MANASQUAN, NJ – There’s a big problem in high school sports in New Jersey and that is the blown call by referees in a recent playoff game between Camden and Manasquan. The refs blew the call. It’s nothing new. Refs always blow calls. Even in the NBA, NFL, and Major League Baseball.
Now New Jersey legislators are trying to get in the game, many who probably never stepped foot on a real football field, basketball court, or baseball diamond.
Bad calls are bad calls. As a board member for the local little league, I had to sit and watch one of our umpires blow a clear-cut-out call at third base in a championship tournament game. I knew it. Both teams knew it. The only one who didn’t think it was a bad call was the umpire who, in his mind, saw a girl safe at third in a one-run game with two outs in the bottom of the 7th inning, where the ball arrived a good 3 feet before she reached based on a force play. The third baseman’s foot was clearly on the bag. That play haunts me because it turned the game, and the team that should have won the championship lost.
We could not do anything about it. There were no rules allowing a board member or anyone else to overturn an umpire’s call.
The same thing happened in that basketball game. The ref blew the whistle before the ball hit the rim, and it was a bad call.
Now, everyone is calling for legal reviews, and some are even calling to overturn the play and award the championship to Manasquan.
Here’s one thing nobody is suggesting. Replay the game. As athletes, these kids from Camden will always remember the championship they should not have won. They might not see it now, but it will haunt them if they become decent adults. They will forever carry a trophy with an asterisk on it should they advance to a title game and win.
It’s never been done before, but such a bad call has never been done at this level in New Jersey. There was .5 seconds left in the game when the ball went through the hoop.
Let’s just play the game over again and let the best team win. We don’t need politicians like New Jersey Senator Vin Gopal ordering the state to overturn a play in a game, and we don’t need legislative oversight of school sports.