Bad sports, good sports: Officials give Steelers a gift win

Posted on October 25th, 2010 by Alan Spoll

Is it just me, or is sports officiating just getting worse? I am pretty sure I have not watched a game this year, regardless of sport, that did not include at least one atrociously bad call. Sure, it’s easy for fans to complain about referees. I will admit that I have yelled and screamed about bad calls that probably weren’t actually bad calls. In the heat of the game, bias is hard to avoid. Sometimes, though, a call is so bad and so obvious that everyone seems to know it except the official making the call. On Sunday, the Pittsburgh Steelers won a game against the Miami Dolphins on a call so bad that the officials themselves did not seem to understand what they were calling.

Late in the game, the Steelers, down two, were at the 2 yard line of the Dolphins and it was third down. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger kept the ball himself, diving for the end zone. He was hit before he reached the goal line, and he fumbled the ball into the end zone. The officials started the mess that followed by incorrectly ruling that the play was a touchdown. Meanwhile, there was a melee in the end zone, as players tried to recover the fumble. The officials paid no real attention to that, as they had already signaled touchdown. The play was then reviewed and the officials discovered that Roethlisberger had fumbled before crossing the plane of the end zone. It was what happened next that was truly astounding: they decided that Pittsburgh would keep possession and be given a chance to kick a field goal to take the lead. If you didn’t see the game and you just read that sentence, you are clearly assuming that Pittsburgh must have recovered the fumble in the end zone, right? Nope. The ruling was that the video being reviewed to determine that a fumble had occurred did not actually show who had recovered said fumble. A Dolphins player had come out of the pile with the ball and had handed it to an official, but that was apparently not enough evidence of a fumble recovery for these geniuses. It wasn’t on the video, so it must not have happened. With nothing else to go on, neither touchdown nor touchback was called. Instead, Pittsburgh had the ball at the spot of the fumble, just outside the goal line. The Steelers kicked a go-ahead field goal and won the game.

At some point, shouldn’t common sense come into play in situations like this? I realize that the officials attempt to go by the exact wording of the rules, especially when a situation is in doubt, but come on. This is the same kind of thinking that took away Calvin Johnson’s game-winning touchdown for the Lions in week one this year. It is inexcusable that professional games are allowed to be decided by decisions like these. Referees and umpires get paid to do their jobs. The whole group of officials from the Pittsburgh-Miami game should give the money back.

Bad sports, continued:

2) Rick Rypien, a forward for the Vancouver Canucks, made a really bad decision on Tuesday. As he left the ice after receiving a major penalty for fighting, Rypien actually grabbed a fan sitting to the side of the tunnel and shook him before letting go and continuing up the tunnel. No matter what the fan might have said, that’s something you just can’t do. Rypien has been suspended indefinitely.

3) Fran Crippen, a swimmer for the U.S. National team, died during a race on Saturday in the United Arab Emirates. It is expected that the autopsy will show that he died of heat exhaustion, as the ocean water in which the race was held was around 85 degrees, and several other swimmers experienced troubles as well. Crippen was 26.

3) A late-season high school football game in Utah was canceled last week because both teams had already qualified for the playoffs, and Scott Mitchell, head coach of one of the teams, did not want to take the chance of any of his players getting hurt before the playoffs. Mitchell was an NFL quarterback in the nineties. He was a lousy quarterback, and he would appear to be a lousy coach, too, as far as setting the right example for his players. I think he has lost focus on the point of high school sports.

4) Former star linebacker Junior Seau was arrested on Monday for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend. Several hours later, he drove his car off of a cliff in Carlsbad, California. He survived the crash, and has stated that he fell asleep while driving and was not trying to kill himself. Bizarre.

5) Indianapolis Colts punter Patrick McAfee was arrested on Wednesday after being found shirtless, drunk, and soaking wet by police at 4:45 AM. He had apparently taken a dip, intentional or not, in a nearby canal and was then wandering the streets. Awesome.

Good sports:

1) University of Pittsburgh basketball coach Jamie Dixon was a real hero on Saturday night. While driving on an interstate, he came upon an accident scene where a car had crashed and flipped over the guard rail. Dixon risked his own well-being by helping to pull the victims from the wreckage.

2) For the first time ever, a race in one of NASCAR’s top series had four women qualify and participate. The Camping World Truck Series race at Martinsville was run on Friday night, and Jennifer Jo Cobb, Johanna Long, Angela Cope, and Amber Cope all qualified. Although none of the four had a great finish (only Long finished on the lead lap), this was still a pretty momentous thing for women in stock-car racing.

Bad Sports, Good Sports appears every Monday.

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Alan Spoll

Alan Spoll is a software quality assurance director from the suburbs of Philadelphia where he lives with his wonderful wife and children. He has spent his entire life as a passionate fan of the Eagles, Phillies, Sixers, Flyers, and Penn State. Recent Phillies success aside, you will understand his natural negativity. Follow me on Twitter - @DocAlan02