Post
by Big Orange Junky » Mon Aug 13, 2012 8:29 am
Well if you look the Vols had nothing to do with what started this discussion. I was watching one of ESPN's college football replays from last year and saw just a God awful call that was very clear the guy that called it had no clue what happened but based his call on what the QB reaction was. The QB and defender ran out of bounds together, that's it, but he called a PF on the defender because when they got into the crowd the QB raised his hands in the air. Watching it on TV it was clear the guy had no clue and was just making a call.
The head of that conferences officials happened to be in the booth and he never made any comment on what happens when something that bad happens and actually started defending a pretty indefensable call by saying "it may have looked different on the field". Well duh but the guy didn't go by what he saw on the field, it was clear he couldn't see and only made a call because he saw the QB raise his arms, which is basically letting the QB make the call. Tennessee wasn't playing in that game, it was NC State and Louisville, neither even in the SEC. It just got me to thinking what accountability did any of the officials have? If this guy has a history of just making things up as he goes then can he get fired etc? Then Wiz explained it to me and said the 5th down crew got fired. I never knew that. Maybe if it had been my team I may have known but I didn't know and that brought about this Allama stuff with them not firing him even though the NCAA got involved and he had previously been vocal about the Vols screwing him in 1981.
I am not the one that wrote the many blogs and newspaper articles about him and his history with UT. I am not the one that got Steve Shaw involved last year, heck it's even on Wiki etc. It's not smoke, it's a friggin bon fire and I was wondering just why the SEC would ever allow him to officiate a UT game again unless he just keeps begging to come back so he can stick it to them again.
It can't be good for the reputation of the SEC officials......"well we like to have honest officials, well yes the NCAA did hammer us on big Al a few years ago when he changed the outcome of a game, but he didn't do anything wrong we just kept him away for his own safety, which coincidentially it became safe again after the coach he cheated....er made the honest mistake against.... was fired and it's just coincidence that since he has been back officiating he has been involved in more controversial calls against the Vols than the rest of the officials even over ruling officials that were on top of the play and were in good position while he was out of position to see what happened.... Really it's just coincidence, it just looks bad but he isn't biased even though he has said in the past he was.........
I mean all joking aside it's a PR nightmare to allow him anywhere around a Vol game, its much worse than letting Fulmer ref an Alabama/UT game. More like letting Fulmer ref a Florida/UT game. Why would you do something that silly?
My point was the fans never know when someone like him, who clearly screwed the pooch, gets disciplined. Something that big should be made public, he screwed the team in public and most of the public do not believe it was an accident or an honest mistake so I think in those cases the process should be made public. I think they should have made it publick that they fired the 5th down crew (maybe they did since it was a fireing but I don't remember it), but what about the Oklahoma on sides kick crew? What happened to them? That was blatant but nobody knows if anything was done. Look at Allama, no doubt that was blatant, hell even the NCAA agrees, but still to this day AA is able to say "well it was for his safety" instead of people knowing what actually happened in regards to his monumental screw job.
We do know about it sometimes, when they are caught betting, but I am talking about when they cost a team a game from a seemingly obvious blown call it needs to be made public what his explanation is, or attempt at an explanation and what the head of officials is doing about it. I thought it was great that the guy that cost that pitcher the perfect game came out and said he was wrong, screwed up and was sorry. I believe him, but that doesn't happen nearly enough.
