With SEC's integrity at stake, Slive had to suspend officials

2009-10-27T17:10:49-04:00

2009-10-21T18:11:26-04:00

2009-10-27T17:10:49-04:00

Mike the VI

No City 902194

63 There were also two other calls that no one is mentioning. First was the excessive celibration call against LSU's Charles Scott for pointing to the sky (God) in the UGA game. The other was the missed offensive interferance call against Florida in the LSU game. The play ended up as a touchdown for Florida just before the half. 7429198

2009-10-23T17:21:02-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/845/190/thumb/send_help.bmp 63 AL

tidefan35555

Fayette 845850

62 shouldn't tebow be flagged every play? he's constantly taunting and excessively celebrating You are absolutely right, but it will never happen. He has never been called on it, and never will, because the powers that be will not allow it. He is there golden child and can do no wrong, if it were any other player they would be thrown from the game for half the celebrating, and tauntung that he does. 7381772

2009-10-23T09:32:09-04:00

War Damn Gator

Plant City 192868

61 If I come back to this blog in 5 weeks, and people are still posting/ranting to it (including myself), then I'll assume that this was all meaningful. Otherwise, I'm going to assume that these are things we choose to argue about (needlessly) until next Saturday rolls around and more controversy arises. Keep an eye on the refs in the Slippery Rock v. Cal Univ of Penn game this Saturday. I hear somethings amiss. 7371280

2009-10-23T08:43:37-04:00

TrueThat

Atlanta 866008

60 Ray Bob - I get it, you are a rabid gator fan. Congrats. Your team is very good. Now in the spirit of useful discussion... 1. Do you think that other SEC CFB players are often flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct and yet SEC officials fail to make the same call on Timmy? 2. What are your thoughts on the clock running out on the 51 yard field goal? 3. How about the +1 yard spot on Tebow's run (allowing a first down and not allowing Ark the chance to get the ball back)? 7370454

2009-10-23T08:29:24-04:00

Ray Bob

Jacksonville 878879

59 Hey TT, keep rambling on (for all that anyone cares). Tim Tebow is still above your reproach. Your analysis of Tebow and the Gators (as well as jaxman?!?) can be compared to the sun setting in the east. Go Gators - First # 15 7370368

2009-10-23T00:40:15-04:00

heel9091

Fletcher 719444

58 This is a conference where fans know where the top juniors in high school went to dinner last night. If Freddie Ref or Johnny Ump was coming into a few extra dollars, Tilda down at the Credit Union would let her bridge club know Friday night, and by Saturday the news would be circulating at tailgates across the conference. The SEC was wired way before the invention of the Crackberry. 7369659

2009-10-22T21:57:14-04:00

War Damn Gator

Plant City 192868

57 If Tebow smacked you, you let me know. He is not above my reproach and I will admonish him personally. 7367316

2009-10-22T20:12:20-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/502/3/thumb/me.jpg 70 FL

jaxman

Middleburg 5043

56 Tebow could smack a kindergartener in the face, and Gator fans would say the little snot nosed punk had it coming to him. 7366146

2009-10-22T18:30:07-04:00

TrueThat

Atlanta 866008

55 Ray and Nate - Arkansas is not my team, sorry. I've only ever been to the state one time and it wasn't a great experience. I am just an outsider on this but was shocked and saddened at the travesty when I reviewed or saw the plays (some I saw live and some I did not). I decided to hop on the conversation because it was interesting and a slow work day for me. The media not letting this die I think gives a lot of credence to the issue. There are precious few non-Gators who believe that the game was not given to the Gators. Yes, Florida won the game last year that is the beauty pageant of our current system. I give Florida and the SEC some credit for an impressive bowl record. When you factor in all of the out of conference games, the SEC is still one of the top 3 conferences pretty much every year and often the #1 but it is very close each year. Yet, the conference - and particularly the Gators - seems to get favorable treatment in my opinion. I guess it comes down to your view on how to separate several teams with identical records or the same number of losses. I think you have to look at "who you lost to" rather than "who you beat" and to take the UF example. I am sort of "old school" (by a function of my age) so tend to think that a loss early in the season is not as bad as one late in the season, a loss at home is worse than one on the road, a loss that is a blowout is worse than a close lost and of course you have to look at who the loss was against. Of course if you apply one set of logic then you cannot reconcile UF's first NC with the last one. I can see how people are claiming SEC/Gator bias. The issue is should Florida (or the SEC such as a 2 loss LSU) even be playing in a NC game over others who are more deserving. The fact that the SEC won the game proves that they were better on that day but should they be there in the first place? Should they have had a rematch against FSU versus another team? Should they have played in place of USC (who lost earlier, on the road and to a better opponent)? At the root of this is the rabid SEC fans - somewhat evidenced by post 54 above - which generates a lot of money for CFB. Tebow is above my reproach, really? How about a team that says we recruit "the top 1% of 1%" yet has the lowest SAT admittance scores of any team in the SEC? I had to laugh at the reality. If I can't offer reproach on a simple message board where can I? Too funny. And I do think that one's religious views are best expressed privately - do we really want every player running around with their own views under their eyes? I can just see it - "Free Darfur", "Drink Guiness 250", "Hendrick Motors" (no doubt an SECer) Tebow just rousing up his fans? Really? It has gone beyond that on some occassions that I have seen (and you have seen it as well) and these actions have been on the field of play. I give quite a bit of leeway when a player is on his sideline to do whatever. But the critical point is that other players - not named Tebow - are flagged for the same behaviors on the field of play. 7365349

2009-10-22T17:44:17-04:00

Ray Bob

Jacksonville 878879

54 Fefute, you bet, unTureT. Tim is not egging on the competition when he does his thing (except for the end of last year's NC game). He is just rousing up his team and fans. Your comment about UF not earning the right to play in the NC is just #!**#^&*. It's funny how you forgot that in each case after you say Florida should not be in the NC game, Florida wins it - mostly in a dominating manner. Florida's team is good enought to get to the NC game this year and Tim Tebow is above your reproach - Case closed. Go gators - First # 15 7365064

<div class="photo_container image_right"> <div class="photo"><img src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/si/2008/writers/stewart_mandel/04/30/bcs.meeting/t1_slive.jpg" alt="Double Click to select a Photo" width="298" height="231" /></div> <div class="photo_attributes" style="text-align:right;">SEC commissioner Mike Slive.::AP</div> </div> <p>Now <em>that's</em> a response.<br /><br />The SEC has suspended the crew that officiated Saturday's Florida-Arkansas game until Nov. 14. The crew, which also was responsible for <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-qccCuL4nQ" target="_blank">a controversial excessive celebration call at the end of the LSU-Georgia game on Oct. 3</a>, will miss three games. In a release, the league also said the disciplinary action would affect the crew's eligibility for postseason assignments. The league will assign other SEC officials to games the crew would have worked.<br /><br />SEC commissioner Mike Slive said in the release that "a series of calls that have occurred in the last several weeks have not been to the standard that we expect from our officiating crews." Slive didn't name a particular official but instead blamed the entire crew. "While only a few calls have been identified, the entire crew shoulders responsibility for each play.  I have taken this action because there must be accountability in our officiating program," Slive said.  "Our institutions expect the highest level of officiating in all of our sports and it is the duty of the conference office to uphold that expectation."</p> <p>This isn't the first time the SEC has suspended a crew. It is the first time the league has announced the decision. Slive, a former judge and attorney who came to the SEC from Conference USA in 2002, didn't become the most powerful man in college sports by accident. He has a television. He has a computer. He knew the very integrity of his conference was at stake, and he knew he had to act decisively.<br /><br />Between the celebration call two weeks earlier and the series of questionable calls that helped the undefeated Gators eek out a 23-20 win against the Razorbacks, the tinfoil hat crowd had plenty of ammunition to paint a picture of a conspiracy to keep LSU undefeated before it faced Florida on Oct. 10 and to keep the Gators winning to set up an SEC championship game between a 12-0 Florida and a 12-0 Alabama that - thanks to the marketing muscle the SEC received from its new 15-year, $2.25 billion contract with ESPN - might just make the universe collapse into itself. The conspiracy theories are pure hogwash, but Slive knows perception is reality, and some of the crew's calls Saturday made for a pretty ugly reality.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hI4v1o-ZhzI&feature=player_embedded" target="_blank">A pass interference call against Arkansas cornerback Ramon Broadway</a> during Florida's game-tying fourth-quarter drive probably could have gone either way, but when combined with an <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWAmTFB_StQ&feature=player_embedded" target="_blank">earlier no-call of what probably should have been an offensive pass interference penalty </a>against Florida receiver Riley Cooper, it looks fishy. The most damning call, however, went against Arkansas defensive tackle Malcolm Sheppard during that same game-tying drive. Sheppard was <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzLLs1oeLgo&feature=player_embedded" target="_blank">flagged for a personal foul</a> after he delivered a clean hit to Florida offensive lineman Marcus Gilbert, who was trying to block Sheppard during a play. Tuesday, I called the penalty one of the worst calls in the history of modern football. My opinion hasn't changed.</p> <p>In that same Tuesday piece, I called for the league to identify and punish the official who threw the flag on Sheppard. Looking back, that probably was a mistake. Some SEC fans have threatened my life by e-mail for dropping their team in my power rankings. Lord knows what some whacko might do to an official he thinks cost his team a game. Slive's punishment is far more appropriate and more severe than I ever imagined.<br /><br />The former judge had to slam his gavel hard in this case, though. This officiating crew, through its own incompetence, had allowed the integrity of the entire conference to be called into question. Looking at it from that perspective, these particular zebras are lucky Slive didn't permanently remove their stripes.</p> http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/245/899/thumb/staples_andy2.jpg 39

Andy Staples

246219 82721 <div class="photo_container image_right"> <div class="photo"><img src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/si/2008/writers/stewart_mandel/04/30/bcs.meeting/t1_slive.jpg" alt="Double Click to select a Photo" width="298" height="231" /></div> <div class="photo_attributes" style="text-align:right;">SEC commissioner Mike Slive.::AP</div> </div> <p>Now <em>that's</em> a response.<br /><br />The SEC has suspended the crew that officiated Saturday's Florida-Arkansas game until Nov. 14. The crew, which also was responsible for a controversial excessive celebration call at the end of the LSU-Georgia game on Oct. 3, will miss three games. In a release, the league also said the disciplinary action would affect the crew's eligibility for postseason assignments.</p>