Saturday, January 7, 2012
Lions vs. Saints: Officials Make Correct Call in Wake of Inadvertent Whistle
For all the criticism levied against NFL officials this Wild Card Saturday, perhaps the strongest round of scoffing took place during the second quarter of the Detroit Lions vs. New Orleans Saints game.
With 5:39 remaining in the first half, Saints quarterback Drew Brees attempted to throw a pass (VIDEO), in part to avoid a sack at the hands of Detroit's Willie Young.
In a span of mere seconds, Brees was on the ground, the ball was loose past the original line of scrimmage and at least one whistle was being blown.
The Lions picked up the loose football and started running it towards the far end zone before being arrested by the familiar sounds of the pea-less mouthpiece.
At least one official had ruled the sequence an incomplete pass while another ruled a fumble and subsequent recovery by Detroit's Justin Durant.
HS Basketball Fouls Incorrectly Labeled Flagrant on Viral Video
With each call sure to upset 50 percent of the enthusiasts gathered field- or court-side, accepting abuse is an inescapable necessity. Such is the nature of the beast, requiring officials to balance the distinct wants and whines of each side to ensure a fair game.
Officials must exist to perform this very intrinsic function—ensure fairness—and most commonly, complaints directed at officials imply that for one reason or another, one team is being treated unfairly.
Of course, these rules and regulations exist to assist officials in their primary role—ensuring player safety.
When a referee calls too many fouls, the official is accused of not allowing the players to play their sport.
When a referee neglects to call enough fouls or does not adequately address rough play, the official is accused of not ensuring a safe environment for the players.
Such is the case of a recent viral high school basketball video featuring an edited sequence of six fouls, called common or shooting on the floor, but labeled flagrant by the video's creator.
Friday, January 6, 2012
Six Player Finish
During the course of a game, mistakes are inevitable whether it be by players, coaches, or even the officials. Nothing brings more attention to the mistakes of the participants more so than an end of the game.
This exact type of undesired attention, the type of attention that brings the possibility of reprimand, came upon the Sun Belt officiating crew of Thursday's Louisiana-Lafayette's contest at Western Kentucky.
Coming out of a timeout with 21 seconds remaining, Louisiana-Lafayette Guard Raymone Andrews inbounded the ball in front of his own bench to Elfrid Payton, who drained the clock and made a layup with three seconds remaining to give Lafayette a two point lead. Western Kentucky missed a desperation three at the buzzer, as Lafayette held on to win, 72-70.
However, there were a couple of problems that occurred during those final 21 seconds. The first, replays indicate that Lafayette had six players on the court the whole time, which seemingly aided in their final possession. The greater problem was that the fact the infraction went unnoticed by the officials and Lafayette was not penalized at any point.
Once the ball became live, following the time out, Lafayette had committed a violation of NCAA Rule 10-2-6, "having more than five players legally on the playing court to participate after the ball becomes live." Quite clearly from the replay, Lafayette had six individuals on the playing court. The Lafayette substitute is considered a player upon the illegal entry, once the ball became live per Rule 3-4-1c.
This exact type of undesired attention, the type of attention that brings the possibility of reprimand, came upon the Sun Belt officiating crew of Thursday's Louisiana-Lafayette's contest at Western Kentucky.
Coming out of a timeout with 21 seconds remaining, Louisiana-Lafayette Guard Raymone Andrews inbounded the ball in front of his own bench to Elfrid Payton, who drained the clock and made a layup with three seconds remaining to give Lafayette a two point lead. Western Kentucky missed a desperation three at the buzzer, as Lafayette held on to win, 72-70.
However, there were a couple of problems that occurred during those final 21 seconds. The first, replays indicate that Lafayette had six players on the court the whole time, which seemingly aided in their final possession. The greater problem was that the fact the infraction went unnoticed by the officials and Lafayette was not penalized at any point.
Once the ball became live, following the time out, Lafayette had committed a violation of NCAA Rule 10-2-6, "having more than five players legally on the playing court to participate after the ball becomes live." Quite clearly from the replay, Lafayette had six individuals on the playing court. The Lafayette substitute is considered a player upon the illegal entry, once the ball became live per Rule 3-4-1c.
Deaf Soccer Player Issued Yellow Card for Ignoring Whistle
Every so often, there are sports stories that seemingly make no sense. This is one of them.
According to scotsman.com, Scottish Junior Cup player Philip John "P.J." Dolan was issued a yellow card by referee Gavin Duncan for playing significantly past the referee's whistle, going so far as to score a goal and begin celebrating despite the referee and AR's call of offside.
Dolan, who plays for Kilsyth, subsequently received a second yellow for diving, resulting in an automatic sendoff and two-game suspension.
When such an event happens in the United States—most notably in the NBA—the offender is assessed a penalty for showing up the official. The Orlando Magic's Dwight Howard led the league last season with 18 technicals while second place Kobe Bryant picked up 16, many for showing up the referee. Just last night, Bryant received a delay-of-game warning for refusing to give the game ball to the nearest official.
According to scotsman.com, Scottish Junior Cup player Philip John "P.J." Dolan was issued a yellow card by referee Gavin Duncan for playing significantly past the referee's whistle, going so far as to score a goal and begin celebrating despite the referee and AR's call of offside.
Dolan, who plays for Kilsyth, subsequently received a second yellow for diving, resulting in an automatic sendoff and two-game suspension.
When such an event happens in the United States—most notably in the NBA—the offender is assessed a penalty for showing up the official. The Orlando Magic's Dwight Howard led the league last season with 18 technicals while second place Kobe Bryant picked up 16, many for showing up the referee. Just last night, Bryant received a delay-of-game warning for refusing to give the game ball to the nearest official.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Dan Carcillo Suspended, John Tortorella Fined During Busy Day of NHL Discipline
Chicago Blackhawks forward Dan Carcillo was suspended seven games for a dangerous and illegal high board to the head of Edmonton Oilers defenseman Tom Gilbert.
The week-long suspension to Carcillo capped off the NHL's first full day of discipline, with Calgary Flames forward Rene Bourque receiving a five-game suspension for elbowing Washington's Nicklas Backstrom and New York Rangers Head Coach John Tortorella receiving a $30,000 fine for claiming a Winter Classic conspiracy.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Behind the Backboard: With Lack of Indisputable Evidence, Referees Make Correct Call on Buzzer-Beater, Game Winner
With just seconds to go in the second half of Friday night's Wagner College vs. Santa Clara basketball contest, the Seahawks and Broncos were tied at 62 points apiece and looked poised for overtime.
That's when Wagner sophomore Kenneth "Kenny" Ortiz stepped in.
After a wild, backboard hitting attempt by Seahawks senior guard Tyler Murray, Ortiz was in the right place at the right time to set up one of the craziest finishes to a college basketball season thus far during the 2011-12 NCAA season.
Ortiz corralled the wild carom, heaving up a frantic prayer just fractions of a second before the final horn sounded, the clock struck zero and the backboard's red lights illuminated.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
UEFL 2012: League Registration and Appeals Board Nomination
The Umpire Ejection Fantasy League is pleased to announce the 2012 season's registration process.
For more information about the UEFL draft and selection process, see the 2012 UEFL Rules Book. Note that the draft will occur in March 2012, no umpires will be selected until a draft order has been determined in March.
Any visitor, guest or user may become a league member. There is no cost to register for this league. If you would like to register for the 2012 season, please respond to this post with your requested username. If you participated during the 2011 season, please use the same username or otherwise mention what your username was last season. Do not select umpires during the registration process.
Important: It is recommended that UEFL members be placed on an e-mail list so that we may expeditiously communicate important site-related news, including UEFL draft order. If you wish to be included, click here to e-mail the primary UEFL Commissioner with your username and registration information.
For verification purposes, we also highly recommend that all league members do not post anonymously or with a write-in (Name/URL) username. Blogger's comment system accepts Google, Livejournal, Wordpress, TypePad, AIM and OpenID accounts. The reason for this is so that we may verify your identity during the registration, draft, challenge and case play processes.
Per Rule 6-4-a, the UEFL announces the creation of an Appeals Board that shall routinely rule on issues of Quality of Correctness. Any visitor, guest or user may become an Appeals Board member and may or may not also be a league member. The Appeals Board operates on a voluntary basis only and is a one-year term (no term limits). To apply, you must e-mail the primary UEFL Commissioner with your nomination. If you are interested in nominating yourself for the two at-large Appeals Board vacancies, please consider the following requirements:
Per Rule 1:
a. A post announcing the opening of registrations shall appear on the UEFL website no later than two months prior to the start of the regular season. This post shall instruct members on the proper methods of signing up to participate in the UEFL for the upcoming season and will contain all appropriate pre-draft deadlines.
b. Once the registration period is closed, a draft order shall be pre-assigned (see Rule 1-1-c and 1-1-d). Four umpires shall be drafted by each UEFL member in the form of one (1) crew chief per Rule 1-2, one (1) primary umpire per Rule 1-3 and two (2) secondary umpires per Rule 1-4.
c. The draft will be conducted in two phases: Phase one encompasses the crew/primary round while phase two encompasses the secondary draft.
For more information about the UEFL draft and selection process, see the 2012 UEFL Rules Book. Note that the draft will occur in March 2012, no umpires will be selected until a draft order has been determined in March.
Any visitor, guest or user may become a league member. There is no cost to register for this league. If you would like to register for the 2012 season, please respond to this post with your requested username. If you participated during the 2011 season, please use the same username or otherwise mention what your username was last season. Do not select umpires during the registration process.
Important: It is recommended that UEFL members be placed on an e-mail list so that we may expeditiously communicate important site-related news, including UEFL draft order. If you wish to be included, click here to e-mail the primary UEFL Commissioner with your username and registration information.
For verification purposes, we also highly recommend that all league members do not post anonymously or with a write-in (Name/URL) username. Blogger's comment system accepts Google, Livejournal, Wordpress, TypePad, AIM and OpenID accounts. The reason for this is so that we may verify your identity during the registration, draft, challenge and case play processes.
Per Rule 6-4-a, the UEFL announces the creation of an Appeals Board that shall routinely rule on issues of Quality of Correctness. Any visitor, guest or user may become an Appeals Board member and may or may not also be a league member. The Appeals Board operates on a voluntary basis only and is a one-year term (no term limits). To apply, you must e-mail the primary UEFL Commissioner with your nomination. If you are interested in nominating yourself for the two at-large Appeals Board vacancies, please consider the following requirements:
- Ability to separate subjectivity from objective analysis;
- Extensive rules knowledge or ability to attain exceptional proficiency without significant disputation of UEFL rule interpretations;
- Ability to objectively and thoroughly analyze plays to determine Quality of Correctness
- Availability to respond to the "Office of the UEFL Commissioner" in a timely fashion. Generally, within 48 hours of being notified of the appeal.
- Board members, including Commissioners, will be required to abstain from ruling on plays involving their drafted umpires (or crews, if applicable);
- Board members with no drafted umpires may request ample abstention from a limited number of appeals if so desired, which may be comparable to appeals abstained from by Board members with drafted umpires.
- November 27, 2011 (Sunday): Registration and Appeals Board nomination processes open
- March 5, 2012 (Monday): Registration process closed
- March 9, 2012 (Friday): Draft order decided and distributed after registrations closed; latest of March 9.
- March 10, 2012 (Saturday): Crew and Primary rounds of the draft open. These rounds will run concurrently.
- March 16, 2012 (Friday): Crew and Primary rounds of the draft closed.
- March 17, 2012 (Saturday): Secondary round of the draft open. This round is conducted publicly and operates according to the draft order that was sent out by March 9, 2012.
- March 23, 2012 (Friday): Appeals Board nominations closed.
- March 24, 2012 (Saturday): Appeals Board voting begins
- March 30, 2012 (Friday): This is the latest day the non-live Secondary draft may close.
- March 30, 2012 (Friday): Appeals Board voting ends
- April 1, 2012 (Sunday): Live Secondary draft. Time TBD. For those participating in the Live Secondary draft, Primary picks may be submitted at this time as well.
- April 2, 2012 (Monday): UEFL rosters and draft results posted
- April 3, 2012 (Tuesday): Last day for roster changes (retirements, pre-season injuries)
- April 4-6, 2012 (Wednesday): Opening Day(s), MLB season begins
If you have any questions, please post here. As you can see, registration will remain open for over four months while Appeals Board nominations will remain open for close to five months. We hope you enjoy this registration process for the 2012 season.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Basketball Ejections: Scott Foster (1)
Crew Chief Scott Foster ejected Mavericks forward Lamar Odom for arguing an offensive foul call during the 3rd Quarter of the Heat-Mavericks Christmas Day season opener game. With 5:06 remaining in the 3rd, Odom was called for an offensive foul on Heat forward LeBron James. Replays indicate that Odom drove into the lane and passed out to Mavericks Guard Jason Terry outside the 3-point arc along the baseline. As Odom passed out to Terry, he crashed into James, who appeared to have obtained legal guarding position. Odom shouted towards Foster, after Foster reported the offensive foul call and was subsequently charged with a technical foul by Foster. Odom then became increasingly unsportsmanlike towards Foster and received a second technical foul from Foster, and with it an ejection. At the time of Odom's ejection, the Heat were leading, 82-54. The Heat ultimately won the contest, 105-94.
This is Scott Foster (48)'s first ejection of the 2011-12 season.
This is the first ejection of of the NBA 2011-12 season.
This is Lamar Odom's first ejection of the 2011-12 season.
This is Lamar Odom's second consecutive ejection in a non-preseason game.
Odom was ejected in his 2010-2011 NBA season finale in the 2011 playoffs with the Los Angeles Lakers for a flagrant foul against Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki in Game 4 of the Western Conference Semi-Finals. Odom was ejected by Scott Foster in that game.
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Explaining the NBA 2011-12 Season's Points of Emphasis
As the NBA begins its shortened 2012-plus-one-week-of-2011 season, fans might notice some differences on the court in regards to the officiating: how games are being called, as well as some more seemingly cosmetic parts of the game; such as the 24-second shot clock.
Every year, the NBA's competition committee goes through the league's rules book and interpretation manual, occasionally adding, modifying and deleting sections at a time.
Some rule changes are so substantial—and some old rules additionally become so significant—that the committee sends its crew chiefs, referees and other officials a list of those items, called points of emphasis.
Points of emphasis (POE) are often considered the most important year-to-year revisions or adjustments in the officiating arena. Officials are extensively trained in the new curriculum.
Occasionally, some points of emphasis review concepts unchanged from the previous year, but every POE is correspondingly vital.
Prior to the 2011-2012 season, the NBA trained, drilled and exhaustively tested its officials with the following POE for the upcoming year.
According to NBA executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Stu Jackson, many of the following points of emphasis emanate from the universal truth that "players are always going to have tricks in the game."
With the following POE for the 2011-2012 season, the NBA is clearly trying to crack down on the thespian, phony and dangerous sides of basketball:
Every year, the NBA's competition committee goes through the league's rules book and interpretation manual, occasionally adding, modifying and deleting sections at a time.
Some rule changes are so substantial—and some old rules additionally become so significant—that the committee sends its crew chiefs, referees and other officials a list of those items, called points of emphasis.
Points of emphasis (POE) are often considered the most important year-to-year revisions or adjustments in the officiating arena. Officials are extensively trained in the new curriculum.
Occasionally, some points of emphasis review concepts unchanged from the previous year, but every POE is correspondingly vital.
Prior to the 2011-2012 season, the NBA trained, drilled and exhaustively tested its officials with the following POE for the upcoming year.
According to NBA executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Stu Jackson, many of the following points of emphasis emanate from the universal truth that "players are always going to have tricks in the game."
With the following POE for the 2011-2012 season, the NBA is clearly trying to crack down on the thespian, phony and dangerous sides of basketball:
Friday, December 23, 2011
Baseball (Offseason) Ejections: Dario Rivero, Jr. and Jairo Martinez
HP Umpire Dario Rivero, Jr. ejected Leones catcher Yorvit Torrealba for arguing balls and strikes in the bottom of the 8th inning of the Caribes-Leones game. With one out and none on, Torrealba swung and missed at a 2-2 slider from Caribes pitcher Alex Serrano. Replays indicate all pitches to Torrealba were correctly ruled including a disputed strike call earlier in the at bat, the call was correct. After his ejection, Torrealba began yelling at Rivero, Jr., ultimately throwing an open hand slap at Rivero, Jr.'s face mask.* At the time of the ejection, the Caribes were leading 3-2. The Caribes ultimately won the contest, 3-2.
Prior to Torrealba's ejection, 1B Umpire Jairo Martinez ejected Caribes shortstop Luis Nunez for arguing an out call in the top of the 8th inning of the Caribes-Leones game. With none out and one on, Nunez bunted a 0-1 fastball from Leones pitcher Darwin Culliban. Culliban fielded the bunt, threw to Leones shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera for a fielder's choice force out, who threw to second baseman Marwin Gonzalez, covering first, for a ground bunt double play. Replays are unavailable, this call is inconclusive. At the time of the ejection, the contest was tied, 2-2. The Caribes ultimately won the contest, 3-2.
* Had Torrealba battered or assaulted this umpire in the United States, and the umpire elected to press charges and/or pursue the matter in civil court if damages were present, the umpire (or referee, linesman, judge, or other sports official in any sport) would receive enhanced protections in several states because 21 states have officiating assault laws (19 criminal + 2 civil). States with enhanced penalties for assault or battery against a sports official in commission of his or her duties include: Alabama, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Montana, North Carolina, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas and West Virginia.
If your state does not currently have enhanced penalties for assault or battery on or against a sports official (or even if your state does), you may request a NASO Assault Legislation Packet at www.naso.org. These packets are available by request free of charge to NASO members.
*Source: Referee Magazine (pp. N4-N5, July 2011 Issue)
News: Click here for a brief history of players punching, battering and assaulting umpires (b/r)
Prior to Torrealba's ejection, 1B Umpire Jairo Martinez ejected Caribes shortstop Luis Nunez for arguing an out call in the top of the 8th inning of the Caribes-Leones game. With none out and one on, Nunez bunted a 0-1 fastball from Leones pitcher Darwin Culliban. Culliban fielded the bunt, threw to Leones shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera for a fielder's choice force out, who threw to second baseman Marwin Gonzalez, covering first, for a ground bunt double play. Replays are unavailable, this call is inconclusive. At the time of the ejection, the contest was tied, 2-2. The Caribes ultimately won the contest, 3-2.
* Had Torrealba battered or assaulted this umpire in the United States, and the umpire elected to press charges and/or pursue the matter in civil court if damages were present, the umpire (or referee, linesman, judge, or other sports official in any sport) would receive enhanced protections in several states because 21 states have officiating assault laws (19 criminal + 2 civil). States with enhanced penalties for assault or battery against a sports official in commission of his or her duties include: Alabama, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Montana, North Carolina, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas and West Virginia.
If your state does not currently have enhanced penalties for assault or battery on or against a sports official (or even if your state does), you may request a NASO Assault Legislation Packet at www.naso.org. These packets are available by request free of charge to NASO members.
*Source: Referee Magazine (pp. N4-N5, July 2011 Issue)
News: Click here for a brief history of players punching, battering and assaulting umpires (b/r)
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