Monthly Archives: February 2015

What Happens in the Dark, Will Come to Light

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By Kia Tyus

February 13, 2015

The Jackie Robinson West Little League team from Chicago was recently stripped of their Little League World Series U.S. Championship.

The adults that are in charge of the program decided it was okay to put kids on their team that were out of the district. Tom Farrey and Joe McDonald both contributed to the ESPN written article.

This article gets straight to the point going into detail about the punishment of the staff. Team manager Darold Butler has been suspended from all Little League activities and Michael Kelly Illinois District 4 administrator had been terminated from his position.

In the Little League World Series if a champion is found to have cheated their way to victory, the runner-up will receive the championship. In this case, the team from Las Vegas, Mountain Ridge Little League is the new 2014 Little League World Series U.S. Champions.

The feeling of the article shifts to more of a compassionate state. Little League CEO Stephan D. Keener feels horrible for the kids of the Jackie Robinson West Little League. Keener said, it was something that had to be done. The Little League carries them selves with pride always. One thing that I like about what Kenner said was, winning isn’t everything. The important thing is the kids get an opportunity to play with their friends and develop character.

President Obama even stood up for the kids. He is still proud of the team and what they accomplished. And it is unfortunate that irresponsible adults have cost this team a historic run.

The Jackie Robinson West team was the first all African-American to win the Little League World Series U.S. Championship.

I really liked this article because it got straight to the point and gave you different feels. From what I read, the kids are not being blamed for this unfortunate event. The authors did a great job at not bashing the team but still voicing their disappointment about the adults that were in charge of the organization.

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Chicago Stripped of Little League U.S. Championship

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By Ellen Chlumecky

February 12, 2015

My hope in sports always drops a little when a team is suspended or stripped of a title because of the actions of a coach. Especially when the players might not have any idea of the wrong doing. This may or may not have been the case for the Jackie Robinson West team.

The Little League Baseball organization has stripped the U.S. championship title from Jackie Robinson West. They also suspended their coach and team manager for violating a rule that prohibited the use of players who live outside the geographic area that the team represents. The team must vacate wins from the 2014 Little League Baseball International Tournament. In addition, Illinois District 4 administrator has been removed from his position.

The Little League Baseball organization found out that the team used a falsified boundary map. The team officials met with neighboring Little League districts in Illinois to claim players to make the perfect team and obviously they succeeded.

The Little League International president/CEO Stephen D. Keener stated that it was only fair to make this decision. He made it clear that the league had to maintain the integrity of the program. While he felt he made the right decision at the end of the day, he stated that he did feel sympathy for the players on the team. He reiterated multiple times that it was a “heartbreaking decision,” considering the circumstances of the situation surrounding the team.

The Jackie Robinson West team were true underdogs and they worked their butts off to achieve this high honor. They showed true athleticism and great sportsmanship off the field. While I understand that an organization is not sound unless they follow the rules, it truly upsets me that they had to take the title away from these innocent kids.

Being from Chicago, if you saw the hype that this team brought to the city, you would defend these hardworking kids to no end. They worked hard just to have their title stripped from them for a decision that they had no control over. Keener even said that as far as he knew the players had no knowledge of what was going on.

So the bottom line question is: do the kids deserve the title or do you think this is just a part of life they need to learn about? My opinion is they deserve the title, no questions asked. They showed the world that they had what it takes to win the title. It’s not fair that their coach wrongfully cheated and they’re being punished for it. I understand that organizations need to follow rules, but to what extent in that it’s affecting young players.

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The Social Media Age and Teammate Interaction

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By Kaleb Page

February 12, 2015

Right now as you read this very post, you are probably getting a notification from one of your social media sites about something. Which hopefully you ignore and continue to read this post, but in today’s day and age social media surrounds everything we do. This surrounding by social media can be a good thing but equally bad as well.

While it provides us all with a connecting platform that in the past was never there and ultimately providing opportunities we never could have imagined; there is still an underlying point that can be crossed for the worse. Posting negative things, calling out people behind a keyboard, etc. has been something I’m sure all of us have seen.

Athletes are no different and many are very active with different social media outlets. That is why when a comment is made by a big figure in sports on social media, everyone critiques it. No different was it when LeBron James tweeted a statement in response to something said by his teammate Kevin Love.

This whole season for the Cavaliers it has been a continuing process to see what will be the optimal lineup and style this team will play with. It seems like since the recent additions of J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert and Timofey Mozgov the team has found a sense of direction. Along with that it seems like the ‘jelling’ is starting to solidify into a strong team that is enjoying its basketball.

However one player has been up and down trying to find his all-star form. That player is starting power-forward Kevin Love who even though is playing well, still is not hitting on all cylinders. In the preseason Love mentioned something about trying to ‘fit-out’ with this team as he was unsure his role and place in the team. Then after a loss to the Indiana Pacers this past Saturday, Love was interviewed and said that it was one of the toughest situations he had to deal with. Thus, on Saturday night a tweet by James was sent out with some advice:

“Stop trying to find a way to FIT-OUT and just FIT-IN. Be apart of something special! Just my thoughts”-LeBron James (@KingJames)

Quite the public remark to be made by ‘the King’ and one that saw its fair share of debate from those on every sports outlet imaginable. From ESPN to Fox Sports the debate raged on with if James was out of line and what will this relationship look like moving forward. After the media ran away with the tweet, James responded back saying that the media essentially needed to relax and if he has a problem with a teammate he tells them to their face.

Personally I think James would be someone to actually go up to a player and give his thoughts, but I think this tweet is nothing more than a call out to Love. A call out to basically say the team needs you (Love) to step up and be that dynamic big-man you were out in Minnesota. A public motivation point put out by James may be what wakes up Love, but only time will tell.

As for now it looks like King James is sending the message, get on board as the stretch run of the NBA season is approaching.

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Diana Taurasi’s Decision: What It Means For The WNBA

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This piece is written by Alexx Klein. She was a journalism major at Indiana U with a sport marketing and management concentration. Currently she serves as the Athletic Communications GA where she is the primary SID for cross country and swim/dive. Previously, she worked as the media relations intern in the IU athletic department, as well as the PR intern for the Washington Mystics. This summer she will further continue her WNBA experience and serve as the PR intern for the Indianapolis Fever. 

By Alexx Klein

February 9, 2015

While it may not have been at the top of the average sports fan’s radar, the Diana Taurasi decision was one that holds significant impact for the future of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA). This blog is not meant to criticize or condone the WNBA’s highest-paid player’s decision, but rather to voice my concern for what this means moving forward.

To backtrack, Taurasi recently announced that she would be sitting out the entirety of the 2015 WNBA season to focus on herself, her family and honing her basketball skills. How she will be able to do that is because her Russian team she plays for in the off season offered to pay her more to sit out than she would make playing in the WNBA this season.

Taurasi wrote a letter to the Mercury fans and in it, stated that, “The year-round nature of women’s basketball takes its toll and the financial opportunity with my team in Russia would have been irresponsible to turn down. They offered to pay me to rest and I’ve decided to take them up on it. I want to be able to take care of myself and my family when I am done playing” (Taurasi, 2015).

It is the culture within the WNBA for athletes to play overseas during the winter because of the short WNBA season (four months). Taurasi’s team is UMMC Ekaterinburg in Russia, where she is making about $1.5 million, according to a Washington Post article. Her salary with the Phoenix Mercury amounts to just less than $107,000 a year, which is less than the league maximum available.

So what can be done?

ESPN’s Kate Fagan suggested a restructuring of salaries within the league. In the 2014 season, there were about 40 players receiving close to the league max, which breaks down to 3-4 “max” players on each team and if anybody has watched a WNBA game you know that is definitely not the case. Fagan’s article suggests that there should only be 12 players in the league to receive that type of money: one on each team.

If the NBA doesn’t pay Cleanthony Early (a mediocre, at best, player for the Knicks who very few have heard of) the same as Lebron James, then why pay average WNBA players the same as its stars? Yet that’s what the league chooses to do.

She also goes as far to say that the highest paid member of the team should not be the coach, it should be the player, like it is in most other professional leagues. You’d be hard pressed to find a sport where the coach makes over twice the salary as his/her players do.

If Taurasi’s decision to sit sparks other WNBA stars into following her lead, then the league needs to implement a solution sooner than later. Other players have been offered money by their overseas team to sit out the WNBA season, Taurasi is just the first to take the deal.

Without the Taurasi’s, Britney Griner’s, Elena Della Donne’s, Skylar Diggins’ and Maya Moore’s of the league, the WNBA loses a large chunk of its entertainment value and that is where the downward slope would begin. Without fans to consume the product, there is no revenue coming in from ticket sales, apparel or concessions, and with only half of the teams currently turning a profit, the league cannot afford to take such a financial hit. As stated by a Deadspin article, if the players “begin to make decisions based solely on finances, there may not be any players left” (Draper, 2015, para 11).

Is this simply an issue of money or do you think the athletes are actually concerned about their long-term health? Is it right for a coach to be making two or three times more than these star athletes in the league? Do you think the salary reallocation proposed by Kate Fagan is a good solution?

References:

Boren, C. (2015, Feb. 4). Diana Taurasi’s decision to skip this season is sobering message for WNBA. Washington Post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/early-lead/wp/2015/02/04/diana-taurasis-decision-to-skip-this-season-is-sobering-message-for-wnba/

Draper, K. (2015, Feb. 3). Diana Taurasi’s Russian Team Is Paying Her To Skip The WNBA Season. Dead Spin. Retrieved from http://deadspin.com/diana-taurasis-russian-team-is-paying-her-to-skip-the-w-1683643165

Fagan, K. (2015, Feb. 4). Diana Taurasi’s decision to sit out should spark WNBA salary changes. ESPNW. Retrieved from http://espn.go.com/wnba/story/_/id/12272036/diana-taurasi-decision-sit-spark-wnba-salary-changes

Taurasi, D. (2015, Feb. 3). Diana Taurasi’s Open Letter To Phoenix Mercury Fans. Arizona Republic. Retrieved from http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/wnba/mercury/2015/02/03/diana-taurasi-open-letter-to-phoenix-mercury-fans/22808453/

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“It Felt Like the Team We Wanted to Be”

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By Ellen Chlumecky

February 9, 2015

This weekend past weekend the Bowling Green State University Falcons swept the Ferris State Bulldogs under the rug. While their first win on Friday night, February 6th, was not the win they were looking for there seemed to be a burst of energy instilled in the team on Saturday night.

The air was heavy with frustration on Friday night when the Falcons beat the Bulldogs 2-1. While coach Chris Bergeron said, “There is no such thing as a bad win” you could tell he was much more satisfied with the win on Saturday.

While the Falcons were trailing the Bulldogs 2-1 heading into the third period, junior Ben Murphy and sophomore Pierre-Luc Mercier scored within two minutes of each other to clinch the W on Saturday. While junior goalie Tommy Burke stepped up and blocked 21 of 23 shots to move his record to 8-3-3 on the season.

On Friday night there seemed to be no energy behind the players. There were only 19 shots on goal for each team. While the end result was obviously a victory, there seemed to be a struggle. CJ Motte’s, goalie for Ferris State, who has an overall save percentage of .918, was playing hard. He played hard to make sure it was very difficult for the Falcons to score. He left very few opportunities to score on goal.

While Motte’s efforts were unsuccessful, Bergeron and the Falcons went into Saturday’s game with a different game plan. Bergeron’s opinion on Friday’s game from Saturday’s was a remarkable improvement. He stated that he saw the work ethic he’s instilled in his players. He saw a calm focus in the team and there wasn’t panic among the team when they were down in the third. They continue to push and push until they saw the results they wanted.

Dan DeSalvo, Ben Murphy, Adam Berkle, Brent Tate, and Pierre-Luc Mercier played huge contributions in the rise of energy during Saturday’s game. You could see their commitment to win and their continuous support they gave to their team members. These are the type of players you look to for leadership in the game and they brought it.

The Falcons’ record is now 17-6-5 and 13-4-3 in the WCHA. The Bulldogs are now at 11-17-1 and 8-12-0 in the WCHA. The Falcons will play Ferris State again next weekend. Hopefully they will be able to bring home wins on Ferris’ home ice. We all know that if the Falcons keep applying that pressure, they will be victorious.

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A String of Positive Drug Tests: Could it Hurt the UFC?

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By Kaleb Page

February 9, 2015

A competitive advantage.

A statement heard over the past few weeks involving the Patriots and ‘Deflate Gate‘ where there was debate on the competitive advantage gained from deflating footballs. Now in a different sport the statement ‘a competitive advantage’ was mentioned in a different way.

It was revealed this past Tuesday that one participant in the main event of UFC 184 was taking performance enhancing substances. What makes it more surprising is that it is someone who is thought of as (probably) the greatest fighter to ever step in the octagon. That person being the legend Anderson “The Spider” Silva. This test was taken as part of a practice done by the Nevada State Athletic Commission to test fighters on an out-of-competition basis. This ‘out of competition’ is meant by any sample not taken within 12 hours of competition.

Even though the sample from Silva was supplied on January 9th, the results were not reported until February 3rd. His opponent Nick Diaz also tested positive for Marijuana and those results were released on the same day. Quite the gap in time to not tell the results of such a test. This is leaving some to wonder if there is some back deals between the athletic commission and UFC to delay the findings of results in order to save fight cards. The reason for such speculation is that the Nevada State Athletic Commission receives 6% of the total gross receipts from live events and anywhere up to $50,000 depending on broadcasts of events (pay-per-views). Even though those claims of tampering between the commission and UFC are made, the leader of the commission Bob Bennett said the claims are “outlandish.”

It is hard to look at this instance and not wonder a bit about some type of issue involving hiding the facts. Especially with how the sample was done on January 9th and then results taking until February 3rd to get released; when they knew the fight was coming up on the 31st of January. It also is something interesting to note with the above mentioned payout for the commission from successful events.

Now I don’t want to make it some ‘witch hunt’ of sorts to figure out if this sport is dirty behind the scenes with handling performance enhancing policies and the fighters. However it is something that must be noted since this is not the first time that a fight has been compromised after the fact with positive drug tests.

You can even go back one event to see that. After UFC 183 it came out that light heavyweight champion Jon Jones had cocaine metabolites in his system. However it wasn’t a test that was taken after the fight that found it, it was a test taken a month prior to the fight taking place on January 3rd (just like with Silva and Diaz). Then last August the UFC had a problem with a fighter, Cung Le, showing in a post-fight blood test elevated levels of growth hormone.

The list of incidents I could go on and on about but it brings me to one point. Will this problem of positive drug tests (drugs, PEDs, etc.) end up hurting the UFC? If people start to think the product is tainted with cheating and people taking anything they can to go in the cage and feel less pain or be stronger; this could bring a bigger problem than anyone at the UFC could imagine.

I am a big fan of the UFC and the sport of mixed martial arts, but if they aren’t careful with this problem we could see a possible boxing scenario. At one point boxing was one of the biggest sports in this country, but once things started to get dirty (plus other sport popularity growth and head trauma concerns) the nose dive began to where the sport of boxing has never been the same. Yeah there is Mayweather, Pacquiao and the Klitschko brothers but other than that I doubt any casual fan could name you another boxer right now.

That’s what I fear for the UFC they could lose the casual fan and hurt their brand with more things like this happening. Especially if an icon (Silva) is proven to be a cheater, it could be a big blow to what was supposed to be a big year for the organization. As an avid fan of the sport and the organization I hope it isn’t the case where we see a crumbling sport/organization, because if the UFC goes down then pretty much the whole sport goes down with it.

Now this is all talking in the worst case scenario, but the UFC better take more proactive steps to keep the sport clean. Also they better think of how they are trying to make the sport more mainstream and something everyone watches just like football, basketball or baseball. If they keep this up with scandals of drug use and/or cheating with PEDs then they might as well kiss that idea goodbye.

Just be careful UFC. Nobody is too big to fail.

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You Can’t Teach an Old Dog New Tricks

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By Ellen Chlumecky

February 5, 2015

Sometimes hockey players who have been playing the same way for an extended period of time are naive to change. This might be the case for Daniel Carcillo of the Chicago Blackhawks. Scratch the “might be,” he refuses to change his game for the rules of the NHL.

I wrote about Daniel Carcillo’s cross check to Mathieu Perreault about two weeks ago. On February 3rd, he came out with a statement about the incident. Carcillo stated, “I had thoughts when it happened, but right now I’m just trying to get past it. I don’t really see a point in rehashing any emotions that I had. You can’t do what I did in the league today; there’s no room for it.” Seems like a pretty sincere comment, right?

However he went on to say that despite his lengthy history with the league, it’s not going to change the way he plays the game, it hasn’t yet and it won’t in the future.  He made it clear that even after this serious offense, he still will not change his ways.

Even coach Joel Quenneville, who I rarely disagree with, made a statement saying that Daniel Carcillo did what he did because he has to bring an energy to the game. He said that he didn’t believe his resume has hurt him as far as how he’s competing and how he’s playing. Quenneville asserted that he thinks Carcillo sees the balance between rough play and having control over the situation.

I honestly couldn’t disagree with Quenneville more. I don’t believe Carcillo tries to control his game at all. I believe that sometimes he just blindly hits other players and doesn’t really think about what it will do to them or himself.

While I understand there are an excessive amount of reasons why a hockey player might hit another player, many that are reasonable. I also believe that these players make a conscious decision about whether or not they’re going to hurt another player.

While the enforcer’s job is be the tough guy and push around the team, I don’t feel it’s completely necessary to permanently or seriously injure another player. So no, with Carcillo’s current track record I don’t think he knows the balance between rough play and control.

While I want my team to be tough and be intimidating, there are other ways to do that. Carcillo needs to realize that if he continues to act the way he does, he’ll have to deal with serious consequences.

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Betting in Sports: NBA Commissioner Silver has a Vision

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By Kaleb Page

February 5, 2015

Sports and betting is almost as synonymous as peanut butter and jelly. Always you are seeing the over/under on a game, the line and other betting points for nearly every game or sport. One sport that has been rocked in the past with sport betting is the game of basketball and not at the lowest levels, but at its highest platform the NBA.

Back in 2007 the NBA was faced with a huge scandal involving then referee Tim Donaghy and betting on games. In ESPN’s column they said it was one of the ugliest gambling scandals to hit a professional sports league since the last two major ones involving the MLB in 1989 and 1919. At the time it hurt the integrity of the league because if an official was betting on games and/or games he was involved in then what is to stop the outcome from being fixed?

As the years passed since that huge incident and formal statements by the league against gambling were released; a new voice emerged on sports gambling. When David Stern retired, he turned the league over to long time associate Adam Silver. Silver assumed the role of commissioner on February 1, 2014 and shortly after taking the position released a op-ed for The New York Times with an interesting stance  on betting.

“I believe that sports betting should be brought out of the underground and into the sunlight where it can be appropriately monitored and regulated.” – Adam Silver

Quite the statement for the new commissioner to make, especially after a relatively short time since a big scandal involving his league and betting happened. However, if you look at the op-ed by Silver his points make perfect sense. He pointed to how so much has changed since laws enacted back in 1992 made it illegal to gamble on sports in all states (except Nevada). One change being that even though the law was put in place, gambling on sports is still there and increasing in popularity each year.

Another great point made was that other countries have made betting on sport a legal and regulated practice that cuts away the dark ambiguous areas seen here in the U.S. with betting laws. For example, in England they have betting kiosks at stadiums that are legal and regulated by the government. With many changes globally, commissioner Silver made the motion toward Congress to adopt their old framework on sports betting. This will hopefully allow sport betting without compromising any integrity of the game at hand.

I think commissioner Silver is absolutely right with his thinking, and with the push to make gambling and sport less of an ‘underground’ practice. It will definitely take someone in the power position that is forward thinking and able to provide a clear vision to make this happen. Silver fits in perfectly with both of those criteria.

I am glad he is the new commissioner of the NBA because he seems to be a leader who gets it. By ‘it’ I mean, he knows he has the power to progress things and make actual change, while also knowing that he needs to be willing to adapt to each situation. If you happen to be a fan of NBA basketball then I think you should feel good about what commissioner is in place for the foreseeable future.

More commissioners I think should look to him (even though he is relatively new in his role) for how to conduct themselves. While in a position of power it is fine to have a personality and speak your mind in an eloquent manner. It will be interesting to see where this goes and if the plan by Silver gains more movement.

Challenge and innovate past the status quo…that seems like the mindset for Adam Silver.

Below is an interview between Adam Silver and Outside the Lines reporter Andy Katz on various NBA topics and issues. If you want to get to the specific talking point of sport betting you can skip to three minutes in the video.

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Did the Media Cover the Wrong Story Following Super Bowl XLIX?

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By Nick Muhl

February 3, 2015

I feel the need to start out my story by saying this: what a fantastic Super Bowl.

It was truly a back and forth game, ending with a 10-point fourth quarter comeback by Tom Brady and the Patriots. Nobody said it was going to be easy, it never is for the Patriots in the big game.

The defending champion Seattle Seahawks did their best impression of the New York Giants, but came up short of repeating as champions and robbing Brady and Belichick of their fourth Super Bowl title.

Seahawks wide receiver Chris Matthews not only caught his first pass of the NFL season, but three more totaling 109 yards and a touchdown. Beastmode did as Beastmode does, Lynch ran for 102 yards and a 4.3 per carry average. The Legion of Boom’s defense held the Patriots to 57 rush yards.

Even then, Brady looked to have solidified his fourth title, joining Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw with his touchdown to Julian Edelman with 2:02 remaining.

Then came the insane catch by Jermaine Kearse, who was able to pull down a David Tyree-esque catch to bring the Seahawks in scoring range.

Second and goal following a Lynch handoff and the clock ticking under 35 seconds, Belichick trusted his defense and decided against calling a timeout and giving Brady and his offense another chance at a possible tying field goal.

We all know what happened next. Wilson threw the ball on a goal-line pick play, and Pats defensive back Malcolm Butler picked it off to seal the Pats victory.

Immediately following the electric turn of events, Chris Collinsworth and his fellow NBC Super Bowl broadcasters commented on their disbelief that Seattle Seahawks Head Coach Pete Carroll decided against giving their star running back Marshawn Lynch the ball on a second and one.

Social media, newspaper headlines, online blogs, all giving their input on the terrible job Pete Carroll did. From what I hear, there now crowning it “the worst play call ever”.

As football fans know, you can’t play the “if” game. Well IF this player didn’t get hurt, IF he caught that one pass, IF we had a different quarterback, ect. Consider it an un-written law of football fandom.

Sure, we could look at the play over and over again and wonder why didn’t Carroll run it with Lynch? It could be the fact that everyone thought that was the play call and he wanted to catch them off guard. It could be that the Seahawks have run that play call before during the 2014 season and is a standard inside the five yard line call for the Seahawks.

It could be a lot of things. The fact of the matter is, Malcolm Butler did his homework and the Patriots won the Super Bowl. However, it seems to me all the major media wants to discuss is the “what if” Lynch got the ball. Who says the New England d-line doesn’t claim Super Bowl glory and stuff Beastmode?

That’s the beauty of football.

“Worst Play Call Ever” will continue to be spread and numerous articles will continue to be written all criticizing Carroll’s play call.

Brady and Bellichick’s fourth Super Bowl, Brady’s 37 completion Super Bowl record, Bellichick trusting his defense, there all the second story. After the worst play call ever.

The media covered the wrong story.

And I haven’t even mentioned yet that the Super Bowl ended in a brawl.

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Protecting the Official: A look at a proposed bill

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By Kaleb Page

February 2, 2015

With today’s society in America, the emphasis on sport and getting kids involved from an early age has never been higher. What could also be said about that fact is how the pressures and seriousness taken on by parents, players and fans is even higher as well.

At what cost is all this pressure? Are we all losing the fact that at an early age, while it is good to build skill and be competitive, that the game itself (being played by kids) should be fun? Another thing that should be mentioned as well is that parents are setting some poor examples for their kids at these sporting events.

In the state of Michigan, Senator Morris Hood III from Detroit is sponsoring a bill to hopefully curb this behavior in his state. In a Detroit Free Press article  the bill came to be after refs from lower Michigan came to Hood’s office after an incident where a soccer referee died days after being assaulted. Hood went on to say that the these refs had issues in the past of being harassed during a game and then followed out to their cars (even all the way home).

The bill that is still in the proposal stage will make assaulting a referee a felony. A three-year sentence in prison that could also come with a $10,000 fine. If the bill passes Michigan will join 23 other states that have similar laws like California, Florida, Alabama, Pennsylvania, Texas and Nevada just to name a few.

I think this is a good bill to have. You should not be allowed to go on the field or court of play and go after a referee. Even as a player you shouldn’t even be remotely close to hurting an official. I think as more and more we see the competitiveness of youth sports rise there needs to be more checks on how officials are treated.

Now I know we all do it, we all complain about a call here or there but it doesn’t mean we have the right to go off and assault the official. I remember watching an Outside the Lines report on ESPN about these cases growing in the United States at an alarming rate. It truly is sad to see people ruin a kids game by making a complete fool out of themselves.

I for one have been in games growing up as a kid where we had play stopped as a parent from another team ran on the court to go at a ref and once a coach even got ejected but wouldn’t leave the floor peacefully.

I hope this bill goes through and if anything a bill for all states is made. It is time to put out of control parents, fans and sometimes even players in their place for good. No more should we be having people doing their jobs (officiating just a game) in fear.

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