Should officials apologize?

[Robmoz]

Originally posted by Back In The Saddle
This was not just some inadvertant whistle. Well, it was, but then it blew up in a major way.

The official sounded his whistle to acknowledge a time-out request following a basket late in the game. But for some reason that I don't recall exactly (some reason why he shouldn't have granted the time-out) he chose to play on and ignore his own whistle.

When he heard the whistle for the time-out, the kid that got T'd came onto the floor (in the bench area) whooping it up 'cause his team had just taken the lead or something akin to it. The official kept quiet about the whistle and allowed the crew to assess the T.

The official continued to deny that he'd sounded the whistle until a local tv station that broadcast the game was able to demonstrate that the official had indeed blown his whistle.

As I recall, the official had also denied blowing his whistle to his supervisor. The league slapped the guy around pretty good, took a few games away and denied him any conference tournament games.

All this is well documented.

Sure, it was just an inadvertant whistle. But the official's shameful behavior after the whistle allowed the player in question to be torn apart on national television and very literally cost the team the game.

So give thadbrown his due on this. He's got a legitimate gripe. Of course, he should have moved on with his life a long time ago too.

What? Cost them the game? No.

In an incredible finish, BYU guard Kevin Woodberry tipped in a Cougar miss to tie the game with 3.8 seconds left. A technical foul was then called on the Cougars as Mark Bigelow came onto the court from the bench to celebrate the shot, sending the Lobos' Troy DeVries to the line for two free shots (later scrutiny on video tape showed a whistle was blown after the Woodberry bucket, which prompted Bigelow onto the court; however, the officials did not acknowledge the whistle and consequently Bigelow was called for the technical foul). Amazingly, DeVries missed both attempts, leaving the game tied with 3.8 seconds still on the clock.

Shameful actions by the ref goes without saying but there is no need to persecute this man further, let it go.

For someone to say that they would have his back (under the right conditions) but then offers to let him hang ---- that is shameful