Game Protest Brewing in California

[ajmc]

A couple of years ago, I would have been completely shocked if anyone on an official's forum immediately took the word of a newspaper report, over what sounds like a common sense answer to an extremely loaded question. Sadly, I'm not surprised today, so many are so quick to presume the very worst about the officials in this instance.

Granted, this sounds like a really, really bad IW incident, but what Referee, worth his salt, would throw a crew member under the bus by identifying him to an irate, justifyably or not, coach on the spot? The fact that the Referee chose not to point out who was the particular official who actually sounded the IW shouldn't suggest, at least to other officials, that the crew was unsure that a whistle was inadvertently blown.

For those of you have yet to experience an irate coach not listening to what he's been told and then screwing up the retelling of what he should have heard to match what he concluded before anyone told him anything, you shouldn't have to wait very long for the next opportunity.