elites disparaging the referees despite they the fact that they made the ABSOLUTELY CORRECT call. ESPN College Scoreboard analysts Lou Holtz and Mark May hammered the call. Even Michael Wilbon, whom I agree with on about 99 percent of serious issues (relative to sports) has said the call was "stupid" and "wrong."

But for years the NCAA has taken a hard stance against showboating and has written the rules to eradicate even hints of unsportsmanlike behavior. All of the analysts know that and have failed to at least premise their opinions with that concession. The second that ball went way in the air, the referees had no choice but to make the call.

Espn.com is at it again. They credit their wire services for the article that said a player "can" be called for throwing the ball in the air. This is a patented editorial trick (that ESPN and other non sports pundits use) when they want to tell a story in a certain way without discrediting a reporter.

Try again espn.com. The rulebook "prohibits" a player from throwing the ball in the air in celebration after a touchdown.

The official who made the "controversial" call, Pac-10 referee Larry Farina said, "It is a celebration rule that we are required to call....It was not a judgment call."

The call was rightfully and unapologetically supported by David Parry, the national coordinator for college football officiating. On the call, Parry said, "I think what he meant is this was so obviously against the rule and flagrant you have no option but to throw a flag," Parry said.

Of course the sports media has spun that stating that this is a case of the referees looking out for their own. They of course know that is not true, but sports media producers are more than willing to look the other way for the sake of an extra juicy story line.

Shots Heard is not afraid to call out officiating collusion where it exists. This was evident in the case of not one umpire willing to go on the record against Doug Eddings after he botched a call that possibly cost the Anaheim Angels Game 2 of the 2005 American League Championship Series.

But in this case, the referees called the game EXACTLY as it is required and has been consistently enforced by the NCAA. Anybody that has claimed otherwise owes the referees an apology and anything less would be UNACCEPTABLE. The pundits have a right to disagree with the rule, but anybody who has scapegoated the referees is officially getting REPRIMANDED by Shots Heard.

So why the deception? Certainly there are some pro Pac-10 pundits and BYU haters. Remember that BYU is a Mormon institution and their is much underlying religious spite against them on that front. But that connection is very hard to track and even harder to pinpoint. So leaving that off the table, Shots Heard calls attention to the bigger reason; that escalating the "controversy" draws people in and keeps multimedia advertising dollars high.

Although, sports journalists are allowed a greater latitude in subjectivity than in other news categories, they still must be held to a journalism minimums. One of those minimums is that a journalist remain intellectually honest.

The call was clearly the right call and there is a reason that no NCAA football coach has came out against the call even while the majority of the ESPN analysts (that I have seen) have came out against the call.

UConn coach, Randy Edsall said, "I don't know why everybody got upset. It's a rule. You can't do that. It's specifically stated in the rulebook that you can't throw the ball up....That's a rule that's been harped on. It's a point of emphasis at all times."

Pictured in article
Picture 1: Jake Locker, Washington University quarterback