You Texans Are a Bunch of Cheating SON OF A GUN's

[TXMike]

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/yb/153191653

Sometimes being biased worse than being bad in refs
By Edward Carifio, The Sun, Yuma, Ariz.
Dec. 07--Incompetence vs. bias.

Both are bad in referees. But which is worse? After Saturday's 31-27 loss to Blinn in the Heart of Texas Bowl, I would wager AWC players, coaches and officials would say bias.

As required by law, here's the setup. Arizona Western is losing in Copperas Cove, Texas, to the Buccaneers, who are from Brenham, about two and a half hours away. They close the gap to 31-27 after a touchdown. The Blinn returner fumbles the ball and AWC's Nathan Mayfield emerges from the bottom of the pile with the ball, seemingly setting up the Matadors on the Blinn 20.

Except the referee ruled that the returner was down before the ball came loose. Blinn ball. The Bucs go on to run out enough clock for the win.

Now, that's just one call. And normally, I would just shrug that off. Calls like that happen. You have to expect bad calls on the road -- and with a central Texas crew officiating the game, make no mistake about it. This was a road game.

But what makes this really, to borrow a phrase from the great Peter Griffin, grind my gears is that the same play happened earlier in the game. Well, almost.

On a kick return after Blinn went ahead 10-0 late in the first quarter, Brock Ringo fumbled the football after a big return, although from the press box it was pretty clear the ground caused the fumble. But he was ruled in play, and Blinn took over on their 45. Four plays later they had a 17-0 lead.

Both plays happened on the side of the field closest to my vantage point, which was along the Matador sideline. Both looked like they could -- dare I say should -- have gone AWC's way. Obviously, the Matadors feel like they got robbed. And Blinn coach Brad Franchione was noncommittal on commenting on the plays after the game. Of course, he didn't have a very good vantage point on the far side of the field. Besides, what's he going to say? "Yeah, we got lucky there. I'm going to go ahead and give AWC this trophy." I don't think so.

There were some other calls that seemed iffy. But there was a ton of penalties on both teams, and it's not like the Matadors were strangers to the color yellow. At least early in the season. But it was those two plays that stood out, to me anyway, as contradictory and even suspicious.

But, like AWC running back Reggie Bullock said after the game, that's just Texas. As someone who spent three years in the Lone Star State, I learned two things. One is that there is no city like Austin. But more importantly, Texas officiating crews are generally biased.

That means the home team is going to get all the calls, whether it's Salado playing at Troy in a 2A battle, a Dallas team playing one from the suburbs in a 5A clash or AWC playing Blinn at the junior college level.

At least incompetence knows no bias. If a ref thinks there are three downs and not four or it's 20 yards to a first down, at least that will be applied both teams equally. If it's applied equally, then incompetence in an officiating isn't really a hurdle.

But if you have a Texas crew working a Texas game against an out-of-state team, pride is going to take over. Maybe at a subconscious level, but it will happen.

As AWC coach Tom Minnick said Saturday after the loss, maybe next year's bowl game, hosted by Arizona Western and the Caballeros de Yuma, will have Arizona officials so he can finally get a call.

Or a the very least, maybe they'll think a touchdown is worth four points. You know, be incompetent but neutral. Then we can get a better gauge of who the best team is.

Edward Carifio can be reached at ecarifio@yumasun.com or 539-6882

[DallasLJ]

Wow!!!!

  Do we know where the officials were really from?

[BankerRef]

Pretty sure it was a SWJCFC crew from Texas.

Don't you love a guy like this with a platform that allows him to use one example to paint a whole state of officials in a negative light.  It is ironic that his entire article is colored by his own bias that he can't seem to recognize.

[TXMike]

It is clearly easy for him to be biased and perhaps since it is so easy he just assumes others are like him,  the whole "takes one to know one" deal. 

[Matt]

"although from the press box it was pretty clear the ground caused the fumble"

I like this line best of all!

[With_Two_Flakes]

I trust you guys have already taken advantage of the endline, Clueless biased journo can be reached at ecarifio@yumasun.com

[GAHSUMPIRE]

Does th UIL have a branch office in Yuma? Maybe he is a member and thought the officials were part of TASO who had not registered yet.

[110]

I trust you guys have already taken advantage of the endline, Clueless biased journo can be reached at ecarifio@yumasun.com

Already done:

As a fellow journalist, one with 15 years in newsprint as a writer and
editor - ironically, the same number of years I have worked as a
football official - your attempt at a story suggests to me that you need
to take an officiating clinic.

Work a few games, and you will realize that what you think you see, what
you actually see, and what actually happens are often different things.
You will make mistakes. This, I assure you. You will make many. Your
objective in those first, fumbling, haze-filled little-kids games will
be to minimize the number of colossal goofs you make in a game.

Eventually, if you stick with it, by year three or four - if you're
really good - you'll have the colossal errors reduced to maybe one or
two a season. Your minor slips will bother you. You will then focus on
those, trying to reduce your minor slips. Eventually, after a few more
years, you'll get those minor slips down to one or two every three or
four games.

At that point, if you're good enough, you'll start getting high end
varsity assignments. The players move damned fast, and you'll probably
make goofs again. But you'll adapt. Your errors will be back under
reasonable control... and you will kick yourself silly over every single
one. Well, you will if you're good.

You'll have to endure fans yelling at you - and you'll know enough to
realize they haven't a clue. Applying NFL rules to NFHS games, for
example. Wishing for stuff that isn't there.

Eventually, if you're really good, a decade maybe, you may get some
playoffs. It's an honour, usually only given to the very, very good. The
best of the bunch. You and your peers will likely execute a perfect
game: because the best of the best are so good, they don't have many
minor flubs, let alone major errors.

And yet, despite that, you'll have to endure idiot fans, ill-informed
people who get their rules for Friday games from Sunday games. Coaches
will yell at you, parents will hate you, threaten you even - and worse,
journalists with not one whit of applicable knowledge, save, maybe for
some Sunday TV watching, will call you biased. You will be insulted, but
you will pity them, for they have not one whit of understanding as to
the time, energy and effort it took to work to the game they watched.

Yes, a clinic. Take one. It might open your eyes.

[allen]

Wow, he just got slapped with words.

[James]

You should send it to his editor as well.
mmaxson@yumasun.com

Mine:
I wanted to write to let you know I found your article slated and unfair. You were not on the field and did not have the perspective or (I am making an assumption here) the rules and philosophy knowledge of an experienced football official.

Can you positively say you are certain that each of those two questionable fumbles were not ruled correctly? Or is it just your personal feelings that wants you to see it that way?

I have not seen the game. I accept it is possible that an official made a mistake or saw something differently than you, but to accuse him, respectively his whole crew, and a whole state of bias is uncalled for. Personally I am not interested in either team, have never seen either play, and have never even been to Texas, but I find your article thin on facts and very full of your own bias.

As for your article, as someone who has not been following the Matador's season, I do not understand your reference to penalty flags. How does their penalty count relate to these fumble rulings? Was the team doing better later in the season, or why do you write At least early in the season?’ I also do not understand your jump to being incompetent. Did the officials in this game show that they were incompetent in some way, like the examples you provided? Your article seems to lurch around a variety of topics without given good cause for your opinions, or connecting your thoughts in a cohesive way.

Thanks for your time,

[Joe Stack]

But if you have a Texas crew working a Texas game against an out-of-state team, pride is going to take over. Maybe at a subconscious level, but it will happen.

Yeah, just like the basketball game I had in my first year. The jr. high I went to, coached by one of my better friends. Actually, I think I had them twice and I think they lost both games.

This guy is an idiot.

I'm also wondering why a newspaper would send a guy out of state to cover a JUCO game. A few years ago, I sold some pics to the Waco paper who didn't cover a local team in a state SEMIFINAL game! 20 years ago, yes. Today, I have to wonder.

[110]

Well, Mr. Carifio did not have the ... testicular fortitude to respond, so I have re-worded my missive and submitted it as a letter to the editor.

[The Ref Thats Lef]

Do a 'Henry Root' and send it in the post with a $1 donation towards his travel expenses. Then if you get no reply you can kick up a fuss he has taken your money.

http://www.duncanwil.co.uk/roo1.html