St. John's v. Rutgers: Why 1.7 Seconds Matter

In our HD Age of Instant Replay, the best seat in the house is always the couch at your house. That was where one could behold this travesty of Sports Justice. Justin Brownlee is out of bounds and lobbing the ball into the crowd with time left on the clock. The ball should go back to Rutgers and the end of the game could continue. Maybe the referees had reservations at the Olive Garden? Why do I, dude hanging out at his house, have a better vantage point than anyone else in Madison Square Garden? Maybe there should be a referee watching the game at my apartment so the ends of games won’t end like this? The Big East is the currently the most competitive conference in college basketball and their championship tournament was broadcast nationally today on ESPN. Rutgers had taken nationally-ranked St. John’s deep into the game. As Brownlee receives the ball he thinks the game is over and celebrates prematurely. If only we had a way of showing the world that there was still time left. And could bring everyone back onto the floor and play the rest of the game. Well, they could and they should.

Sports is the Fair Version of Real Life. Which is why we argue so fervently about upholding rules and ruling fairly. The Big East released a statement that was like, “Yeah, that was weird. How that game ended. Whatareyougonnado?” I’m not saying that Rutgers would have won the game if they got the ball back with 1.7 seconds left. But maybe they would. We shall never know. I play it out in my head and someone ends up taking a contested three and I can see it to the top of its arc. And then it just stops. We’ll just never know if that ball goes in or not.

Rutgers valiant but short run in the Big East tournament will be marred by this. And the imaginary hanging asterisk all sports fans carry around with them everywhere will now forever float above this game. We have the time and technology to rectify this injustice. Put the teams back out there. The Big East simply won’t. They may be trying to give WFAN’s St. John’s Alum Mike Francesa a conniption, as he canceled a Robinson Cano interview and turned red for the rest of his show yelling. The ESPN crew had the mistake highlighted 5 seconds after it happened. Maybe Doris Burke should be deputized as a old man referee helper? Does ESPN’s basketball crew have to have a former referee nearby during all games to embarrass referees for making mistakes the way Fox TV does for NFL officiating crews?

In basketball, anything can happen. Especially when you’re only down by 2 with 2 seconds. Any shot will do to send the game to overtime. As Pasch says, 2 to tie. Three to win. Fouls can be committed. Foul shots can be taken. Who knows what can happen? That’s why we watch basketball. For the sake of all parties, put the kids back on the court. It’s not too late. We sit through some NFL replay challenges that seem like they take days. If tomorrow they decided to make this right, it would be right. Send both teams back to MSG and let’s see what happens. It’s not just the fairest thing that can happen for Rutgers. It will silence all questions St. John’s will have to deal with over some botched refereeing.

The Jim Joyce/Armando Galarraga Imperfect Perfect Game bad call didn’t determine the outcome of that game. Or who would be in the NCAA tournament. Or who would win the Big East Tournament. Or anything except Galarraga and Baseball History. We’re trying to teach kids if they play by the rules they will get a fair shake in this world. What does this cowardly low-road teach us?