09-22-16
No 60.89%
Yes 38.1%
Other: 1.01%
The percentages above are based off the question; “Should Officials be Able to Overturn the Result of a College Football Game?” A poll conducted as a sidebar for an article on syracuse.com. (1) The poll is based off a college football game played earlier this season between Oklahoma State University and Central Michigan University, where an errant procedure by a referee crew resulted in an extra “illegal” play for the Chippewas who were trailing 24-27, needing a miracle to go the extra 51 yards from the game-winning score.
And… They… Got it! In one of the most elaborate last second hook n’ ladder game-winners ever, CMU pulled off the upset. Here’s a visual aid to make up for my lack of ability to describe it. However, I feel even the color playing greats like Vin Scully can’t do the play’s ludacris action justice.
http://youtu.be/jvbpKycXM0A (2)
The poll incites two arguments for societal scarcity. One is the turn we’re taking in sports as a society via entertainment. The other side of the fear comes to how much meaning college football puts into one game. While one needs to be let go, the other is brilliant and should be embraced, not scrubbed away.
The above poll results suggest there are four out of every ten people that believe that the Cowboys deserve that the loss be negated and awarded back to Oklahoma State.
Let’s address that right away…
Oklahoma State needs to accept the loss and move on!
Sometimes, the sun shines on any baboon’s ass on a given day. Even if that baboon is gold and maroon and from the middle of Michigan, sometimes the World takes a u-ey along the path of expectancy. More times than not the Cowboys demolish a team like the Chippewas but that Saturday they struggled. That struggle led to a procrastination that put Central Michigan in a place where a referee’s mistake could change the final score of the game. Notice, I used the term final score and not outcome. The final score was able to be manipulated by a referee crew’s mistake because OSU’s struggle had already made up the outcome. Is it so wrong that the Chippewas took advantage of that notion and used it to their advantage? There were 137 plays in the big upset; what did OSU do in the prior 136 leading to the game’s ultimate climax of a finish that enabled its presence? (4) Whether the orange and black want to hear it or not, the refs didn’t blow the game — just that one play! The Cowboys poor ability to put the Chippewas away is what blew the game.
After the game the officiating crew did the right thing in admitting they made a mistake. They didn’t lie to anyone, they confessed that they (just like you and me) are imperfect humans. (3) Does that negate the fact that Oklahoma State put themselves in a bad situation? NO!
This is the scary side that we’re seeing in sports that a fair amount of people believe the Chippewas should forfeit the win and give it back to the Cowboys… Why?
Is it because you put money on the game you can’t come up with and have a loan shark trying to bite at your heals?
Is it because you truly believe in the plea that the right call needs to be awarded?
Are you that disappointed in the possibility that some people made a mistake they fully admitted to and the World will just have to move on and accept it?
Or are you just that afraid that the Oklahoma State Cowboys possibly just lost their chance to represent the school and perhaps the Big 12 in the College Football Playoff?
All of these lead to this societal viewpoint that the world should be fair, that no one should be done-wrong. One problem with that theory; if you take that win away from CMU how is that fair for them simply utilizing the dilemma put in front of them and going out on that 137th play and winning the game on it?
No matter what happens someone will be done-wrong, and that’s life. With every promotion, with every relationship created, with every decision made; somebody in the end has to be the one getting screwed. However unfair it seems, the Cowboys essentially screwed themselves by not completing what we all expected to happen. The reason most are so mad about it is what makes college football beautiful!
On December 12, 2015 the Milwaukee Bucks pulled an upset over the Golden State Warriors, giving the reigning champs their first loss of the season; 108-95. (5) The Warriors bounced back to go 73-9 that season and returned to the NBA Finals. Imagine had the story gone; sorry for your ONE unfortunate loss, now you nullify your chance to win the title again. In the basketball world that would seem absurd. In the college football world; that’s the way the soda settles!
College football’s playoff system, like the final score of the Septempber 5th long-shot by CMU is imperfect and that’s what makes it great! You can’t afford bad losses if you’re a Cowboy like you could if you were a Warrior. You have to win those games or else suffer the jeopardy of losing a reservation in the National Championship Playoff tree. The flimsiness that the four-team playoff creates gives excruciating meaning to tough breaks like what happened in the hook and ladder finish. Some may say that’s unjust, I’ll simply say that’s great entertainment!
We’re getting to a point in America where we don’t use sports to get away from real life problems but instead see it as a platform to promote them. So why not let the final score of CMU vs OSU promote the reminder of life that sometimes things aren’t just? We have to realize we have the ability to prevent the chaos of upsets by not relying on the expected. The Chippewas certainly did that leading up to the last second game-winning play by putting themselves in a chance to win.
Don’t like the platform that’s been raised? Don’t step up to it! Learn from it! Don’t put yourself in a a dilemma where one unjust moment can have a long-lasting effect on your life.
Oklahoma State might have an appeal case to get the win back in which Central Michigan must agree to accept the loss and have the win taken away. Some have challenged the integrity of CMU in the process. (6)
Dear Chippewas,
For the sake of teaching our society the lesson we need more than fairness, and that the World can throw awkward last second laterals your way sometimes…
DON’T GIVE IN! KEEP THE WIN AND PRESERVE THE TRADITION OF HIGH STAKES SPORTS-ENTERTAINMENT!
Sincerely,
Someone who probably has a lesson in karma coming their way.
Sources:
- http://www.syracuse.com/axeman/index.ssf/2016/09/should_central_michigan_give_oklahoma_st_a_win_back_as_cornell_once_did.html
- http://youtu.be/jvbpKycXM0A
- http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2016/09/central_michigan_stuns_oklahom.html
- http://www.cmuchippewas.com/sports/m-footbl/stats/2015-2016/game01.html
- http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/GSW/2016_games.html
- http://sportsday.dallasnews.com/college-sports/collegesports/2016/09/15/oklahoma-state-student-newspaper-thinks-central-michigan-prove-integrity-give-win-cowboys
LLOYD-RAGE! 