Referees owe Northwestern a mulligan

ESPN:

The NCAA said officials erred Saturday night by not calling basket interference and goaltending on a Gonzaga player late in the top-seeded Bulldogs' 79-73 second-round NCAA tournament victory over No. 8 seed Northwestern in Salt Lake City.

The Wildcats had trimmed a 22-point deficit to five and had the ball when Gonzaga 7-footer Zach Collins reached up through the basket to reject Dererk Pardon's shot with 4:54 left in the game. There was no call, and Northwestern coach Chris Collins, jawing with the officials all day, ran onto the court, charged toward the referee and was slapped with a technical foul.

Nigel Williams-Goss made both free throws, and Northwestern -- in the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history -- never got closer.

"I mean, it would have been a three-point game," Chris Collins said. "We had all the momentum. The guy puts his hand through the rim. It's a very easy call, in my opinion. But it's an honest mistake. Referees are human beings. They're here for a reason -- because they're outstanding officials. They made the calls. We have to live with them.

Shortly after the game, the NCAA issued a statement saying officials missed the violation under Rule 9, Section 15 of its men's basketball rules book.

"Article 2.a.3 states that basket interference occurs when a player reaches through the basket from below and touches the ball before it enters the cylinder," the NCAA said in the statement. "Replays showed that the Gonzaga defender violated this rule, which should have resulted in a scored basket by Northwestern."

Rule 9, Section 8 - "A Get of Jail Card Free"

There is an easy way to fix the highly questionable calls in the NCAA Basketball Tournament. Allow each coach a challenge once per game. No coach would throw his ruby red flag on the court in the first half to protest a possible travel or three second violation. They would protect that piece of nylon with their life.

It took 78 years for Northwestern University to make an appearance in March Madness. We'll see you same time next year.


Paul Murphy

Follow me on Twitter at @_prmurphy

The Game That Saved March Madness

Youthful Broadcaster Mike Gorman, who did the play-by-play: “Princeton looked like the high school team that stumbled into the wrong gym.” Princeton’s near-upset of Georgetown on St. Patrick's Day in a 1989 NCAA first-round game made sure Cinderella would always get invited to the ball.
Sean Gregory, SI:

Today the NCAA Tournament is a multi-billion dollar enterprise with cultural cachet to rival the Super Bowl. During its first week millions of Americans, many of whom haven’t watched a second of college basketball all season, fill out brackets in office pools and try to pick the likeliest upsets. They let economic productivity go all to hell, cheering for schools they’ve never heard of, following the action on smartphones and tablets as well as the TV at the corner bar.

But 28 years ago some underdogs risked extinction. As the tournament boomed through the 1980s, more and more schools began to seek Division I status. They coalesced into leagues in hopes of landing NCAA tournament bids that would deliver exposure and revenue. Eventually the major conferences, determined to freeze the field at 64 teams and grab the highest share of the money that went with 34 at-large bids, became fed up. Their representatives on the basketball committee hatched a plan to deny each of the weakest two conferences an automatic bid. Moreover, they proposed to pick the outcasts on Selection Sunday, which would strip a bubble conference’s postseason tournament of much of its drama. To extend the metaphor trotted out each March, a couple of would-be Cinderellas wouldn’t even leave their charwoman’s (woman employed as a cleaner in a house) posts for the ball.

It didn’t help that the Ivy League had sent teams to the three previous tournaments that lost by an average of 40 points. The Princeton-Georgetown game halted that discussion.

The chronic pessimist Princeton head coach Pete Carril had set the betting line. “I think we’re a billion-to-one to win the whole tournament,” he said. “To beat Georgetown, we’re only 450 million to one.”

The second half lead reached double digits at 31-21, for the Tigers of Princeton. Georgetown fought back, behind the inside presence of center Alonzo Mourning, tying the game at 49. Mourning, who entered the game as a 65% foul shooter, converted both ends of a one-and-one. Following a missed possession by Princeton, Mourning converted the front end of a one-and-one. The free throw put Georgetown up, 50-49 with 23 seconds remaining. He fired the second one long and Princeton's Bob Scrabis chased down the rebound in the left corner.

With two timeouts remaining, Princeton elected to hold for the last shot. Scrabis had his clean look at the rim with seven seconds left. Scrabis: “He jumped from the middle of the lane.” Mueller: “The way Mourning got out there, it’s insane.” Still, even after Mourning’s block, the game wasn’t over. Princeton kept possession. One second remained.

"For a beat, Princeton had an opening. Referee Range was preparing to hand the ball to Lapin to inbound. Mourning fronted Mueller on the near side of the foul lane. No Georgetown defenders stood behind Mueller. Lapin: “I was like, ‘Gimme the ball, gimme the ball.’ They were still getting ready. I just remember thinking, if the ref had given me the ball then, we would have had a good chance to score.” Carril: “They were a little disorganized there. We had an easy layup there.”

Princeton gets celebrated for almost winning. The word "Cinderella" has, by analogy, come to mean one whose attributes were unrecognized, or one who unexpectedly achieves recognition or success after a period of obscurity and neglect. On March 17, 1989 in Providence, the shoe "almost fit perfectly."


Paul Murphy

Follow me on Twitter at @_prmurphy

It's always just a matter of trust

Henry McKenna, PatriotsWire:

Malcolm Butler and the New England Patriots had negotiated the foundation for a long-term deal during the 2016 offseason, but they have not revisited the discussion during the 2017 offseason, according to Butler’s agent. Instead, the Patriots placed a first-round tender on Butler, which would put him on a one-year deal worth $3.91 million next season.

That pales in comparison to Stephon Gilmore’s five-year, $65 million deal. The former Buffalo Bills' cornerback signed the largest free agent deal in Patriots' history, with $40 million guaranteed. The fifth year CB, drafted in the first round from the University of South Carolina in 2012, is a former track star and high school QB who led his team to a state title.

“I think players understand it, but sometimes agents don’t understand it. Let’s remember, Gilmore was an unrestricted free agent. Malcolm doesn’t have any kind of leverage right now. So why would the Patriots remove the risk from Malcolm and put it on themselves? It just doesn’t make business sense.

Fans understand recent history. Wikipedia:

Super Bowl XLIX-With under a minute left in the fourth quarter, Butler was matched up with Jermaine Kearse. Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson threw a 33-yard sideline pass to Kearse that Butler deflected. As Kearse fell to the ground, the tipped pass landed on him, he juggled it and eventually retained possession. Kearse's catch was widely reported as one of the greatest in Super Bowl history. After recognizing that Kearse had made the catch and was not down by contact, Butler pushed him out of bounds at the five-yard line.

Two plays later, with 20 seconds remaining and the Seahawks in position to score on the Patriots' one-yard line, Butler intercepted an attempted pass to Ricardo Lockette at the goal line, returning possession to the Patriots and maintaining their 28-24 lead. Butler said that he had guessed correctly that Wilson would throw to Lockette, having read the Seahawks two receiver stack formation. "From preparation, I remembered the formation they were in ... I just beat him to the route and made the play." Butler gave credit to Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia for preparing players well for the game. The interception was the first of Butler's NFL career. It was the only interception of a pass attempt from the one-yard line during the 2014 NFL season, out of 109 such attempts.

You know, we roll our eyes at Bill Belichick’s answers so much that we often forget to listen to them.

It isn’t his modus operandi to pay guys early, and though that’s resulted in some unhappy campers over the years, it’s not like we can exactly argue with the results. Those who question the authority of the New England Patriots are forced to stop by their local post office for a change of address form.

Malcolm Butler should enjoy his new home. He will need all that added cash.
His new city is named after the Duke of Orleans, who reigned as Regent for Louis XV from 1715 to 1723, as it was established by French colonists and strongly influenced by their European culture. It is well known for its distinct French and Spanish Creole architecture, as well as its cross-cultural and multilingual heritage. New Orleans is also famous for its cuisine, music (particularly as the birthplace of jazz), and its annual celebrations and festivals, most notably Mardi Gras, dating to French colonial times. It is not famous for winning games in the NFL. The city is often referred to as the "most unique" in the United States.

PENNY WISE, POUND FOOLISH. I will remember that Malcolm Butler attended Hinds Community College, Alcorn State University and finished up at West Alabama. Along the way, he worked at Popeye's Chicken. And he made the greatest play in Super Bowl history. For that, he deserved to move to the head of the chow line in New England.

Paul Murphy

Follow me on Twitter at @_prmurphy

Bobby Knight is still stuck in the dark ages

Bullying is the use of force, threat, or coercion to abuse, intimidate, or aggressively dominate others. The behavior is often repeated and habitual. One essential prerequisite is the perception, by the bully or by others, of an imbalance of social or physical power, which distinguishes bullying from conflict.

On September 10, 2000, Indiana University president Myles Brand announced the firing of head basketball coach Bob Knight after 29 years at the university, calling Knight's behavior “uncivil, defiant and unacceptable.” ... Knight refused, and Brand told the Hall of Fame coach that he was fired.

Hannah Withlam, NYPost:

Bob Knight is happy his old Indiana bosses are dead. He wishes death upon all those he worked under at Indiana from 1971-2000, though he hasn’t appeared to keep track of their lives since his firing.

Knight, the winningest coach in Hoosiers basketball history, made clear his hatred for his former acquaintances in Indiana’s administration when asked if he ever would return to the university. Some of those individuals are in fact dead (including the man responsible for firing Knight in 2000, then-president Myles Brand), did little to appease Knight.

“I hope the rest of them go,” he replied.

Knight won three NCAA titles at Indiana and coached the 1984 men’s Olympic basketball team to a gold medal. But his brilliant career has also been marred by several violent outbursts over three decades — from throwing a chair during a game, to allegedly throwing a vase at a university secretary. There is nothing alleged about the vase or verbally abusing a high-ranking female university official and “gross insubordination.”

The most famous of all Bobby Knight's transgressions occurred during a practice in 1997. Jeff Eisenberg, Yahoo Sports:

To most college basketball fans, Neil Reed was the Indiana player legendary coach Bob Knight choked in 1997. He was a McDonald's All-American who led East Jefferson High in New Orleans to a pair of appearances in the state tournament.
A solid but unspectacular player throughout his first three seasons at Indiana, Reed's life changed when Knight attacked and choked him during a practice near the end of his junior season. Knight dismissed Reed from the team at the end of the season and he finished his college career at Southern Mississippi.

In March 2000, Reed went public with his claims that Knight had choked him three years earlier. The Indiana coach denied the accusation, but video of the incident surfaced, giving the school further reason to fire Knight six months later. Reed stayed out of the public eye after the controversy surrounding the end of Knight's tenure faded. He led an otherwise quiet life but one that ended far too soon.

Bobby Knight is nicknamed the "General" after Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, KG, GCB, DSO, PC, and senior British Army officer who fought in both the First World War and the Second World War. "To that end, he demanded the highest standards of conduct, training and performance. Those who failed to live up to his standards were ruthlessly replaced by men who could."

The apple never falls far from the family tree. It hasn't ended the barbaric comments by Robert Montgomery Knight.


Paul Murphy

Follow me on Twitter at @_prmurphy

Hockey players jump right back on the horse

Boston Bruins’ Adam McQuaid Is A Hockey Player, Expected To Be Fine After Neck Sliced Open

There was never a doubt that defenseman Adam McQuaid would play Monday night against the Ottawa Senators.

Matt Dolloff, CBS Boston:

In just about any other professional sport, a sliced neck would mean at least a week off for most players. But hockey players don’t care about neck cuts – in some cases, they barely even notice.

That’s what happened to Bruins defenseman Adam McQuaid against the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night. Teammate David Backes’ leg shot upward during a battle along the boards, inadvertently hitting the trailing McQuaid directly and I mean directly in the side of the neck.

On March 22, 1989. Goaltender Clint Malarchuk of the Buffalo Sabres had his neck sliced open from the skate of twenty-three-year-old rookie St. Louis Blues' right wing Steve Tuttle, who had charged the net, looking for a pass." One of our defensemen, Uwe Krupp, was right behind him. The pass came just above the crease -- a backdoor play. I slid across the net. Krupp pulled Tuttle down from behind and slid into me, skates first", said Malarchuk.

ESPN:

"When you get knocked off the horse, you get back on," I told the reporters. "It'll be tough to play, but I’ll have to be ready ... I’ll be psyched for it ... I'm anxious to get in there. I'll be happy to play. Something like this kind of opens your eyes. You have a life to live ... I'm lucky to be here."

There's not only one victim in this type of situation. Nobody gets out unaffected," Malarchuk said. "You cannot be directly involved in something like that and not be profoundly affected by it. You cannot see something like that and not be profoundly affected by it.

"I grew up around rodeo," Clint said. "You got bucked off the horse, the sooner you got back on, the better you were going to be. You can't be living with negatives all the time. You've got to get some positive flow back. I thought it was important to come back as quickly as I could."

Then he added with a laugh, "And I was also in the option year of my contract."

Toughest job in Sports? - Being the Team Doctor for a hockey team.


Paul Murphy

Follow me on Twitter at @_prmurphy

Standing for the National Anthem is not a part-time job

The most noteworthy part of a national anthem before a sporting event used to be a great singing performance or a riveting flyover. Colin Kaepernick changed that.

Josh Kastzowitz, TheDailyDot:

Though many NFL fans have burned his jersey in protest, many others have bought it, making Kaepernick’s jersey number the best-selling apparel in the entire league. As other players have stood with Kaepernick by kneeling, the San Francisco 49ers' backup quarterback promised to donate $1 million to community organizations.

Immediately after the anthem, Kaepernick and Eric Reid, who was kneeling next to him, hugged each other.

Ebenezer Samuel, NYDailyNews:

Just in time to chase one more big NFL paycheck, Colin Kaepernick's national anthem protest is done.

So much for the cause he once called "bigger than football," and so much for the anger he once had toward a flag that "oppresses black people and people of color." Kaepernick, who spent an entire season either sitting or kneeling during the national anthem, no longer planned to protest, and was done being a polarizing figure in the ongoing national struggle against police brutality and racial injustice.

"Kaepernick no longer wants the past method of protest to detract from the positive change that he believes has been created.

"I don't want to kneel forever," said Kaepernick. "I want these things to change. I do know it'll be a process and it's not something that's going to change overnight. But I think there are some major changes that we can make that are very reasonable."

Kaepernick never voted in a pivotal election, a scary example for the next generation, and he briefly defended the totalitarian legacy of the late Fidel Castro. He was always a privileged child playing at protest, and now, that child wants his allowance. Now, the child realizes the battle against racial injustice isn't easy, so he's done.

The operative word is "DONE."

Paul Murphy

Follow me on Twitter at @_prmurphy

When the clock strikes three, just do nothing

Daniel R. Levitt, SABR:

When the Boston Red Sox won the World Series in 1918, it was their fifth triumph in the fifteen years of the modern classic. The club had the best player in baseball, outfielder-pitcher Babe Ruth, another top hitter in Harry Hooper, star catcher Wally Schang, and four other pitching stars — Carl Mays, Dutch Leonard, Joe Bush, and Sam Jones — each younger than 27. With the ending of the Great War, Ernie Shore, Duffy Lewis, and other stars were returning from military service. Local fans were optimistic — not only because the ballclub was loaded with talent but because Bostonians had become accustomed to great teams since the early days of professional baseball.

Within a few years all of the above players were gone, mostly traded or sold to the New York Yankees, and the Red Sox had become a laughable franchise, finishing dead last in nine of eleven years from 1922 through 1932. Boston Red Sox' owner Harry Frazee sold Ruth to the Yankees for $125,000 and a $300,000 mortgage on Fenway Park.

Edmonton Oilers - In 1978, acquired Center Wayne Gretzky, Goaltender Eddie Mio and Left Wing Peter Driscoll from the Indianapolis Racers (when both teams were in the World Hockey Association) for $700,000 and future considerations. The Racers were losing $40,000 per game. The money was not enough to keep the Racers alive; they folded that December.

Los Angeles Kings - the Kings received from the Edmonton Oilers Wayne Gretzky, Defenseman Marty McSorley and Left Wing Mike Krushelnyski for Center Jimmy Carson, Left Wing Martin Gelinas, $15 million in cash, and the Kings' first-round draft picks in 1989 (later traded to the New Jersey Devils – New Jersey selected Jason Miller), 1991 (Martin Rucinsky), and 1993 (Nick Stajduhar). The Oilers' owner Peter Pocklington was burned in effigy outside Northlands Coliseum. Gretzky himself was considered a "traitor" by some Canadians for turning his back on his adopted hometown, and his home country.

Boston Bruins - In 1964, trade Goaltender Ken Dryden to the Montreal Canadiens for Right Wing Paul Reid and Defenseman Guy Allen, whom the Bruins coveted. Allen nor Reid ever appeared in an NHL contest. Dryden's regular season totals include a .790 winning percentage, a 2.24 goals against average, and, most incredibly, winning 258 games and losing only 57 games while recording 46 shutouts in just 397 NHL games. He won the Vezina Trophy five times as the top goaltender in the NHL. Dryden played on six Stanley Cup winners in his eight year Hall of Fame career.

If a rival team owner calls and mentions cash, listen carefully. If not, hang up the phone. No matter what happens at the 3 o'clock NHL trading deadline on Wednesday, it will never match the Ken Dryden deal. The best trades are the ones that aren't made.



Paul Murphy

Follow me on Twitter at @_prmurphy