Desert Magic
It's been hip to label Florida as this year's version of the 2002 Ohio State team, the one which upset hugely-favored Miami in the Fiesta Bowl to win a national title. I covered that game and it's probably one of the craziest nights I've ever seen live.
Remember what happened? Any 'Canes fans out there surely do. The Buckeyes nearly won in regulation but Miami kicked a field goal with 40 seconds left to send it to OT, then scored to go ahead and thought they'd stopped OSU when a fourth down pass fell incomplete. Fireworks went off and confetti started falling as Miami danced around in celebration.
And then it stopped. The field judge threw a late flag for pass interference and OSU got another chance, scoring to force another OT before winning the game a few moments later.
Was it a late call? No doubt. Was it a bad call? Doesn't look like it. My column today is about the man who threw the flag, Terry Porter, and what's happened to him since that night.
Officials have always intrigued me, mostly because of the level of excellence that fans and coaches seem to expect from them. Errors are part of the game, we're always told, but for some reason that doesn't apply to the refs; they're supposed to be perfect.
In Porter's case, I think he made the right call even if he was crucified afterward for how long he took to do it. But there's no guarantee that Florida (or Ohio State) won't play well enough to win tomorrow night and get hurt by a bad decision from the zebras. "You can't think about stuff like that," Dallas Baker said. "If you do, you're focusing on the wrong thing." Then again, it's also possible that an ref's blunder could help the Gators, too. "Oh yeah," Baker said. "Maybe they could just give us 14 points as soon as we kick off. That'd work fine for me."
Remember what happened? Any 'Canes fans out there surely do. The Buckeyes nearly won in regulation but Miami kicked a field goal with 40 seconds left to send it to OT, then scored to go ahead and thought they'd stopped OSU when a fourth down pass fell incomplete. Fireworks went off and confetti started falling as Miami danced around in celebration.
And then it stopped. The field judge threw a late flag for pass interference and OSU got another chance, scoring to force another OT before winning the game a few moments later.
Was it a late call? No doubt. Was it a bad call? Doesn't look like it. My column today is about the man who threw the flag, Terry Porter, and what's happened to him since that night.
Officials have always intrigued me, mostly because of the level of excellence that fans and coaches seem to expect from them. Errors are part of the game, we're always told, but for some reason that doesn't apply to the refs; they're supposed to be perfect.
In Porter's case, I think he made the right call even if he was crucified afterward for how long he took to do it. But there's no guarantee that Florida (or Ohio State) won't play well enough to win tomorrow night and get hurt by a bad decision from the zebras. "You can't think about stuff like that," Dallas Baker said. "If you do, you're focusing on the wrong thing." Then again, it's also possible that an ref's blunder could help the Gators, too. "Oh yeah," Baker said. "Maybe they could just give us 14 points as soon as we kick off. That'd work fine for me."
posted by Sam at
11:04 AM
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