Miami Heat beat Chicago Bulls after Missed Free Throws, a Key Inadvertent Whistle and a Jump Ball Violation No-Call

With 16 seconds remaining in a 94-93 intraconference matchup between the Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat, someone blew a whistle.

Exactly who produced the sound remains unclear—ESPN play-by-play man and former referee Mike Breen briefly suspected a fan was to blame: "Earlier in the game, I thought I heard a whistle from the stands."

With his team leading by a single point, Heat forward LeBron James had just missed two consecutive free throws, prompting a mad scramble for the rebound between Heat and Bulls players below Miami's basket.

Miami's Dwayne Wade attempted to save the ball while falling out of bounds, raising his arms in bewilderment when that whistle sounded, assuming the official positioned along the endline had ruled the ball out of bounds, possession to Chicago.

Instead, raising his arms as if to declare, "It wasn't me," was referee David Jones, the lead official. Meanwhile, slot (center) official Monty McCutchen did not react to the whistle's blast.

West Virginia vs. Syracuse: Officials Miss Goaltending Call while ESPN Analyst Loses Mind...Only After Seeing Instant Replay

Goaltending or no-call, that is the question.

The Syracuse Orange men's basketball team survived a scare at the hands of West Virginia Saturday afternoon, a game decided only when the final horn had sounded and time had expired.

With the shot clock turned off and 26.3 seconds to play in a Syracuse-led 63-61 ballgame, West Virginia's Truck Bryant attempted an early three-point shot, only to have the try miss the backboard, rim and net entirely. After Mountaineers forward Deniz Kilicli recovered the air ball, Kilicli put up a quick two-point try with 11 seconds remaining.

That's when Mountaineers-Orange turned into controversy central.

Super Bowl XLVI Officials Announced

The National Football League has announced the game officials and alternates for Super Bowl XLVI at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana between the NFC champion New York Giants and the AFC champion New England Patriots. The Super Bowl crew will be headed by referee John Parry in his 12th season as an official in the NFL. The crew, combined, has previously officiated six Super Bowls and 95 seasons. The crew and alternates follow:

NCAA Basketball Mid-Season Point of Emphasis: Sportsmanship and Technical Fouls

NCAA National Coordinator of Officials John Adams recently posted a memo on the NCAA Men's Basketball Central Hub at referee mega-site ArbiterSports, which serves as a mid-season point of emphasis, so to speak.

Adams, from his personal observations and discussions with regional advisors, concluded that "officials are reluctant to enforce Rule 10, Section 5," or the group of unsporting technicals informally known as the sportsmanship rules.

For a picture perfect example of an official correctly enforcing Rule 10, Section 5, watch the following video of Oklahoma State Cowboys guard Markel Brown receive his second technical and be ejected for taunting his opponent. Brown was issued his first technical for similar unsporting behavior.

Retirement: Bill Hohn

Bill Hohn has officially retired from the MLB umpire staff. He has been replaced by Todd Tichenor.

Bill Hohn (29)


Umpired in the Major Leagues for 21 years and 2,195 games…85 career ejections...first Major League game was May 29, 1987 (Cubs at Braves)...final Major League game was October 3, 2010 (Athletics at Mariners)...3 Division Series...1 All-Star Game...56 years old...Did not appear on UEFL Standings in 2011, as Hohn was on the Disabled List.

For more information, see Hired: Todd Tichenor.

Hired: Todd Tichenor

Rumor confirmed. Todd Tichenor has been hired as a MLB umpire.

Todd Tichenor (97)

Welcomed to the Major League staff for the 2012 season…495 days of service in the Major Leagues as a call-up umpire in his career…MLB Spring Training and Call-Up since 2007…first Major League game was June 8, 2007 (Blue Jays at Dodgers)...35 years old...Finished 27th in UEFL Standings in 2011, was considered MLB for scoring purposes as he was a full-time AAA fill-in umpire in 2011. Tichenor will join Brian Gorman’s 2012 crew with Larry Vanover and Tony Randazzo.

News: Garden City umpire gets the call to make the calls (Tichenor hired full-time by MLB)

University of Toronto Study: Canadian Hockey Referees Suffer Overwhelming Abuse, Violence, Lack of Support

An emergency medicine resident at the University of Toronto has recently released a study regarding violence and injury in Canadian hockey games, from the referees' perspective.

Published in the Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine, the report is titled "Violence in Canadian Amateur Hockey: The Experience of Referees in Ontario," and was led by Dr. Alun D. "AD" Ackery and was co-authorzed by Dr. Charles Tator and D. Carolyn Snider.

In his abstract, Ackery described the objective of his study as a means "to determine the perceptions and roles of referees about violence and injury in hockey games."

The web-based questionnaire was issued to hockey officials across Canada from various leagues and levels of play, with 92 percent of responses coming from the Ontario area. The NHL prohibited its referees and linesmen from participating in the study.

The results were striking yet not surprising. The following is a list of key findings.

Rumor: Todd Tichenor close to becoming Full-Time MLB Umpire

After spending 2011 as MLB's only full-time AAA fill-in umpire, Todd Tichenor may finally be on his way towards receiving an official promotion, if one unconfirmed source is to be believed. The World Umpires Association and Major League Baseball have not announced Tichenor's hiring or potential promotion at this time.

In this day and age of a very social media cognizant world, rumor of Tichenor's impending appointment comes by way of Twitter.

A Kansas-area user (@mrskip_20) spilled the alleged beans last week:

"@NickSwisher Tryin to get a retweet for my boy Ump Todd Tichenor. AAA fill in last season, just passed physical to be fulltime big leaguer!"

Nick Swisher, the New York Yankees outfielder, did not bite.

Magic-Celtics: Jason Richardson comes off the bench, Referees get call right

During Monday's NBA contest between the Orlando Magic and Boston Celtics, a unique play occurred during the third quarter in which the Magic appeared to have only four players on the court.

Realizing his team's predicament, Orlando's Jason Richardson appeared to jump off the bench just in time to jar the basketball loose from Boston's Greg Steimsma, knocking it out of bounds as the Magic regrouped with their full staff of five players on the court.

While many fans believe the officials erred by not issuing a technical foul to Richardson, the officials made the correct call by allowing play to continue and awarding the ball to Boston on the ensuing out-of-bounds violation.

Because Richardson had replaced Magic forward Hedo Turkoglu with 5:23 remaining in the third quarter, Richardson was legally in the game when the four-players-on-the-court incident occurred starting at 5:16.

Referee Ed Hochuli Number One NFL-Related Twitter Trend Sunday Night

For the second time this NFL postseason, America was treated to a few extra minutes of free football as the New York Giants defeated the San Francisco 49ers 20-17 in overtime.

Throughout the contest, fans were also treated to the eloquent discourses of NFL referee Ed Hochuli, perhaps the league's most recognizable white hat—known as well for his physique as he is for his mastery of the rules book and attention to detail, a trait especially evident during his comprehensive penalty explanations.

The second of two football games played Sunday, it is no surprise fans took to Twitter to cheer, jeer and comment on the Giants vs. 49ers game.

With Giants quarterback Eli Manning and receiver Victor Cruz lighting up the scoreboard, along with San Francisco's Vernon Davis' two touchdown receptions, it therefore came as quite a surprise that "Ed Hochuli" was the No. 1 worldwide trending topic related to the NFC Championship Game, save for the promoted #NFL hash tag.