Monday, October 19, 2009

Officiating: Slive has Sold the Soul of the SEC

Football in the Southeastern Conference is in danger of becoming CBS and ESPN's equivalent of WWE wrestling. One can not be sure how long it has gone on, we can only know that Mike Slive and his minions are no longer attempting to hide it.

The officials are but humans they will say, humans prone to error. Divinity post not here, forgiveness is not forthcoming. The SEC must be called to account.

Orin Hatch has wasted much time calling for hearings against the Bowl Championship Series and its flawed methods of determining a champion, or handing out fat paydays depending on your perspective. This, this mar upon the game of which the SEC has caused is of far more importance than the BCS, for the legitimacy of those 60 minutes of actual on field competition are now in question.

Surely the money that bought Mike Slive's soul is substantial enough to warrant inquiry. Surely the larceny that took place in Gainesville, Fl Saturday night before countless millions is worthy of some intervention, some investigation.

We must know, is it a solitaire SEC officiating crew, or is it all of them? One cannot assume the cause is merely a single rogue official with a gambling or drug problem, even though a sole official and his flag have been central to the outcome of two high profile, closely contested SEC battles. For surely this official would not be allowed the opportunity to have such disproportional effect on the outcome of a second game of this magnitude were he not taking orders from on high.

As evidenced by the repeated blatant misjudgments enforced by this officiating crew the problem must be systemic.

The game is no longer played for you, the SEC fan. Nor is the outcome meant to be decided by the players and coaches involved. We have come to the point where SEC football games are decided in advance. Just as Ed McMahon determines the outcome of his wrestling matches, Mike Slive and his sponsors at CBS and ESPN have ceded honest competition to the profits of ratings and the placement of multiple teams in BCS payday bonanzas.

Ensuring the placement of two SEC teams in BCS bowl games now trumps the very essence of fair competition. The tools of fairness, the referees, have been misappropriated to the goals of conference greed.

Perhaps the administration at Arkansas has signed on to this, for they will surely benefit when the SEC splits the money later next year. If that is the case, doesn't honesty compel them to inform their team they are not "allowed" to beat the SEC's chosen team. Shouldn't those kids be informed the are but small props in a larger, more profitble competition, the financial competition between conferences.

Are you going to stand for this, SEC fan? Are you going to allow Mike Slive to impose his will on the outcome of football games?

What can we do about it?  We can identify these mercenaries Slive sends to slay our beloved game. We can effect their livelihoods in the same manner the effect the team that was not "chosen".

Stay tuned!


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You're thinking of Vince McMahon on the wrestling remark. The late Ed McMahon was Johnny Carson's sidekick.