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Mad Zebra Disease
Published: 9/17/2006 8:39 AM
Last Modified: 9/17/2006 8:39 AM

Sure, Lee Corso can be a buffoon. But at least he has the common decency to cover his head and face with circus clown-like props when discussing college football.







After Mad Zebra Disease showed up in Oregon, the rest of the ESPN college football crew should be experiencing varying degrees of embarrassment.







After the officiating debacle, Kirk Herbstreit came on the air and more or less said that Adrian Peterson should be removed from the top of the Heisman race because of what had happened in Oregon -- because OU lost the game.







Then Lou "Sufferin' Succotash" Holtz came on and said you had to put bad calls behind you and move on.







That wasn't a bad call.







That was kicking a golf ball out of the rough.







That was corking your bat.







That was cutting across a marathon field.







That was tucking a bottle cap in your wrestling shorts.







The night after the game, ESPN didn't air the replay that showed OU simply recovered the on-side kick.







It was treated like a flag-football game in somebody's backyard.







ESPN is a sports broadcasting monopoly of monstrous proportions.







With all this power comes the obligation to be a responsible journalist now and again.







Demote Peterson?







Get over it?







Had one of ESPN's favorite college teams been taken out a game possibly worth millions of dollars -- not to mention the agony experienced by the players who trained endlessly for a fair shot -- they'd have had forensics experts blowing up the tape of the blotched call; make that calls, plural.







Which was worse, the officiating or the night-of coverage by the national sports authority?







The officiating, in a close call.






























Reader Comments 7 Total
Terry (6 years ago)
Somebody call the cops.... Oklahoma was robbed.

That onside kick was totally botched by the refs. So much in fact that you could almost start to believe that a fix was in place. Three mistakes: (1) the Oregon kid obviously touched the ball before it had gone 10 yards - that would have 'killed' the ball right there and given it to Oklahoma. (2) The Oregon kid who touched the ball first also pushed the Oklahoma player who was trying to catch the ball. This is an automatic infraction; the receiving team has the right to catch the ball, unimpeded - like a fair catch with a punt, before the ball travels 10 yards. This is what Bob Stoops was yelling about. (3) The most devastating fact is that OU actually recovered the ball. ESPN (who gets an F for coverage) never ran the play all the way through in replay. Watch at the end of the video (you will have to do so on an internet site - not at ESPN) and you will notice that #23 from Oklahoma recovers the bouncing ball. How in the world did the refs award the ball to Oregon if no one in that pile ever had the ball?

Simply the most atrociously called play (especially with a REPLAY) I have ever seen.... And I am not an OU fan.
Randy Traino (6 years ago)
I know a lot about college football. One thing I do not know is..........WHO IS IN THE BOOTH MAKING THESE ERRONEOUS CALLS ON PLAYBACK REVIEWS? WHO IS IT? WHAT ARE THEIR CREDENTIALS. DOES THE NCAA REQUIRE PEOPLE THAT, AT LEAST, HAVE SOME VISION LEFT IN THEIR EYES OR, MAYBE THEY HAVE BRAIL SCREENS TO FEEL SO THEY CAN SEE WHERE THE BALL WENT?
Mark (6 years ago)
When it happens to ou it is robbery, when ou does it to some one else, sooner magic.
Eddie (6 years ago)
The botched call on the onside kick is reminiscent of Franco Harris' immaculate reception. During the post-play controversy at that Raider/Steeler contest the referees discussed the play and decided that due to the lack of security at the game that the play should stand as a Steeler touchdown since the game was in Pittsburgh. Obviously, the refs did not wish to incite a riot by calling the play, as most Raider fans still cry, as an illegal touch. The referees and especially the replay official should feel fortunate to have escaped Eugene with their lives but should feel ashamed that their integrity was compromised.
world picker (6 years ago)
ESPN is comprised of a bunch of attack circus clowns.
world picker (6 years ago)
One of the stupidest rules in college football is the on-side kick rule where a team can legally mutilate some poor sucker looking up helplessly for the ball.

A kick-off in the air can be fair caught.

A kick-off bouncing high lets the kicking team run ten yards and try to inflict head, neck and spinal injuries on a "hands" guy.

The pros have tried to fix this attempted maiming by having a rule where half the people have to stay on one side of the ball.

The way it is now -- if a ball bounces two stories in the air, you get to break somebody's neck -- the "hands" team should be replaced by 11 400-pound centers who can take a blow.
Wolfie (6 years ago)
Okay, no argument -- bad officiating, bad commentary, bad rules -- bring on Middle Tennessee and play your best game.
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The Picker began entertaining – and infuriating – sports fans in 1993. Each week during football season, he writes about his picks of college and NFL games in his Thursday Sports column. He's never afraid of sharing his opinions about the game and the personalities who play it. Readers have a chance to go against him each season in the Outpick the Picker contest. He welcomes the competition.

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