Oregonian Eye For The Confused Replay Official Guy?
Replay official Riese takes this blown call pretty hard (John Canzano, The Oregonian)
Football is a game, you're thinking.
Right up to the point where an Oregon player touches an onside-kick attempt a step too early, turning the scramble for the ball into a melee where players are rushing the field celebrating, and the ball is squirting through everyone's legs like they were wickets in a human croquet match. Then, the officials on the field blow the call. Then, the review process, instituted to rectify situations just like this, upholds the bad call, causing many of us, including some self-important university president at Oklahoma, to wonder, "Was Mr. Magoo in the replay booth?"
Well, no.
It was Gordon Riese in the booth. He has a name, he has a life.
And after visiting with him on Monday, and learning more from some others about what happened in that review booth, I'm convinced that every honk who criticized Riese in the last 72 hours owes the man a swift apology.
Said Riese: "I'm having a difficult time letting the blown call go. I always prided myself on getting it right. I didn't get the job done. I didn't get it right."
More on the blown call later.
First, you need to know that Riese met his wife, Susan, while they were high school students. They had a math course together, and after an extended illness put her behind in school, the teacher assigned Gordon to be her tutor.
They've been married 42 years, had two children, and two grandchildren — Jeff, 5, and Alex, 4
And you should know that Gordon's real job was teaching math for 34 years.
No, I really don't need to know any of those things.
What I do know is that the replay system failed on three crucial calls (the Oregon player touching the ball before it went 10 yards, the Oklahoma player recovering the ball anyway, and the tipped pass), and this guy was the replay official.
There may well be mitigating circumstances, and it would be really useful if we knew about those. But we don't, because the Pac 10 has a policy that they don't discuss these sorts of things (beyond saying "we screwed up -- so sorry!").
I'm sure Mr. Riese is a perfectly nice man. His family is probably really pleasant. He doesn't deserve death threats, and the people who made the death threats are jackasses.
But I really don't need a Chron Eye For The Death Row Killer Guy approach to the thing from a journalist from Oregon. It doesn't change anything. Feh.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/20/06 22:51 | Big 12 Football | Technorati
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Comments
I'd intended to mention that editorial as a comment on the post about Stoops' dissatisfaction, but my computer went *splat* before I got my ducks-- er, straightened out my p's and q's.
I let it go precisely because I figured you'd react... um, just like this. Canzano's really good at putting a personal spin on his columns, but even I feel he was reaching this time.
But I agree with your sentiments completely, and not just because I care more about the Big 12 than I do about That Other Conference... which has appeared to sacrifice parity and quality of competition for media attention at every turn, during the twenty-plus years I've spent following it.
Posted by ben @ 00:52 on 09/21/06
I almost didn't post it, because I really do think it's time for Oklahoma (and fans) to move on.
That said, I thought this column today handled the human side MUCH better:
http://www.newsok.com/artic...
And then there's Bob Knight weighing in, which is pretty damn good!
http://www.newsok.com/artic...
Posted by Kevin @ 10:28 on 09/21/06
Here's one from ESPN.com's Jason Whitlock (much better online than on PTI, I should add!):
2. The pity party that is being thrown for Pac-10 replay official Gordon Reise won't be attended by any of the non-Pac-10 coaches who remember getting screwed by Reise when he worked as a game official.
A current college head coach called me Tuesday morning just to share stories about his experiences with Reise.
"I feel terrible for Bob Stoops, but he's not the first to be done in by Gordon Reise," the coach said.
http://sports.espn.go.com/e...
I guess whatever coach Whitlock talked to didn't read that touching story about his family.
Posted by Kevin @ 23:52 on 09/21/06
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