Now For The Rest Of The Story On Oklahoma/oregon Game

[thesidekickcat]

I'm not a sports fan by any stretch of the imagination. Hubby had even turned to another game when it appeared that Oregon was way behind and not much time left so he didn't see the unusual finish either.

But I did read about the game, and thought some of you sports fans might like to read about the personal story behind the wrong call and how it is affecting the poor guy who made the call and what little info to replay booth the call was based on, and the pressure he was under to decide it fast.

This reporter, John Canzano, is one of my favorites as he often brings us human interest stories in sports etc, to allow people to be more than names or numbers to the audience.

"Now for the rest of the story" as Paul Harvey would say.

Football is just a game....

Hopefully some good will come out of this whole mess and the instant replay booths will be upgraded so there are more camera feeds in or whatever it takes to give them enough info to correctly make those final tough decisions.

This man needs our prayers folks to return to good health and not have this whole mess cause him to have a stroke or heart attack, and to prevent some deranged sports fiend from following through on the death threats.

Pat

God bless everyone

Edited December 26, 2006 by thesidekickcat

[bearskin]

Pat I think people take football too serious. I haven't watched a football game since 1987 when dallas cowboys went on strike mid season.

Edited September 20, 2006 by bearskin

[thesidekickcat]

You might notice that I am bringing up an old thread of mine. Yes it really is from Sept, but I thought it was important to add this additional column of John Canzano's about the terrible way people across the country have continued to react ad nauseum to a bad call by the instant replay official in one stupid game.

On this day that we celebrate the birth of Jesus, I wonder if many haven chosen other gods....such as football or other sports, or power, or politics, or money as their god?

I think this whole episode is a sad commentary on this country's values.

Please continue to pray for Mr Gordon Riese, who only made a football game replay call mistake, nothing worse!!! So sad this has happened to such a caring man. From what has happened to him over a bad call, I now know why sports fans are called fans... short for Fanatics... and should be listed on the Psycho Docs list as another form of mental illness for those who become so extremely fanatical over just a game.

82 day wait for reason to prevail

Oddly enough the first link is still good past 14 days and so is this one which was dated Dec 10th. Maybe the Oregonian columnists have a longer time online deal for their stories?

Pat

God bless everyone

[mikex]

I thought I read that the replay booths are supplied with clips from the broadcasters....so if there is or would be a compilation of the footage the officials see we may see if he made a good call or bad, based on what he had at hand.

M

[thesidekickcat]

Hi Mike,

Yes I thought so too until this whole mess erupted but it turns out that the Pac10 conference is so cheap that not much is given to the replay booth official(s) to have available for review. (We live in a tech world, but they (Pac10) seem to be in the dark on how to advance with the times.) Of course the Pac10 people higher up all denied that he didn't have ample information and they even said there was NO Pressure on him...yeah right...all later refuted by others as bogus PR spin!!!

Ooops just reread your post, yes there was vindication by the records of what he had at time he made the call, that showed he made it based on the only video view he had. That was in at least one of the articles I linked to. and other reports too at the time. He had a gut feeling it was wrong call but had to call it by what he saw, on his only view which was a very limited one, according to the rules I guess.

Funny how no one but him was punished severely (others on field got a short suspension) and career ruined over a mistake.... it's not as if mistakes don't happen a zillion times in a sports season.... so what's the big deal!!!

Strange thing the world of sports...which brings me back to my original reason for posting this...of how many people have no idea what sportsmanship means nowadays including the fan(atic)s.

Number one thing to remember is don't seek revenge, or threaten lives of officials and their families over a bad call...for heavens sake folks it's only a game!!! I just can't figure out what kind of people would stoop to such an ugly level to make his life so miserable. And he seems like an honorable man who if given the full all angles video information he would have made the right call. Also because he is an honorable man, this thing is eating at him....along with worrying over the safety of himself and his family. He needs our prayers.

Pat

God bless everyone