BlogaBarbara

Santa Barbara Politics, Media & Culture

Thursday, April 03, 2008

NCAA Made Wrong Call...

With thirty one fouls and seven yellow cards, it is not a soccer game -- it's a brawl. I'm not sure what the NCAA thought when they fined Coach Tim Vom Steeg for comments he made after a referee led loss in the third round of the NCAA tournament to Ohio State last year. Maybe bigger school, mo' money. No football team.

Ummmm, this is what he said according to The Daily Sound: "We gave up three free kick goals so every call became very important, every corner kick became important and unfortunately, that is part of the story so I can’t really sit up here and talk about the game without necessarily talking about the fact that three of the four goals went in off of a call…”

Big deal. What's up with UCSB Assistant Media Relations Director Ryan Hall telling The Daily Sound that he knew Vom Steeg said the wrong thing at a press conference after the game? To top it off UCSB Assistant Athletics Director Diane O’Brien issued an "official statement". Where's the Gaucho spirit? Most professional games have twenty fouls or less -- thirty one with the majority being in the second half is just bad officiating. They should have fined the ref.

The truth is that Vom Steeg told the truth and was fined only $300. The game was worth a lot more -- I would have said the same thing. UCSB Media Relations should have just kept quiet. Ohio State and the NCAA should not have pushed the envelope in the name of public relations.

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1 Comments:

Blogger Greg Knowles said...

I wish I had seen the game. Sounds like a brutal second half. I have never real liked the NCAA and how they hand out penalties. Pretty arbitrary and seemingly silly sometimes. It does sound like the officials let the game get out of hand. That is what they are paid to not let happen. Sports should be an athletic contest not a brawl.

4/04/2008 8:45 AM  

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