http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/orl-bianchi1008sep10,0,4711652.column
Let’s just get right to the point, shall we?
UCF got jobbed by Big East Conference refs Saturday night.
And Miami got jobbed by SEC refs Saturday night.
And such jobs have happened in the past and will continue to happen in the future until somebody somewhere steps in and gets to the bottom of the biggest rip-off in football stadiums since the $7 cup of beer:
Conference officiating.
Have you ever wondered why college football is the only college sport that has “conference” officials who traditionally work for only one league? College baseball umps aren’t employed exclusively by one conference. Neither are college basketball refs. But college football officials are.
You want to know why? Because college football is the only sport where the big conferences control all the money. And when you control all the money, you want control over everything else, too — and that includes the calls.
The biggest officiating sham in sports isn’t one renegade NBA official getting paid by bookies to influence games. It’s entire crews of independently contracted football officials getting paid to prop up their leagues.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not accusing college football refs of intentionally cheating. I’m just saying when one conference signs your paycheck, you’re going to make darn sure that conference gets the benefit of the doubt. It’s human nature.
UCF Coach George O’Leary won’t come right out and say his team got shafted by Big East officials in its game with South Florida on Saturday night, but he did call the Big East supervisor of officials seeking an explanation on several “questionable” calls. If said supervisor were honest, he would have simply recited O’Leary my favorite sports limerick (amended slightly for today’s column):
“There once was a ref whose vision,
Orlando Sentinel
9/10/08
