Teddy Strikes Again!
 

Just wondering what everybody thought of Teddy V coming in and trying to overrule the foul call during the Florida game with a travel. It seemed like a strech coming from the opposit side of the floor to make that call.

You'll have to provide time/sit - I know that Hightower tried to come from Trail across the flr and get a travel on a LSU player while the C (his coverage area) had a foul on UCLA approx. 1:20 into the game. After a quick huddle (where I imagine Karl Hess told Hightower - "I've got a foul first! Stay out of my area you ball-watchin' idiot!!!) the C took the foul to the table.

That's exactly the situation I was talking about. He really made himself look bad on that play.

I thought Hightower was lead on that play. When I hit rewind, it certainly look like the travel occurred first. But I wondered what Hess said to him. And of course it didn't help having the idiot commentator put in his "look at that overrule of an overrule"

He also sounded bad on the play by blowing his whistle 9 or 10 times while running across the flr. to visibly and audibly demonstrate that his call was the better one.

That's just one example of why, IMO, Hightower did not have one of his better games. The beauty is that it didn't affect the outcome and the better team won. Congrats to him and the 9 others at the Final Four for an excellent year!

Stripes, you're gonna have to change the title of this thread now that we know you were referring to Hightower, not Valentine.

I'm amazed by the comments directed at Teddy - even though it wasn't him - and Hightower. When I mention a certain (career) U2, I catch a substantial amount of grief. I would say at least Hightower, Valentine and Hess aren't what I would consider a "safe" official. They don't mind going out on a limb every once in a while and calling something other than what everyone - including the parking lot attendant - can see. :p

Amen to that!! Although, Teddy has a few, or even a lot, of pounds on Hightower.

Senator Kennedy, that's pretty funny!

BTW...ya know all those girl's 8th grade games you worked this year? "Senator Kennedy" has worked more ncaa tournament games than that in his career. In fact, I would bet he's worked more D1 games than all the games you've ever seen.

Just sayin'. Carry on.

:D

Both hair styles scream "bald" to me.

Still got 40 minutes left. Hope you didn't speak too soon . . .

I don't remember what game it was, but earlier in the tournament Hightower was made a few multiple-tweet calls from across the floor too, so it's not like it wasn't apparent when he got assigned. I remember thinking that pretty much all of the time, he had them correct, for whatever that's worth.

Or maybe I'm thinking of Teddy Valentine. It's so hard to tell them apart sometimes. :D

Forgive me for being out of the loop, but have Hightower and Valentine kissed and made up?

All I can say is I have not seen them work together since that incident. You can draw your own conclusion from that.

Peace

Does anyone know if Hightower and Valentine are friends, acquaitences, or mere colleagues?

Oh wait, I think I may have asked this one already. tomegun??? :cool:

Sh*t, I can't even identify Bobby Donato half the time and he played on the same HS basketball team with my father. And don't even get me to lying about who the short, chubby white guy is who always seems to be tossing the open jump, is it Higgins or Burr. I really didn't know until this post-season and will probably forget by the time next season starts.

That'd be Burr....

Ask the people in Durham, North Carolina how they feel about racial issues right now. ;)

Peace

Ask Teddy that question and you'd better not be in a hurry! I think Teddy might be right in this instance.

One thing - besides being pretty entertaining - I like about Teddy is he is NOT a safe ref. He could get down on one knee to talk to a coach, whack a coach quickly or anything in between; he is willing to do whatever he feels the situation needs. What is even more impressive, to me, is the fact that he has no job to go to at the end of the season. Since this is his job, it could be understandable for him to take a safer approach; we know some officials are safe and they have a "day job." That being said, I don't know what was going through Hightower's mind on the night in question. From what I remember it didn't look too good for the crew and I can understand why Teddy would be pissed.

I've gained a greater amount of appreciation for the game Teddy V calls as I've gotten more experience myself. In the same respect I've become more frustrated watching Hightower the more I ref.

Am I the only one yelling at the screen when Ed as the T is deeper than the C? It seems like he does this in order to get an angle on the ball when it's across the court from him:confused: . I counted at least three times in the National SF when he got caught doing this and the play went the other way with him trailing the play by more than 20 ft.

Just goes to show..."Do what I say, not what I do."

btw for clarification for all:
Ted Valentine = Big A$$ Ed Hightower = Bad Rug

Biz, can you explain this one...I'm not visualizing what you are saying here. Thanks

I actually don't think he means deep; I think he meant he is coming down too low.

I don't think the point was made for him, or anybody else, Chuck. Rut's issue is valid. A better comparison would be between two SEC officials, JB Caldwell, and Doug Sirmons. JB is a really big guy, Doug is of average build. I dare say that no one who knows who these two guys are is going to mix them up.

But take the present situation. Ted Valentine and Ed Hightower are not any more similar in build and facial resemblance than Caldwell and Sirmons are. The only thing that they have physically in common is their skin color. I don't know why it's so hard for some people to understand that it's very offensive to members of minority groups when we whities can't distinguish between people who look nothing alike. It's offensive because the message it sends is, "the only characteristic of yours that I pay significant attention to is your skin color." Certainly, I don't think that there are many people who mean it to come across that way, but that's the message. And until those that do have to work a little harder to distinguish between individuals begin to put in that extra effort, these problems will persist: people will continue to mistitle threads and misattribute egregious officiating mistakes, and people like Rut and me will continue to think that it sucks.

I do not know the college officials very well at all. This is probably the first season that I have paid any attention to the names of those working in the tournament. However, watching the games on television do not really give you much to go on. By that I mean, how often are there close ups of the officials? Most of the views you get are views of the entire halfcourt. Most of the closeups are on the players [as they should be]. So unless you know who the officials are on sight, it is going to be very easy to confuse who is who out there. Most of my observations until I get to know these guys on sight will be in reference to 'the bald guy' ,'the heavy guy', 'the skinny guy', 'the gray haired guy', etc. Until basketball goes the football route with R, U, U1 & U2 on the back [and I hope it never happens], there will be confusion as to who is who out there. "You can't tell the players without a scorecard" didn't become a catchphrase for nothing.

Let's get back to officiating please... thanks!