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SEC suspends officiating crew for blunders in 2 games


Beerball

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Referee Marc Curles’ crew called a personal foul on Arkansas defensive lineman Malcolm Sheppard in the fourth quarter as the Gators were rallying for a 23-20 victory. The league said there was no video evidence to support the call.

 

The same group of officials called the LSU-Georgia game earlier this month, which included a late unsportsmanlike conduct penalty the league said shouldn’t have been called.

 

Marc Curles told the associated press that he believes there was a penalty and has no regrets in calling it. "Look after the season when I'm sitting on my yacht or driving around in my Bentley this will all have been forgotten. My friends have been very supportive and can't wait to see me back officiating again."

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Even the "judgment calls" like pass interference, etc. should be reviewable. Other than for verbal taunting and even that should use sound replays --- directly referencing Andre Reed's penalty in the '99 Miami playoff game.

 

As long as it remains non-reviewable, it's a free pass for shenanigans. Whether that's jobbing one team as personal/league payback, helping out the home team, 'sympathy !@#$' situations ala Marino's final year, favoring a high-ranked team to preserve legitimacy of the Bull-Chit Bowl Championship Series, refs throwing a game (as much as they'll all deny, deny, deny, this does happen), helping to make it a 'more competitive game' to keep viewership up, etc. There's all kinds of pressures and they come from a lot of different sources.

 

The state of officiating in all leagues is horrendous. Back in the day, the call was as the call was, no matter how mad anyone got about it or how obvious it was wrong. It's the advent of quality video replay that allows for more nearly accurate officiating and to remove bias from games.

 

Until nearly everything is reviewable, the system is suspect.

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