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Emergency: Is there a ref in the house?
Published: 11/14/2009 1:59 PM
Last Modified: 11/14/2009 2:50 PM

Oklahoma State's basketball season opener against Seattle University was supposed to start at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.
It's just before 2 p.m. and the game hasn't started yet.
Reason? The refs either weren't aware or weren't told what time tipoff was supposed to be. They supposedly are en route to Stillwater while fans (some with crossed arms) sit in their seats and play the waiting game.
If there was a medical emergency at Gallagher-Iba Arena, someone would take the public address microphone and ask "Is there a doctor in the house?"
Can't someone take the mike and ask "is there a ref in the house?"
The latest update is the game could start at 2:30 p.m. The refs need to have a good day. I sense a crowd that is ready to boo them.
Why the confusion?
This is what I first thought was the reason: OSU has home football and basketball games today and didn't want them to occur at the same time.
Big 12 schools are at the mercy of television networks when it comes to football starting times, so the basketball start time couldn't be determined until the football start time (7 p.m.) was chosen.
Maybe someday the Big 12 will be big-time enough in football that member schools will be able to set their starting times in advance of the season -- a move that would benefit everybody except the networks, especially in regard to travel and hotel plans.
But the "real" reason why the refs aren't here, I am told, is because this game is affiliated with a Las Vegas tournament that OSU will participate in later this month and the Vegas folks were in charge of assigning officials for this game. I am also told that the Vegas folks were told about the tipoff time once it had been determined. Regardless, someone dropped the ball.
Breaking news update at 2:28 p.m.: Even if the refs arrive in time for a 2:30 start, the latest scuttlebutt is that Seattle's team has left to go get something to eat!!!! Allegedly, Quizno's got some unexpected business. Were the Redhawks really hungry? Or was Seattle coach Cameron Dollar so aggravated at the botched start time that he was taking his team to lunch out of spite?
Breaking news update at 2:51 p.m.: Seattle players walked back through the Gallagher-Iba Arena doors at 2:38 p.m. The refs are here. The new start time was supposed to be 3 p.m. One of the refs just came over and lobbied for a 3:09 start instead.
Unbelievable.



Reader Comments 6 Total
The Masked Assassin (3 years ago)
I think having their game televised trumps people's travel arrangements.
Masked assassin: Some conferences set their start times in advance and get televised anyway. Colleges should be telling networks what time games start instead of the opposite. Two night start times for OU and OSU football games on a mid-November Saturday are ridiculous. Maybe we need another ice bowl to remind folks that night games in november are normally a bad idea, though the weather is unusually mild today.
The Masked Assassin (3 years ago)
Even if it's a 2:30 start, you're still drivin home in the dark. Can't really say all games after a certain date will be early because the weather could be bad. Northern states would have more of a need for early games than we do anyway.
The Masked Assassin (3 years ago)
The only conf. "bigger" than the Big 12 is the SEC, so I doubt that's it. They sure ate fast. Better have the mops ready. They might intentionally puke on the floor out of spite.
I can't imagine that eating a sub a few minutes before a basketball game is a good idea. It showed -- the Redhawks made field goals on only two of their first 28 possessions. Torpedoed by subs.
The Masked Assassin (3 years ago)
Bah-doom-Bah!
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Tulsa World sports writer Jimmie Tramel is a former class president at Locust Grove High School. He graduated magna cum laude from Northeastern State University with a journalism degree and, while attending college, was sports editor of the Pryor Daily Times. He joined the Tulsa World on Oct. 17, 1989, the same day an earthquake struck the World Series. He is the OSU basketball beat writer and a columnist and feature writer during football season. In 2007, he wrote a book about Oklahoma State football with former Cowboy coach Pat Jones.

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