Better late than never...

Nearly a year after the worst moment in sportscasting history, it looks like ESPN is canning Joe Theismann.

Thank GOD.

Hoyas win, dammit

I didn't see what apparently was a postgame bloodbath by Greg Gumbel and Seth Davis saying that Jeff Green traveled before his game-winning shot. I was babysitting my nephews, and saw the game-winner but not the aftermath.

But I just read this in an Associated PRess article:

Replays seemed to suggest Green traveled by picking up his pivot foot. None of the three officials saw it that way.

God-bleepin'-dammit! THAT'S NOT THE RULE! And people who are paid to know sports should disembowel themselves for printing that!

It is not a travel to lift the pivot foot. A little common sense! If it were, that would mean every jump shot would be a travel. Criminy.

I haven't seen the play other than live, but if he lifted his pivot foot, it is NOT A TRAVEL!

Every moron with an anger management problem is going to remember this article and yell at me next year. Good God, this is a mistake nobody who has read the rules would make.

Seriously, AP, demote, suspend, or fire...but this guy isn't worth being on your staff. He has embarrassed you.

Seth Davis backpedals

After criticizing the officials in the Memphis/Texas A&M game for what he thought was an error in taking 1.1 seconds off the clock on the late out of bounds play, Seth Davis looked again. He said the following at halftime:

"Let me do a mea culpa on my analysis before. I'll rescind my criticism of the refs. As you said, Greg, the ball did bounce in-bounds, so when they went and looked at that replay, they took off 1.1 seconds...I actually thought when I first saw the replay, Greg, that the ball bounced off of [Memphis coach John] Calipari. That's the reason why I thought they blew it."

Then, a way to dodge the entire damn "the story is the refs" angle:

"But hey. Give Memphis credit for making those two free throws down the stretch. And let's face it, it was a bad pass on Texas A&M's part. They were fortunate even to get the ball back."

Wow! Refreshing.

"So Mea culpa. Refs were right; I was wrong."

Better late than never. Thanks, Seth, for getting the word in before this blew up in front of everyone's water coolers tomorrow.

I trust that Sweet 16-level NCAA officials know the rules better than I do. Still, I'd love to see verification that the replay officials were to measure from in-bound touch to out-of-bounds touch rather than from in-bound touch to whistle (which was earlier). All of the rules I've seen cited here and here so far don't quite address this exact situation.

New book

I've just discovered a new book called The Worst Call Ever! The Most Infamous calls ever blown by Referees, Umpires, and Other Blind Officials.

My birthday is coming up! And if you get me this book, I'll bludgeon you with it.

Or maybe I should buy it, just to figure out what's in there.

Or just look at it in the library.

Cornbread Maxwell needs a benching

For this.

After disagreeing with one of Violet Palmer's calls, he said she should "go back to the kitchen" and "make me some bacon and eggs."

If I were in charge, I wouldn't fire him, but I'd certainly bench him for a game or two.

Seriously...would it have been acceptable if he'd been similarly insensitive towards a racial group? Told an Italian-American, Latino, Jewish, or whatever-else official to "Go back to the...[insensitive whatever]"?

Anyway, I appreciate his apology, which at least mentioned that she had to work hard to get where she is. Maybe Maxwell should work a little harder so his color commentary isn't off-color commentary.