As of Tuesday AM, the videos have been removed from YouTube. I wonder why.

Your "I wonder why" was probably facetious, since the answer is plain: lawyers.

Videos are here:

Outrage of the day: Euless Trinity football player blindsides ref

Big: I'm a Texas attorney. Tell your buddy (the guy hit) to contact me if he would like to discuss the matter (without charge) and I can tell him his options here. skh_91 at hotmail.

WOW!

No official deserves this. It was obviously pre-meditated as the play is going right and the player goes left directly toward the referee. He can't say he was fooled that bad. He makes the hit then turns toward the point of attack.

Hope charges are filed and the court gets to sort this out.

Videos are down now.

Maybe that guy is related to the LSU guy who got taken out by the umpire and this was just payback. :)

I guess that's supposed to be humorous but there's nothing funny about this situation.

I know it's not funny, but this was the exact thought I had after reading the story. Weird......

The video has found its way back

Video: Euless Trinity High School Safety Blindsides Referee | BuzzCuts | buzzcuts.com

And the punishment begins

HS Game Time Blog - DFW

Euless Trinity football player disciplined for hit on official | Dallas/Fort Worth High School Sports | HS GameTime.com | Top Stories


The video, taken from two angles, is from the late stages of Allen's 34-21 win over Trinity in the Class 5A Division I Region I final Dec. 6 at Texas Stadium.


At the snap of the ball, the Trinity linebacker immediately runs to his right and knocks umpire Robert Rosales to the ground, even though Allen is running a play to the linebacker's left.


<clipped>

The game was officiated by members of the Houston chapter of the Texas Association of Sports Officials. Tommy Moore, the chapter's executive secretary, and other officials said they do not believe Rosales intends to pursue legal action. Rosales could not be reached for comment.

Moore said he doubts Rosales realized it was anything but incidental contact until he saw the game video.



"It's common for an official to get run into sometimes because there's a lot of action out there," Moore said. "But I've never seen anything like this video."
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Thank God it's never happened, but I made a promise a long time ago; If a player, coach or fan assaulted me on the field, sideline or after the game, I would do whatever necessary to see that they spent that night in jail, and would pursue it as far as possible.

I have always thought I owe that to everyone else wearing stripes. In my book, striking an official is right below smacking your mother. You just can't go there, ever.

I hope I have the intestinal fortitude to press the issue also should it ever happen to me. Some things are larger than us as individuals and thinking of it that way may help someone make the decision to go forward even though it could be difficult, and be "costly" to us or our association in terms of future game potential.

Likewise, I made the same promise. I witnessed an incident following a HS county tournament baseball game last spring where one of the umpires was physically assaulted by a fan while leaving the field and heading for the parking lot.

I wasn't working the game but stopped by to watch and knew a couple of the umps. I walked with them to the parking lot when they were approached by a fan. A few words were exchanged. I tried to position myself between the fan and the umps but before I could get there the fan grabbed one of the umps around the neck.

Fortunately we were being followed out by another fan who was an off-duty police officer. He witnessed the entire exchange and subdued the fan before any real harm could be done.

Of course, by subdue I mean the officer wrestled him to the ground and held him until the local police showed up.

I'm sure Mr. Rosales is a fine official and took the contact in stride but there needs to be a STRONG message sent that officials are not fair game and this type of action is not going to be taken politely.