Officiating
OK, we all know the stories about the Anthony Jordan, the SEC referee who was pictured on social media with some LSU gear and made some 'interesting' callsign the Tigers' win over UT on Saturday. (He was the official that whistled the foul 75 feet from the basket that led to the game-winning free throws in overtime. It was a foul, for sure. It also was 75 feet from the hoop with 1.4 seconds left.)
Well, Tuesday night, as college basketball turned to overtime tilts and conference grudge matches, the officiating again was highlighted in a couple of games in less than positive ways.
For starters and for full disclosure, two of these was one of our picks last night. (Our picks, well, wow, sometimes you miss the boat entirely, and sometimes the gambling Gods will make sure you remain humble. Consider us humbled gambling Gods.)
We had TCU minus-3.5 over West Virginia in a game that went to three overtimes before WVU pulled it out at home. TCU coach Jamie Dixon was not happy after the game when his team was whistled for 28 fouls - including a dreadful charge that waved off a bucket and likely cost the Frogs the game - compared to just 15 called against the Mountaineers.
We had Wisconsin minus-2 at Indiana, and here's how the officiating went for the visitors. The analyst on the broadcast was Dan Dakich, who played at and graduated from Indiana, who said after the fifth puzzling call went against the Badgers offered this beauty that likely will get ESPN a phone call from IU athletic leadership. In reference to Hoosiers' home, which is known as Assembly Hall, Dakich said, "That's why it's always been known as the Hall of Calls."
The other game in which the officiating took a central position was THE win for THE Ohio State over Iowa, in which both McCafferys got technicals for complaining to the referees. Coach Fran McCaffery was especially heated and used some Bleeps and clearly mouthed "Cheating Mother (Bleeper)" at one of the officials. Here's more.
(Our final pick was a push as LSU minus-11 limped home down the stretch of a game the Tigers dominated. LSU never trailed, led by as many as 21 in the first half and 19 in the second half. And Skylar Mays missed a free throw in the final seconds of the 66-55 win. Yes, that Skylar Mays who is shooting 86 from the line That's how it goes sometimes. With the five overtimes and missed free throw for a 0-2-1, we are now 36-23-2, which is down to 61 percent.)
As for the officiating, am I crazy that it seems the officiating is worse or is it because of the technology or just our overall excuse-making in these modern-day times?
Good thing this is a Which Way Wednesday, huh?
Matter of perspective
Meet Brendan Johnston, a 106-pound high school wrestler who was moving through the consolation bracket of the Colorado state tournament.
Brendan WD'ed and forfeited his third-round match with Angel Rios because, ""I'm not really comfortable with a couple of things with wrestling a girl," Johnston told the Denver Post. "The physical contact, there's a lot of it in wrestling.
"And I guess the physical aggression, too. I don't want to treat a young lady like that on the mat. Or off the mat. And not to disrespect the heart or the effort that she's put in. That's not what I want to do, either."
Here's the Post's story on the tournament.
Rios went on to place fourth in the event, and another female, Jaclyn Gallegos, took fifth in the same weight class. They are the first girls to place at the Colorado state tournament.
Those two were both of Johnston's losses as he declined to wrestle Jaclyn in the opening round.
And to put the exclamation point on Johnston's belief, know this: He finished the season 37-6, and five of those losses were forfeits to females, with four coming to Rios.
Rios certainly does not have to apologize for her performance. She finished 22-3 and told a Denver TV station that she has three older brothers who were high school wrestlers and she grew up around it.
And Johnston reiterated his intention was personal and not some commentary on females wrestling or Rios or Gallegos individually.
"I think it's possible to forfeit while still respecting them as athletes and competitors," he told the Post. "I really don't want to disrespect the hard work these ladies have put in. They've done a lot of that too. Some people think by forfeiting I'm disrespecting them. That's not my intention at all."
Well-played young man.
Please notice there was no law suits filed and no hullabaloo about the rules. This was a kid who had a personal conviction and lived by it, and it likely cost him a shot at a state title.
Colorado Rockies' Nolan Arenado points upward as he crosses home plate after hitting a solo home run during the third inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Michael Owen Baker) Monster baseball signing
Bryce Harper?
Nope.
Craig Kimbrel?
Nah. Both those dudes are still looking for a place to play this spring and summer.
However, the Colorado Rockies agreed to an extension with third baseman Nolan Arenado, and he got a record-setting, eight-year, $260-million contract. It's the highest average salary for a position player in baseball history. (And almost assuredly has Harper's ages Scott Boras burning up the phone lines and Mike Trout's folks salivating at what he may get in a couple of years when he becomes a free agent.)
But do not sleep on how goof Arenado is. Seriously.
He's the only major leaguer to win a Gold Glove in each of the last six seasons, his first six in the majors. Ichiro is the only player to win a Gold Glove in his first six seasons in the big leagues. (Ichiro won a Gold Glove in each of his first 10 seasons.)
He has produced at least 35 doubles and 35 homers in three straight seasons, and the only other big leaguer to ever do that was Albert Belle at the height of his slugging ways in the early 1990s. (It's easy to forget how much Belle mashed because he was jack wagon, but that dude could really hit.)
Over the last four years, Arenado is third in homers with 158, first in RBIs with 503 and first in extra-base hits with 336. Only
And this one kind of stunned me: Of all the MLB third basemen in their first six years in the majors, Arenado ranks first in RBIs (616), first in extra-base hits (433) and first in total bases (1,805).
His signing takes one of the bigger names off the 2020 market, which will include Paul Goldschmidt, Chris Sale and Zander Bogaerts. Madison Bumgarner, too. (Side question: Did you realize that Madison Bumgarner is only 29? Egads. We would have guessed closer to 35.)
This and That
- One more college tidbit: Man, if his knee is 100 percent healthy when this is all said and done, the time away is only going to help Zion Williamson's stock soar. There were folks who were wondering whether R.J. Barrett has more of an NBA game (a fair question since the NBA is 3-based and Barrett is a better shooter and a more polished offensive player). But man, Zion's absence - and the thumping from Carolina, an escape from Syracuse and last night's loss at Virginia Tech - is only enhancing his candidacy as PoY, right?
- Speaking of Duke-Virginia Tech, I hope gym organizers and league bigwigs were paying attention to the moments after the game last night. After the Hokies sealed the win, the cheerleaders and security people moved on the floor and formed a human fence around the 3-point line of the basket closest to the student section. When the students came on the floor to celebrate, they stayed within that arc and jumped with each other. This allowed the students and the emotion to continue and it also allowed there to be open spaces for the visiting team to get off the floor. Looked like a pretty good compromise to me.
- UNC now leads the ACC after toppling Syracuse last night behind Coby White's career-high 34. UNC has not had a shortage of all-timers on its campus, and White now has three of the top five scoring games for a freshman in school history. His 34 was the most for a freshman since Harrison Barnes' 40 in 2010-11. (Tyler Hansbrough also had 40 as a freshman in the mid-2000s.)
- OK, we had some great conversations in the comments on Tuesday. Kudos to you folks. One of those was trivializing the Robert Kraft story. Well, it appears that the store front of the Orchids of Asia has become a destination for social media photos.
- From all-around TFP ace David Paschall comes some news about the loaded schedule at Finley Stadium and the fact that the facility was ranked No. 8 among the FCS stadiums. Some interesting details in there, and here's betting the folks at North Dakota State have an issue with those rankings, among others.
- OK, couple of announcer things. First, the Clippers enjoyed the moment of Doc Rivers calling timeout and having the L.A. crowd give Dirk Nowitzki a final standing O with less than 10 seconds left earlier this week. Well, that was the good. The bad was the Clippers announcers, highlighting one of the worst trades in NBA history when the Bucks sent Dirk and Pat Garrity to Dallas for former Michigan star Robert Tractor Traylor, by saying Dirk was a clear Hall of Famer and Traylor was now playing for the "Detroit YMCA over 40 league." Yeah, about that. Tractor Traylor died in 2011 at 34 because of a heart attack.
- Iowa play-by-play guy Gary Dolphin has been suspended for the rest of the season for referring to a Maryland basketball player Bruno Fernando was "King Kong at the end of the game." Here's the quote he used in the postgame show: "Twelve 3s on 22 made baskets. That's some pretty good long-range shooting," Dolphin said. "And then Fernando was King Kong at the end of the game." To be fair, this is the second incident Dolphin has had this year. The first was his mic was still on when he criticized one of the Iowa guards. He was forced to apologize and suspended for two games.
Today's questions
Which way should we go? We'll go this way:
We asked it earlier, so why not again: As for the officiating, am I crazy that it seems the officiating is worse or is it because of the technology or just our overall excuse-making in these modern-day times?
Which way Wednesday: Should the Colorado wrestler have competed against those girls in the state tournament? (The one thing that we did not see in that story was how much his convictions may have hurt his team's chance to win a traditional team state title.)
Which way Wednesday: Is calling a player "King Kong" racist? Discuss.
As for today, Feb. 27, well, let's explore.
It's International Polar Bear Day, National Retro Day and National Strawberry Day.
On this day in 1992, Tiger Woods made his PGA Tour. He was 16 at the time.
The first Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans happened on this day in 1827.
James Worthy is 57 today.
Mr. Rogers died on this day in 2003. Leonard Nimoy died on this day in 2015.
Let's go there. Rushmore of actors famous for playing aliens has to start with Nimoy's Spock, right? Who else is on there?
Go and remember the mailbag.