SAY WHAT???
Yes, it's true. The bane of the existence of IsTonyGreeneOnTheTake, Mr. Tony Greene himself, was named the 2010-2011 Naismith Men's College Official of the Year by the Atlanta TipOff Club.
Supposedly, this award is given to officials display "character, integrity, and dignity, and who have contributed mightily to the growth, success, and viability of college basketball." Yeah, right. Since the award was first given in 1988, it has gone to a different official EVERY SINGLE YEAR and no one has won it twice. Thus, this is much more an award of longevity and "who hasn't won it yet" than it is anything to do with officiating, dignity, character, or any other nebulus characteristic that can be used to describe anyone who hasn't been indicted.
In reality, it is likely that the awarding of the Naismith Official of the Year title, much like the game assignments for NCAA Division 1 officials, is mysterious and left to a cadre of fuzzy folks who enjoy basketball and are part of the Atlanta Tipoff Club.. Further, it is likely that this award is as much (or more) about politics than it is about actual officiating ability, just like game assignments. As such, it can't be too much of a surprise that the Atlanta Tip-Off Club named Tony Greene its Official of the Year for 2009-2010, considering that Tony Greene lives in the Atlanta area, does 60+ games a year, many of them on TV, and has been around for many years... and has never won the award before.
But what is the history of this award? Well, there is really only one thing that needs to be explained.
The 2008-2009 winner of this award, Mike Kitts, was the reigining award winner when he was suspended by his primary conference, the Big East, for poor officiating during February of this year: http://istonygreeneonthetake.blogspot.com/2010/02/mike-kitts-suspended-by-big-east-for.html
Clearly, the Atlanta Tip-Off Club doesn't know the first thing about quality officiating, since its most recent winner was ACTUALLY SUSPENDED for POOR OFFICIATING !!! Perhaps the Atlanta Tip-Off Club names winners based on on-court preening and multiple high-profile assignments rather than effective officiating and quality game management. Could Ted Valentine follow Tony Greene as the club's absurd award winner, if this is the criteria?
Oh wait. TV Teddy already WON this award, apparently, in 2005. Notably, Larry Rose won the award in 2002, just a few years before he was DEMOTED from ACC assignments by new ACC Supervisor of Officials John Clougherty, himself a 1989 Award Winner.
Since the award apparently goes to a visible official who has never won it before, ITGOTT nominates David Hall for the 2010-2011 award. But since it apparently ALSO goes to an official who works primiarly in the south or east, we predict the 2010-2011 award winner will be one of these three folks: Karl Hess, Tom O'Neill, or Mike Stuart.
Additionally, if history is any guide, look for Tony Greene to be suspended this season due to his officiating. As we are sure you know, this wouldn't surprise us.
Showing posts with label John Clougherty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John Clougherty. Show all posts
Monday, November 15, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Mainstream media calls out Big 12 officials
It's easy for a couple of basement-dwelling losers to start a blog on any topic, no matter how obscure, and blog away with hundreds or even thousands of posts and opinions that are as evanescent in the mainstream media world as a spritz of Febreze on Rick Reilly's sport coat.
Thus, ITGOTT is able to dedicate an entire blog to the officiating of one guy - NCAA college basketball ref Tony Greene - and do a quasi-in-depth exploration of his work and whether its possible that he is "on the take" - ie. in the pocket of gamblers attempting to tip the gambling odds in their favor with the help of one official. Unthinkable years ago, this possibility goes from "totally absurd" to "absolutely possible" with the revelation that NBA official Tim Donaghy was doing just that - attempting to influence the outcome of NBA game point spreads by making (or ignoring) certain calls just to make some additional money from rogue gamblers.
Sure, our blog may be an absurd "shot in the dark", windmill chase whose windmill (Tony Greene "on the take") is totally unfounded and does not exist. Alternately, it may be the first look into a devastating, and in light of Tim Donaghy an all-too-realistic, scenario of crooked officiating that could bring down the game we love, college basketball. But looking into the work of Tony Greene, the officials he works with, and even other officials in other games, gets us no real, major publicity. The mainstream media is loathe to question the integrity, or even the ability, of officials.
Until this weekend, when respected Boulder (CO) sports columnist Neill Woelk absolutely eviscerated the officiating work of Duke Edsall, Brent Meaux, and Rick Randall (http://www.buffzone.com/ci_14210188) after their work in a Kansas State victory over Colorado in Boulder on Saturday.
When a member of the mainstream media dares to openly criticize - by name - officials working a Division 1 college basketball game, attention must be paid. Woelk is careful to point out that the officiating of this trio was NOT necessarily biased, just lousy. Further, Woelk explains that a potential great game in a packed house was ruined by a game that featured nearly 70 fouls called. No team was ever able to gain traction with regards to tempo, and as one might expect, the game was both won (Kansas State) and lost (Colorado) at the free throw line. Not only that, but the game lasted more than 2 1/2 hours, a disgrace in this age of 2-hour college basketball games.
Here's what ITGOTT finds interesting about this game. Duke Edsall, who based on anecdotal evidence from ITGOTT fans apparently received the majority of the crowd's ire, used to be a big-time ACC official. He worked nearly every ACC tournament and even worked the 2002 Final Four. A staple of ACC officiating, Duke Edsall was often seen working alongside Larry Rose and Reggie Cofer (both since retired) in major ACC games.
But then something happened. John Clougherty, a 30-yr official highly respected by everyone in the industry, retired after the 2005 season and became the Supervisor of Officials for the ACC. In the four years prior to Clougherty's take-over of ACC officiating, Duke Edsall (a Virginia native and brother of UConn head football coach Randy Edsall) worked an average of 19 ACC games per season. In the four complete seasons after John Clougherty's hiring as the supervisor of ACC officials, Duke Edsall has worked a TOTAL of 16 ACC games, all in the first two years of Clougherty's reign.
Why is this significant? Because of an interview John Clougherty gave to the Hampton (VA) Virginian-Pilot in March 2006, at the end of his first season as ACC Supervisor of Officials. (http://hamptonroads.com/2006/03/acc-official-supervisor-relatively-thankless-job). Virginian-Pilot columnist Ed Miller openly notes the diminished ACC officiating appearances of Duke Edsall, then quotes John Clougherty explaining this turnover with the statement, "After 30 years, I think I have a pretty good eve for talent, who can carry the load." The implication CLEARLY was that Clougherty felt that Duke Edsall either did not have the talent to officiate in the ACC, or could not "carry the load".
Statistics bear out Clougherty's assessment and subsequent marginalization of Duke Edsall in the ACC. Edsall only worked 9 ACC conference games in 2006, then just 7 in 2007, and not a single game since.
This apparently means that Duke Edsall's BOSS, ACC Supervisor of Officials John Clougherty, who assigns officials for ACC games, felt that Duke Edsall, simply, wasn't a good enough official to work ACC games. And like a major leaguer demoted to the minor leagues, Duke Edsall found work in subsequent years by increasing his workload in the mid-major Conference USA and Sun Belt conferences.
And, oh by the way, Duke Edsall also increased his work in the Big 12 conference, which is apparently assigning officiating work to guys who were ostensibly "fired" from the ACC. And as was to be expected, when you take someone else's cast-offs who couldn't "carry the load" in their previous job, you get results like Saturday's. A great game ruined by 70 calls. But when the lead official in the game washed out of the ACC, what did the Big 12 expect?
Thus, ITGOTT is able to dedicate an entire blog to the officiating of one guy - NCAA college basketball ref Tony Greene - and do a quasi-in-depth exploration of his work and whether its possible that he is "on the take" - ie. in the pocket of gamblers attempting to tip the gambling odds in their favor with the help of one official. Unthinkable years ago, this possibility goes from "totally absurd" to "absolutely possible" with the revelation that NBA official Tim Donaghy was doing just that - attempting to influence the outcome of NBA game point spreads by making (or ignoring) certain calls just to make some additional money from rogue gamblers.
Sure, our blog may be an absurd "shot in the dark", windmill chase whose windmill (Tony Greene "on the take") is totally unfounded and does not exist. Alternately, it may be the first look into a devastating, and in light of Tim Donaghy an all-too-realistic, scenario of crooked officiating that could bring down the game we love, college basketball. But looking into the work of Tony Greene, the officials he works with, and even other officials in other games, gets us no real, major publicity. The mainstream media is loathe to question the integrity, or even the ability, of officials.
Until this weekend, when respected Boulder (CO) sports columnist Neill Woelk absolutely eviscerated the officiating work of Duke Edsall, Brent Meaux, and Rick Randall (http://www.buffzone.com/ci_14210188) after their work in a Kansas State victory over Colorado in Boulder on Saturday.
When a member of the mainstream media dares to openly criticize - by name - officials working a Division 1 college basketball game, attention must be paid. Woelk is careful to point out that the officiating of this trio was NOT necessarily biased, just lousy. Further, Woelk explains that a potential great game in a packed house was ruined by a game that featured nearly 70 fouls called. No team was ever able to gain traction with regards to tempo, and as one might expect, the game was both won (Kansas State) and lost (Colorado) at the free throw line. Not only that, but the game lasted more than 2 1/2 hours, a disgrace in this age of 2-hour college basketball games.
Here's what ITGOTT finds interesting about this game. Duke Edsall, who based on anecdotal evidence from ITGOTT fans apparently received the majority of the crowd's ire, used to be a big-time ACC official. He worked nearly every ACC tournament and even worked the 2002 Final Four. A staple of ACC officiating, Duke Edsall was often seen working alongside Larry Rose and Reggie Cofer (both since retired) in major ACC games.
But then something happened. John Clougherty, a 30-yr official highly respected by everyone in the industry, retired after the 2005 season and became the Supervisor of Officials for the ACC. In the four years prior to Clougherty's take-over of ACC officiating, Duke Edsall (a Virginia native and brother of UConn head football coach Randy Edsall) worked an average of 19 ACC games per season. In the four complete seasons after John Clougherty's hiring as the supervisor of ACC officials, Duke Edsall has worked a TOTAL of 16 ACC games, all in the first two years of Clougherty's reign.
Why is this significant? Because of an interview John Clougherty gave to the Hampton (VA) Virginian-Pilot in March 2006, at the end of his first season as ACC Supervisor of Officials. (http://hamptonroads.com/2006/03/acc-official-supervisor-relatively-thankless-job). Virginian-Pilot columnist Ed Miller openly notes the diminished ACC officiating appearances of Duke Edsall, then quotes John Clougherty explaining this turnover with the statement, "After 30 years, I think I have a pretty good eve for talent, who can carry the load." The implication CLEARLY was that Clougherty felt that Duke Edsall either did not have the talent to officiate in the ACC, or could not "carry the load".
Statistics bear out Clougherty's assessment and subsequent marginalization of Duke Edsall in the ACC. Edsall only worked 9 ACC conference games in 2006, then just 7 in 2007, and not a single game since.
This apparently means that Duke Edsall's BOSS, ACC Supervisor of Officials John Clougherty, who assigns officials for ACC games, felt that Duke Edsall, simply, wasn't a good enough official to work ACC games. And like a major leaguer demoted to the minor leagues, Duke Edsall found work in subsequent years by increasing his workload in the mid-major Conference USA and Sun Belt conferences.
And, oh by the way, Duke Edsall also increased his work in the Big 12 conference, which is apparently assigning officiating work to guys who were ostensibly "fired" from the ACC. And as was to be expected, when you take someone else's cast-offs who couldn't "carry the load" in their previous job, you get results like Saturday's. A great game ruined by 70 calls. But when the lead official in the game washed out of the ACC, what did the Big 12 expect?
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