Making heads or tails of a controversial call

Eric Tabor
Saturday June 16, 2007

There is an old saying that officials are the only guys who can rob you and then get a police escort out of the stadium. I remind you of this gem because it shows the way everyone always wants to make a scapegoat out of questionable calls by the men in stripes.

Almost never does an official’s call cost a team a game. Rarely does even the most putrid of blown calls rob a team of a game.

Phooey, I say.

I stand on this soapbox, harrumphing, because of the South Georgia Wildcats’ 70-62 loss to the Wilkes-Barre/ Scranton Pioneers Saturday night.

South Georgia fans say that an officiating decision to call a fumble was a real bologna. I say it was nothing more than a blemish to a fantastic game.

“It was ridiculous,” said Wildcat Season Ticket Holder Bernard Floyd. “The forward progress play should have been stopped; the whistle should have been blown, just to keep a fight from breaking out. When fans that understand football are shouting, bad call, it is a bad call.”

Let’s go back to the controversy in question. The score was 56-54 when South Georgia got a huge break in the contest. On one of the rare defensive stops of the night, the Cats took over first and ten on their own nine yard line. On the in suing play D. Bryant hit Chavis McCollister on a 17 yard pass. He was corralled and carried backward by two Pioneer defenders. During this Larry Kendrick came in and ripped the ball out.

“I didn’t even have my feet on the ground,” said McCollister. “And they held me up for so long. So I thought I was down, that’s forward progress (stopped).”

That’s when the rumpus broke out, the officials met and ruled the play a fumble, even though his forward progress was stopped. (Making it the strangest time something bad happened to the team since a player tore his ACL and MCL while playing in a scrimmage). This was a call which left the Wildcats team and the fans puzzled and upset. Cups, beer, and other trinkets hit the field, players, and officials.

The controversial call all but ended South Georgia's hopes for gaining at least a tie but, this contest was one for the ages.

In hindsight let me say this, I have two basics rules of thumb when it comes to complaints about officials’ bad calls:

1) Bad calls tend to even out.

2) Even when they don’t, if you want to consider yourself a good team, you overcome bad calls. Deal with it.

Let’s start with rule No. 1. It was especially true in this game, since the Wildcats appeared to benefit from two earlier blown calls, which led to South Georgia points.

"You can’t sit and pout about the calls they were making," said Wildcats DB Matt Jackson. "You just have to get ready for the next play."

Which is sort of another way of stating rule No. 2 — deal with it. Had the Cats taken advantage of a number of golden opportunities earlier in the game, i.e. the opening drive that resulted in a missed field goal or the interception in the end zone at the end of the half. The officials never would have had a chance to be an issue in this game.

All of this reminds me of a conversation I recently had with a traveler I met while we sat through a three-hour flight delay at Atlanta’s Hartsfield/ Jackson Airport.

I met a man that was a salesman who sold crystal to retailers. Then I found out that his name was Robert Kennedy.

"It must be tough to have such a famous name," I said.

To this he responded, "It helps me in sales. It’s an icebreaker when I meet a new customer. Plus, everyone always remembers my name."

In other words, deal with it and make the best of it. Normally, the Wildcats are as good a deal-with-it team as you’ll find in the af2, given their ability to overcome crushing adversity.

However in sports someone has to win and someone has to lose. It was not the South Georgia Wildcats night. But you can call the game a statement game. In that the South Georgia will see this team again in the Arena Cup!