Huntington HS in trouble!

[All_Heart]

Originally Posted by Scrapper1

I don't mind him watching Mayo the whole time. Obviously, there was good reason to keep an eye on him. The problem is that, even though he is watching Mayo the whole time, he allows Mayo to get back to the pack of players at midcourt. If you keep him out of that, there's no second T to worry about.

Good point. If he steps inbetween then it is possibly avoided.

[deecee]

what i DO find hard to believe is that if there WAS all this trash talking was it all coming from one side?

Looks like Mayo's second T could have/should have been a double on his opponents as well. I am just throwing this out there but what if Lazzo was heated and was looking to get back? a possibility yes? I dont know the answer -- the first T looked fine but from my experience trash talk is usually a two way street.

Honestly the second T does look suspect with how it went down and it would have been GREAT had one of the other 2 officials rung him up.

[Eastshire]

Originally Posted by deecee

what i DO find hard to believe is that if there WAS all this trash talking was it all coming from one side?

Looks like Mayo's second T could have/should have been a double on his opponents as well. I am just throwing this out there but what if Lazzo was heated and was looking to get back? a possibility yes? I dont know the answer -- the first T looked fine but from my experience trash talk is usually a two way street.

Honestly the second T does look suspect with how it went down and it would have been GREAT had one of the other 2 officials rung him up.

I disagree, I think Mayo coming back into a pack of the other team's players with a look purpose is troubling.

I do agree that one of the other officials should have been babysitting Mayo until things got organized. That most likely would have prevented the second T.

[tmp44]

http://www.wsaz.com/home/headlines/5410146.html

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by tmp44

http://www.wsaz.com/home/headlines/5410146.html

As I said, I'm not surprised.

They're dancing in the streets in West Virginia. Sad......

[David B]

Not surprising, but hard to believe. Obviously the state officials have no integrity. Not only should the player be suspended, but his coach should be suspended for allowing it to happen.

In reading the coach's comments - he wanted only a delay of game for the taunting?? Now that's integrity from a coach.
Accept responsibility for your players!

Should be very interesting to see the spin that ESPN puts on it.

Thanks
David

[TriggerMN]

Why don't the officials scheduled to work tonight's game, and all officials for that matter, stand up for their fellow officials and refuse to work the game?

[Rich]

Originally Posted by David B

Not surprising, but hard to believe. Obviously the state officials have no integrity. Not only should the player be suspended, but his coach should be suspended for allowing it to happen.

In reading the coach's comments - he wanted only a delay of game for the taunting?? Now that's integrity from a coach.
Accept responsibility for your players!

Should be very interesting to see the spin that ESPN puts on it.

Thanks
David

It's clear this school has already made its deal with the devil.

[Jurassic Referee]

Just a thought......

Remember the NHL playoff game back in the 80's? The one where the NJ Devils' coach got tossed for contacting the referee and calling him a fat pig? He was suspended, and NJ went out and got an injunction also that allowed him to coach their next game. The NHL officials unanimously said "Fine, officiate the damn game yourself". The NHL then had to find some amateur guys to do the game. It would be kinda nice if the officials assigned to the ESPN game tonight told 'em the same thing--"Sorry, changed my mind. I'm busy tonight". I know that if I was assigned to the game tonight, I'd tell them to find someone else.

Won't happen, but I can dream.....

[BayStateRef]

Originally Posted by David B

Should be very interesting to see the spin that ESPN puts on it.

I checked the ESPN schedule and my local cable TV schedule and I do not see any of the three games from the Durham Hoophall Classic listed for today. Is the game still scheduled for TV? (Huntington/Artesia is supposed to be at 8:30 p.m. EST)

[tomegun]

I spoke to Lazo today and he has been going through some stuff the last couple of days. He sounded like he was beat. He told me that the only time he can get this situation off his mind is when he is officiating. I just told him to keep his head up. This bothers me because this is basically a situation where an official's judgement has been questioned to the point of going to court. What is next? Here are some parts of the ESPN article. Lazo did tell me that the New York Times called his cell phone.

Under state athletics rules, the penalty for receiving two technical fouls in a game or being ejected from a game is a two-game suspension. A student who "in protest lays hands or attempts to lay hands upon an official" can be declared ineligible for up to a year.
Mayo's five teammates were suspended for leaving the bench area. Upon his ejection, Mayo was escorted off the court by a police officer.
"We feel O.J. certainly didn't do anything intentional," his attorney, Mike Woelfel, who also is an assistant coach at Huntington, told The Herald-Dispatch on Monday. "If there was contact, it was inadvertent or may have been accidentally initiated by the referee himself."
Huntington (15-0) is ranked second and Artesia (21-1) No. 11 in the most recent USA Today Super 25 boys basketball rankings. Huntington also is scheduled to play Friday against Scott County (Ky.) in Lexington, Ky.
Under SSAC rules, if a student plays under a restraining order that is later reversed, the team could be forced to forfeit any victories in which the student played. Mike Hayden, executive director of the West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission, didn't immediately return a telephone message Tuesday.
Mayo signed a letter of intent in November to play next season at USC.
The New York Times, in a story reported in Tuesday's editions, detailed the events that led to Mayo's ejection:
• Mayo was called for his first technical foul for taunting after a dunk late in the second half against Capital. Following that whistle, he walked to midcourt, where players from both teams had gathered and were jawing. Mayo then walked away.
• The second technical was called after Mayo walked back toward the players gathered at midcourt. From the video, which has been available on the Internet via the Web site of WSAZ in West Virginia, Mayo does not appear to say or do anything, The Times reported.
• But when Lazo, the official, walked to the scorer's table to report the technical, Mayo followed and appeared to make subtle, if any, contact with Lazo. The official then dropped suddenly to the ground. On the video, The Times said, it appeared Lazo's fall was exaggerated.
Lazo could not be reached for comment Monday, according to The Times.
"This official wanted to be the star of the show," William Bands, a lawyer in Charleston who watched from the stands, said, according to The Times. "That resulted in a situation that could have cost Huntington High School and the state of West Virginia a once-in-a-lifetime honor, to win a mythical national championship."

[ChrisSportsFan]

1. HHS's head coach does not have much integrity after his statements.
2. HHS's asst coach has less integrity than the head coach. Why would he want to represent this player who clearly did wrong? Oh yea, he also wants to win the "national title".
3. He was not ejected for the bump so let's forget about that for a minute. He received 2 T's and was ejected. IMO, both were warrented although it would have been way way better if one of the other officials had participated.
4. Seems like a teammate or 2 would have gotten ahold of OJ and kept him away from the second.
5. OJ is now officially bigger than the game.
6. As Dan said earlier...of course a WV judge would allow him to play. Let another state judge make this decision and I bet it wouldn't turn out the same.
7. This Judge is now officially bigger than the game.
8. The fall didn't seem to match the bump. I'd probably no-call that contact.
9. IMO, the officials should not give up the game. If that's going to happen, the entire association needs to stand united on that decision.
10. What's up with the news reporter carrying on about a WWF match? Sounds like he's one of the HHS homers from that blog site.
11. Those folks on the blog are obviously fans who watch with their hearts and not their eyes/minds.
12. It's funny how when interviewed, OJ almost became the victum for not getting to represent WV. That's all he ever wanted to do.
13. What about any other player or coach that gets 2 T's in the future? Are they going to have to add another play in the casebook to help us understand how to handle this in the future? I would hate to eject a kid for 2 T's and he's really supposed to keep playing..!!??

That's all I've got to say for now. If I have more later, I'll report back. Stay tuned.