Regular readers of this space chide me for giving teams the victory for games they had stolen from them by the officials. I would like to give an analogy, and welcome comments from everyone as to what they think.
Here is the scenario: I am racing you in the 100-meter final in a big track meet. You and I are the only entrants in the race. We run the race, and you beat me by 2 meters. However, immediately after the race, the head official disqualifies you, and declares me the winner. The official said you started with your hands over the starting line, which is an automatic disqualification. I am declared the winner, they give me the medal, the newspapers write about my victory, and my name goes in the record book. However, after reviewing the tape of the race, it turns out that your hands were not over the starting line, and you ran a legal race.
Now, here’s the question I want you to answer: Who won the race? My answer is this: You won the race because you beat me fairly. It doesn’t matter that the officials said I won, the race was reported that way, I got the medal, etc. I believe you truly won the race. If you believe you won the race, then you should have no problem with me reversing “wins” when officials steal games. However, if you believe I won the race, then you are being consistent and basically saying it doesn’t matter who wins on the field, it only matters what the officials determine.
Jeffrey Wilson on November 14th, 2007 6:44 am
You are absolutely right. This has happened many times, and few people seem to be willing to admit this. Remember when Scottie Pippen and the Bulls were victimized by the “Hue Hollins Call” against the Knicks back in 1994? Where was the balance in that? If calls balance themselves out and officials don’t matter, why are they there in the first place?