A lot has been spoken and written about Jim Boeheim’s melt down Saturday Night at Cameron Indoor Stadium. With 10-seconds remaining in what was still a winnable game, C. J. Fair dashed along the baseline toward the basket. The shot went in but veteran referee Tony Green immediately called a charge and wiped the bucket off. Boeheim immediately went “nuts” and raced onto the floor. You didn’t have to be a skilled lip reader to realize that he was shouting, “That’s Bull-Shit, that’s Bull-shit” as he confront Green at mid-court. Green immediately access a technical foul on the coach as he made his way to the table to report the fouls. Boeheim continued to shout and confront Green as they made their way to the table where a second technical was issued resulting in Boeheim’s ejection.
This has been the hot topic in sports this weekend with a
multitude of media, fans and fellow coaches lining up on both sides of the argument. Some have been steadfast in their defense of
Coach Boeheim saying among other thing how they admire his passion, while other
have been extremely critical, calling him an idiot. As for me, I fall somewhere
in the middle.
First let’s look at the original charge call made by Tony
Green. When I saw the play in live
action, my first reaction was, while it was a bang-bang play, that it was a
charge. After watching replays from different angles, I think this was one of
those so called 50-50 calls that could have gone either way. When you slow it
down and look at it from different angles y definition it was probably a block,
but Green didn’t have that luxury. Tony
Green was in a no-win situation, he had only three choices, block, charge or
play on. If he had call the block, the
Duke supporters would have been unhappy. And he would have heard it from Coach
K. Would K have reacted like Boeheim,
probably not? But K has never been bashful about drop a few F-Bombs, so one
technical may have been possible, we will never know. He could have opted for the “play on” and
called nothing. If he had chosen this
option, he would have been widely accused by everyone and the media of “swallowing
the whistle.” It should be noted that
during a similar game in last year’s Big East Tournament, Jim Burr and his crew
was accused of this very thing and ridiculed to the point that they did not
finish out their tournament assignment.
And Coach Boeheim chimed in saying, “The refs are paid to call the
entire game, not just the first 39:55, they have to call something.” Well in
this case, Tony Green didn’t swallow his whistle and he did “call something.”
Green’s final choice was to call the charge, which he
did. As a result he took two points off
of the board for Syracuse. Because this
was a player control foul, Duke would not have shot free throws, but got the
ball out of bounds giving Syracuse the opportunity to either get a steal or
immediate foul being down only two points. If they had chosen to immediately foul,
Syracuse would have stood a better than average chance of getting the ball back
with not Duke points scored from the line as the Blue Devils were 7-17 from the
free throw line. To simplify thing,
despite the call, Syracuse was still in the game and still had a chance to win.
Immediately after the call by Tony Green, Boeheim totally
lost his composure. He was not just a step or two on the court he charged to
center court confronting Green with “That’s Bull-Shit, That’s Bull Shit.” Green
immediately signaled a technical foul and was making his way to the table where
Boeheim continued to berate him.
Several seconds passed between the first and second technical.
Usually an assistant or even a player gets between the coach and the referee
and tried to move him back toward the bench before a second technical is call. That didn’t happen, Boeheim continued to
shout and confront Green and the referee has little choice to issue the second
technical, which is an automatic ejection.
I believe 100%, that had someone had gotten between Boeheim and Green
immediately after the first technical and made any type of effort to move him
back toward the bench, Tony Green would have “looked the other way” and went
about his business at the table. But that never happened. Green could NOT look
the other way when the coach is in his face and continues to berate him.
Being a big time college referee is tough and you have to
make tough calls. Tony Green did that. Right or wrong he made a call. Was it
the right call? That is still being debated.
Did the call warrant that type of reaction from Boeheim.
Certainly not. His reaction, whether you call it passion, anger or frustration,
was totally inappropriate. Earlier in
the year Iowa coach Fran McCaffery was ejected from a game for a similar
reaction. He was widely criticized in
the media, and suspended by the Big 10 Conference. While Boeheim has received some criticism he
has by and large gotten a pass because he is a Hall of Fame Coach that “still
has a passion for the game.” Do I expect
Boeheim to be suspended, No. Should he be probably? If you are going to hold
one coach accountable then you have to hold them all accountable.
Did the original charge call by Tony Green decide the
game? No. the Score was 60-58, Duke would not have shot free throws, but only
got the ball out of bound. As I said
earlier, Syracuse still had options and could have gone for a steal under their
basket or fouled sending Duke to the Line where they were a woeful 7-17.
Syracuse still had a chance to win the game.
Did Boeheim’s reactions cost his team any chance to win.
Yes, He took any chance they had completely away from them. He said in his
post-game press conference he hate to see the game decided on that call. (The
charge.) Well I disagree, the game was NOT decided on the original charge call,
it was decided when Coach Boeheim, chose to go running onto the court screaming
like a mad man and none of his assistants had the where with all to make any
attempt to rein him in.
Why did Coach Boeheim react in this manner? Maybe he is
frustrated at being force into a place that he doesn’t want to be. He has made no
secret that he was angry at the move from the Big East to the ACC. In the Big East he was always the Big Fish in
the pond. Years back he occasionally had to share the spotlight with the likes
of Lou Carnesecca and John Thompson, but for the last several years he was the
top dog in the Big East. Now, in the ACC he has to share the spotlight with
others like Coach K, Roy Williams and next year Rick Pitino. Instead of being
the only one, he is going to be one of several. He will no longer get to play
the conference tournament in his own back yard at Madison Square Garden. Even in his post-game press conference he
continues to take backhand swipes at the ACC and its members, with comment
like, “The way they do things down here,” and “I’m sure when tournament time
comes we are going to have to find Greensboro.
Moving on, Syracuse –Duke wasn’t the only thing making
news this week. Danica Patrick and The King exchanged barbs with Tony Stewart
joining in for good measure.
Richard Petty, The undisputed “King” of NASCAR, said
prior to the Daytona 500 that Danica could probably win a race “if everybody
else stayed home.” Danica more or less
brush off the remarks saying he is “entitle to his opinion.”
Patrick’s car owner Tony Stewart then weighed in saying
that Patrick and Petty should race and that Danica should shove the checkered
flag up his butt after she wins.
Petty went on to clarify his remarks, “This is a female
deal that's driving her. There's nothing wrong with that, because that's good
PR for me. More fans come out, people are more interested in it. She has helped
to draw attention to the sport, which helps everybody in the sport."
Basically, Petty is correct. Danica’s involvement in
NASCAR is nothing more than a well-orchestrated marketing tool by everybody
involved in NASCAR. Nothing more, nothing less, and to be honest there is
nothing wrong with that. NASCAR, Sports
and Business in general is all about money.
Danica Patrick sells millions of dollar’s in merchandise
each year. Why? Because she is a female in a male dominated sport. Those t-shirts, hats and other merchandise
are not rolling off of the shelves because she wins races. The Big Name
sponsors on her car are not there because she gets them prime TV-time in victory
lane, they are there because she get their name on TV and before the public
just because she shows up. She doesn’t
have to do anything special, other than show up and the media and the fans are
all over her, which is good for her sponsor, good for her team and good for
NASCAR.
However, the fact remains she hasn’t won anything. Her
average finish is middle of the road at best. If a male driver maintained the
same stats that she has, he would be with a lesser funded team or most likely
looking for a ride or sponsorship. The
bottom line is Danica Patrick is a mediocre driver with mediocre talent that
still has a place in NASCAR because of her gender, name recognition and she
sells millions of dollars in t-shirts each year, nothing else.
