I'd like to ask a question
Published: 9/19/2006 12:57 AM
Last Modified: 9/19/2006 12:57 AM
Memo to all sports information directors whose home games I will cover from this point forward:
I would like to arrange a postgame interview with the head referee.
This is a process that, in the Big 12 at least, must be requested before the end of the game. The interview must be performed by a pool reporter, someone chosen before the game to carry out a one-on-one interview with the referee in pursuit of answers to questions that crop up during the game.
I've missed my chance twice now, and both times the controversies requiring a referee's clarification occurred in the final minute of a game, when virtually all beat writers have descended from the press box to the sidelines to witness up close the game's final minutes.
Last year, of course, we needed desperately to interview Randy Christal, the referee of Oklahoma's game at Texas Tech. That game ended with two (nearly three) blown officials' calls, all of which were reviewed and confirmed, and all of which contributed to an unheard of ending of football injustice. But when the covey of reporters – covering both OU and Texas Tech – headed to the field, no one anticipated the mess that finished the game, so no one had asked to interview Christal before the start of the fourth quarter.
No one could ask exactly how the football could be moved forward a yard after it was spotted. No one could inquire how a player could reach the ball across the goal line after he'd left a couple of cheek-marks on the AstroTurf.
The exact same thing happened Saturday in Eugene, Ore.
No one knew the firestorm that was about to engulf Autzen Stadium. When I left the press box, the Sooners had the football and a 30-20 lead. A controversial play here or there, a curious whistle now and then, but nothing requiring an audience with the striped king. Until the final 72 seconds, when Oregon scored two touchdowns in the time it took you to read this paragraph.
No one could ask referee David Cutaia exactly how the football can be touched by a member of the kicking team before it moves 10 yards on an onside kick. No one could inquire how a pass interference penalty could be called when the pass had been deflected.
And no one could pose a question about why Oregon was given possession of said onside kick when Oklahoma actually recovered the kick.
So, here I am, on record with every SID in the country – just in case, you know – submitting a formal request to interview the ref.
– John E. Hoover
Written by
Guerin Emig
Sports Writer
