Unbelievable

perkdog

A Massachusetts high school lost a state football championship game because a player raised his arm in triumph as he ran for what would have been a go-ahead touchdown.

The penalty for the gesture by Cathedral High School quarterback Matthew Owens in Saturday's Division 4A Super Bowl left the losing team waiting Tuesday for an official report from the state association to determine whether the school could challenge the referee's decision.

Owens was racing for a score as time wound down in the game against Blue Hills. Video shows him briefly raising his left arm as he approaches the end zone. The penalty nullified the touchdown, and Cathedral lost 16-14.

The Blue Hills athletic director said the referee made "a great call, the right call. We try and play by the rules, and the rule is 'no celebrating,' " he said.

Cathedral's athletic director disagreed and offered an analogy. "Imagine a basketball player making a clutch three-pointer right at the end of the game, and he turns around and he just kind of shakes his fist in the air," he said. "I don't think it was anything further than just excitement on the player's behalf."



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/06/SP2F1M8J46.DTL#ixzz1ftX13miH


Here is the You Tube link

Total BS

pmcollectour

I believe excessive celebration is a judgement call. It is entirely up to the official.

I do not believe excessive celebration is a rule in high school basketball. I know it is a rule in high school football.

If the ref made the call, then it can not be overturned. It will most likely stand.

It was probably not a good call, but we may never know if the player was being verbally unsportsmanlike when he crossed
the goal line either. The official was most likely standing right next to him, and I'm guessing he threw the flag not just
for the handraising, but for something else the kid did. That is just a guess, because I too would be upset if a kid got flagged
for just raising his hands for a touchdown. Heck, we see that all the time in college football and no one gets flagged for raising
his hands.

Brick

Political correctness gone haywire. Absolute nonsense. Id call the official a f#ck!ng idiot but in truth he is not that bright.

calaban7

The original movie , Rollerball , dealt with the issue of "the individual " Vs the State . We are in the beggining bouts with the individual and free exspession as defined by the State ( PC ) . Free speach has severe limits to those that feel their viewpoint is IT. Terrible things can be said and done , as long as the state approves. The slightess diviation , not so good.

Why this interest in curtailing sports expression is happening is easy to see and explain by those of us that see it for what it is. To those that don't see or understand , its just another "good" idea from those smarter than us.

For those that were fortunate to see them , Billy "white shoes " Johnson , Dr.J ( julius Ervine ), etc , etc , etc , and guys like them could put on a damm good expression. Expressions like their's can last a life time .--- Sonny

markj111

It's a stupid rule. Why take the fun out of the game?

DIMEMAN

It doesn't matter what he did or said. The penalty is assesed after the score.

That was just a BAD call period. That ref. should be banned from ever refing again and the "call" should be reversed.

TERRIBLE!!!!!!

Tabe

<< <i>It doesn't matter what he did or said. The penalty is assesed after the score. >>


False. The NCAA - and most high school leagues - changed the rule this season. Taunting and such that happen during a play, such as this one, are enforced from the spot of the foul, not after the score.

Tabe

pmcollectour

The great Bobby Orr used to put his head down while skating back to his bench after scoring goals. He said he did this
because he didn't want to show up his opponent. I like his way of thinking.

He also raised his arms in celebration of that classic goal against St. Louis to win the Stanley Cup. We've all seen the picture.
Nothing wrong with his celebration either.

If the kid just raised his arms in a championship game, then the flag was not needed. If the kid was verbally unsportsmanlike, then
the flag is ok within the rules.

jdip9

I can't believe how many people are going nuts over this story. If he raised his hand on the 5 yd line as he was entering the end zone and was 10-15 yards clear of everyone else, I could see getting on the ref for throwing a flag. To me, that would be a celebratory gesture, not a taunting one.

But he raised his hand on the 25-yd line!!! And defenders were only 2-3 yards behind him! Under the rules, that is clearly taunting. It's a crappy way to lose the game, but it's clearly the right call.

<<<The official was most likely standing right next to him>>> You can see the flag come in from the bottom of the screen about 30 yards away. The ref was nowhere near the runner.

PowderedH2O

Sadly, I agree. Maybe he meant it as some sort of religious gesture, but it was certainly an action that was not consistent with the way the game is played. If we let him do that, then do we have the right to criticize someone for a throat slashing gesture or anything else? As with all rules, sometimes people that are not intending to break them are the losers. I don't know if that is the case here, but this young man is the unfortunate one here.

stown

<< <i>Under the rules, that is clearly taunting. >>



IF those are the rules, then so be it, but they need to be changed.

The wussification of American sports is really, really sad.

markj111

<< <i>I can't believe how many people are going nuts over this story. If he raised his hand on the 5 yd line as he was entering the end zone and was 10-15 yards clear of everyone else, I could see getting on the ref for throwing a flag. To me, that would be a celebratory gesture, not a taunting one.

But he raised his hand on the 25-yd line!!! And defenders were only 2-3 yards behind him! Under the rules, that is clearly taunting. It's a crappy way to lose the game, but it's clearly the right call.

<<<The official was most likely standing right next to him>>> You can see the flag come in from the bottom of the screen about 30 yards away. The ref was nowhere near the runner. >>



Under what rule was it taunting? What does the rule say?

pocketpiececommems

Well football players, welcome to the world of Track rules. Track has more stupid rules than football.

jdip9

<<<The wussification of American sports is really, really sad. >>>

I don't disagree, and on a scale of 1-10, this was probably 0.5 on the taunting scale. I just find it funny how much news and outrage this has generated in the state, and to some degree, nationally.

halfcentman

I think that you can tell from many of my previous posts that I think emotion is one of the worst enemies of an athlete or competitor because most people do not know how to maintain an even keel. To make matters worse, people celebrate prematurely and for little reason. I also am not into spectacles, or players who act like idiots who fail to have decorum when entering the end zone. Act like you have been there before and exercise a certain level of humility while letting your game to the talking.

WITH THAT SAID, many of these "celebration" calls are getting ridiculous and petty and this is one of those cases.

SanctionII

Why don't we just take all emotions [arising from victory and from defeat and everywhere in between] out of athletics. In fact, why don't we ban human participation in athletices since it is dangerous and someone may get hurt (we can't have that!!!!!!!!!!!). Replace human athletes with robot athletes that are programmed to perform. In that way emotion can be taken out of the game. For that matter, how about we also ban emotions from the fans who watch the athletic contests. It is just not politically correct to show emotion (unless the powers that be determines that a show of emotion is acceptable; for example a TV interview of some poor schlub that has been victimized somehow and is in need of help from big brother).

The rules cracking down on celebrations are nuts. Then again, personal dignity, decorum and modesty are no longer in vogue. IMO there is too much conduct by athletes on the court or field during a contest that is nothing more than an attempt to draw attention to one's self ("Look at me, look at me, I just made a tackle, aren't I great" or "look at me, look at me I just dunked over my defender, aren't I great"l; as if no one has ever done so in the past). The number of these on the court/field celebrations is increasing constantly and is drifting down to the pee wee leagues. Similar to the 5 and under beauty contests where moms drag their young daughters to a pagent, dress them up to look like barbie dolls and send them out on the pagent stage to "compete" and show up and denigrate the competition (i.e. the Toddlers in Tiaras reality showisgust. I t would be nice to see athletes toned down their "Look at me, I'm great" conduct and simply play the games.

perkdog

Im seriously glad most agree the play was absurd and a tragically BAD CALL. I mean we are talking about a Kid raising his arm over quite possibly the greatest moment of his life, I called my friend who is an athletic director of a big time High School in Western Massachusetts and believe Me he is as much of a straight shooter as they come and in his world the chatter about this incident is that it was an atrocious call and the Refferee should be banned from coaching High School Sports ever again, the rule is like a Holding call you could call it on every play but judgement calls are made on that and in this case this scumbag made a very bad judgement call.

bking

<< <i>Im seriously glad most agree the play was absurd and a tragically BAD CALL. I mean we are talking about a Kid raising his arm over quite possibly the greatest moment of his life, I called my friend who is an athletic director of a big time High School in Western Massachusetts and believe Me he is as much of a straight shooter as they come and in his world the chatter about this incident is that it was an atrocious call and the Refferee should be banned from coaching High School Sports ever again, the rule is like a Holding call you could call it on every play but judgement calls are made on that and in this case this scumbag made a very bad judgement call. >>



Agree 100%. The rules are clear that taunting is called the way the referee called it, but the definition of taunting in the MIAA rulebook (yeah, I read it instead of just firing off opinions) really doesn't fit the description of this IMO. For the call to be correct, the official had to beleive that the gesture was designed to upset the other team, and I just don't see HOW a sane official could make that call.

RonBurgundy

Just another example where, instead of using discretion & common sense, we draw a bright line rule that results in stupidity.

I question whether humans are progressing.

VikingDude

A very bad call. Sometimes you just have to let them play.

Dboneesq

Just watched it. THAT WAS A BS CALL.

NOBODY can convince me otherwise.

I feel bad for the kid.

I don't think the ref should be banned forever, but a 1 year suspension would be nice.

delcherz

I don't understand why holding your arm up in the air is excessive celebration. Since when is hoding your arm up a touchdown dance? Definately the wrong call especially one that decides the game. Thats something that should of been called MAYBE in the early going of the game