I've certainly said things during a game I might not have said in other settings. But if my wife and young daughter were next to me it would cause me to self-edit. I assume the same is true for Corchiani and Gugs, so absent any evidence to the contrary, and any history of abusive behavior on thier part, I don't think we should assume they were being profane/racist/overly personal, etc.
That's what so surprising to me here, when I was a student I normally sat in the front row directly behind the scorer's table (its the "non-tv side" so everyone else would go to the otherside and it was very easy to get front row, dead center). I sat (stood) there probably 20-30 times and wouldn't dare repeat some of the things I said to the refs from the front row after 4-5 hours of waiting in line with my dear friend Busch Light. I was never thrown out. Maybe its b/c I was a student and so I was one of one-thousand saying basically the same things, but I imagine anything I said would have been 5-10x worse anything those guys said with their daughters next to them.
This reminds me a lot of the Joey Crawford incident a few years ago with Tim Duncan. Crawford is considered a solid NBA ref and was suspended indefinitely, though he obviously returned and continues to do a solid job. Hess is not nearly the ref Crawford is, so will be interesting to see what happens. I'm sure it will depend on how big a stink Debbie & State make, but I assume it will be sizable. Really interested to watch this play out.
Thank you for that link to a well written article. I love this, the penultimate paragaph:
Facing the grim duty of reporting the Wolfpack’s ineptness, journalists consumed the event like manna from writer’s heaven. While a referee perhaps outstepping his authority and running roughshod over a school’s sporting legends in the process is a worthwhile story, its salaciousness not only deflects attention from N.C. State’s woeful effort and chronic shortcomings, but it also feeds the impulse among fans and conspiracy theorists alike to arrogate excuses in lieu of confronting causes.
Well said Wheat! I always translate "let 'em play" to "let 'em cheat". There was a time when letting a game be more physical always worked against Duke (or so it seemed to me) and I think K has adjusted over the years to be more physical. The NCAA tournament that we won in 2010 was incredibly physical. I loved winning, I would have preferred that we won 81-79 instead of 61-59. It has bothered me when people have said "they called the game evenly" and I'd reply with "they didn't call anything which allowed a lesser team to play even with a better team". We were usually the better team.
As for Gugs ad Corch, I'd love to know exactly what they said because it's pretty surprising to see them get singled out.
I wish The Playcaller would come back and give us his/her insights into yesterday's affair.
Never saw that website before! Great find!
Gotta agree, Hess and Luckie have got to be least consistent refs currently working. And what's worse, like the legendary Lenny Wirtz, they LIVE to make the marginal (or wrong) call to change a game. You seem to ALWAYS know when they are working a game, and that's not what a ref should do. The refs should be anonymous.
So who do you guys think is the worst ref right now...Hess or Valentine? I know every time I go to a game and see that Valentine is reffing I shudder. I went to the Duke Gonzaga game at MSG the year after Redick and Morrison left. There was a fan on the front row yelling at Valentine and as soon as Valentine was right in front of him he turned around and told him to shut up, as a play was happening right in front of him. I'll never forget how unprofessional he was.
I really do try to stay away from the whole reffing discussions, it can be so frustrating!
i.e. I never said a word about the 2nd half no call on the Barnes charge , when he put his shoulder down and plowed! Just sayin I never brought it up!
But this is a much different story, Hess is there to call the game (impartialy), how can that happen when he is so self absorbed in himself and /or action off the court, when his focus is not on the game! Inefficiencies,possibly bias's tend to "inadvertently" creep in!
Personally, I always enjoyed people that didn't take themselves too seriously!
Hess doesn't qualify!
The ACC, must initiate some formal response!
Let's go DUKE !!!
I think you guys ought to give poor Karl Hess a break.
It's a well established fact that when you go blind, your other senses improve to compensate. For somebody as blind as Hess, his hearing must be superhuman. Corchiani and Gugliotta may not have shouted anything nasty, but I bet they were muttering under their breath.
Seriously, this incident makes me recall that Corchiani was the victim of one of the worst calls -- and most important bad calls at that -- in ACC history. in 1989, NC State was playing top seeded Georgetown in the Sweet 16. The Pack was rallying back and were on the verge of tying the game. Corchiani drove and dished inside to a teammate who converted the game-tying basket as he was fouled by Alonzo Morning -- his 5th foul. But, NO, Rick Hartzell comes racing in and overrules the ref who called the foul on Morning and says that Corchiani traveled before oaking the feed.
It was an absurd call and cost State the game (Duke took care of Georgetown two days later). The funny thing is that Hartzell as an ACC ref and remained one long enough to precipitate one of the great screwups in ACC history -- the mismanaged ice game at Virginia in 1997 (his mistakes worked in Duke's favor in that one). That one earned him a suspension from the ACC ... the Corchiani screwup only earned him infamy from a generation of ACC fans.