Quote:
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Originally Posted by OverAndBack
"I'm getting hundreds of emails – hate mail – but I'm responding to it all. People deserve a response. You can rest assured that nothing anyone can say can make me feel worse than I already feel about my mistake on the fumble play. You have no idea ...Affecting the outcome of a game is a devastating feeling. Officials strive for perfection – I failed miserably. Although it does no good to say it, I am very, very sorry."
Ed Hochuli
Contrast that with how the fans have handled it...including this one
Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve
And I'm not just some fan, I've refereed football and basketball
in addition to all the baseball I've umpired. I've never made a call
that horrible in my life in any sport, so stop trying to defend Hochuli
as "being human." He's a human that cost the Chargers the game,
and I'm not the only one who thinks so. Every sportscaster on ESPN
seem to agree. What the defense did or didn't do earlier in the game
all came down to a great play by the defense being overturned
by a BAD CALL. Does San Diego need to improve on defense?
Of course they do, but it isn't the reason they lost this one.
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The difference between a perfect game a simply horrible game is one call. While Ed Hochuli made this one bad call in all his years in the NFL he has been one of the best and one would hope this does not diminish his record. I find it hard to believe any official has not made, at least, one bad call and when it happens you feel like #$%#. I am sure Ed felt that on Sunday and has been up front about it which shows character.
Any official who is critical of Ed truly lacks the real character of a real official, one who understands the human character of those of us who wear the uniform and stands up for one of our brethren when he is down realizing it is he who could be next on whatever stage he works.
While professional sports has taken on a life of its own, it is still a game subject to the human frailities of life of humans whose time on this earth is oh so finite. If the call is made correctly and San Diego still loss would Ed Hochuli be the target. The fault for the loss somewhere lies on the porous defense of the Chargers who allows Denver to run the same play twice, once for the touchdown and immediately after for the go ahead point after. After all, if the Chargers had played a better game and the point spread had been larger probably Jay Cutler would not have fumbled.