I'd like to think Bianchi is right here. After all, we were swindled when we played the semis that time. But, to say calls go in favor of the SEC when the out-of-conference game is reffed by SEC officials is a bit of a stretch. Of course, I remember when we played the semis and the SEC refs kept calling penalties against us.
Oliver Barry, CRS, GRI Real Estate Broker Halo Realty, LLC 700 E. Main St. Hendersonville TN 37075 [EMAIL PROTECTED] office: 615-822-3509 fax: 615-822-7741 mobile: 615-972-4239 ________________________________ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, September 10, 2008 12:06 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [gatornews] [OrlandoSentinel]College football officials call 'em like they're paid to call 'em COMMENTARY College football officials call 'em like they're paid to call 'em Mike Bianchi | SPORTS COMMENTARY September 10, 2008 Let's just get right to the point, shall we? UCF got jobbed by Big East Conference refs Saturday night. And Miami got jobbed by SEC refs Saturday night. And such jobs have happened in the past and will continue to happen in the future until somebody somewhere steps in and gets to the bottom of the biggest rip-off in football stadiums since the $7 cup of beer:Mike Bianchi <http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/columnists/orl-bianchi,0,3285093. columnist> Mike Bianchi Conference officiating. Have you ever wondered why college football is the only college sport that has "conference" officials who traditionally work for only one league? College baseball umps aren't employed exclusively by one conference. Neither are college basketball refs. But college football officials are. You want to know why? Because college football is the only sport where the big conferences control all the money. And when you control all the money, you want control over everything else, too -- and that includes the calls. The biggest officiating sham in sports isn't one renegade NBA <http://www.orlandosentinel.com/topic/sports/basketball/national-basketb all-association-15008001.topic> official getting paid by bookies to influence games. It's entire crews of independently contracted football officials getting paid to prop up their leagues. Don't get me wrong, I'm not accusing college football refs of intentionally cheating. I'm just saying when one conference signs your paycheck, you're going to make darn sure that conference gets the benefit of the doubt. It's human nature. UCF Coach George O'Leary <http://www.orlandosentinel.com/topic/sports/football/george-oleary-PESP T008434.topic> won't come right out and say his team got shafted by Big East officials in its game with South Florida on Saturday night, but he did call the Big East supervisor of officials seeking an explanation on several "questionable" calls. If said supervisor were honest, he would have simply recited O'Leary my favorite sports limerick (amended slightly for today's column): "There once was a ref whose vision, Was cause for abuse and derision, He remarked in surprise, 'Why pick on my eyes? It's my conference that dictates my decision.' " Here's how sordid the college officiating mess is: It used to be written into the series contract that when Florida played Florida State <http://www.orlandosentinel.com/topic/education/florida-state-university -OREDU000030.topic> , the road team's conference would provide the officials. That was until ACC refs and their seeing-eye dogs came into Gainesville five years ago and perpetrated the "Swindle in the Swamp" -- a series of such horrendously bad calls that the Gators <http://www.orlandosentinel.com/topic/sports/football/florida-gators-ORS PT000172.topic> demanded the officiating agreement be changed. The result of the controversy was that the home team provides its conference officials whenever Florida plays an ACC opponent. Hence, Miami came to Florida Field on Saturday night and got a heaping helping of SEC home-cooking. Moral of the story: An eye for an eye, and a phantom holding call for a phantom holding call. Said Miami Coach Randy Shannon <http://www.orlandosentinel.com/topic/sports/football/randy-shannon-PESP T008512.topic> of one controversial call that set up Florida's game-clinching touchdown Saturday: "I tried to talk [to the officials]. They didn't even talk to me about it." Of course they didn't. What were they going to say? . . . "We just call 'em like we're paid to call 'em." The fact is, this sort of territorial officiating has been going on forever. A few years ago, I wrote about Dick Pace, an Orlando resident and a retired SEC official. He told me of a situation many years ago during a Florida-Florida State game. At the time, the game was called by a split crew made up of Florida's SEC officials and FSU's Southern Independent Association officials. Recalled Pace: "There was one play where the SEC official called defensive pass interference against FSU and the Southern Independent official came running in and called offensive pass interference against Florida." How do we allow this to happen? Can you imagine the NBA allowing the Spurs and Magic to play a game officiated by refs who were on the Magic payroll? Can you imagine the Red Sox <http://www.orlandosentinel.com/topic/sports/boston-red-sox-ORSPT000005. topic> and Rays playing a crucial series with umps provided by the Beantown Academy of Sports Officiating? Why, then, is one of the nation's oldest and most traditional pastimes rife with such obvious partisanship. Can you believe there's actually a billion-dollar sporting entity where the teams are ranked by coaches who have an undeniable bias against their rivals and games are officiated by referees who have an unholy alliance with their conferences? Don't you just love college football -- the only sport in the world where it's actually accepted practice to get the best calls money can buy? Mike Bianchi can be reached at [EMAIL PROTECTED] --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
