Unbelieveable

Apologies in advance for those looking for hockey content. Just when I start to allow myself to get calmed down, the football gods peel another layer from the onion. Football is just a game, until you're on the clock It's Riese's spleen the country wants. So let's give it to them. But first you should know that Riese didn't see the ABC television feed that viewers watched at home, which you, your spouse and your children know showed an Oregon player touching the ball before it traveled the required 10 yards. And you should know that Riese will not talk about specifics on the call, but said: "My supervisor knows what happened up there and that's all that matters." A source in the replay booth on Saturday said that Riese found himself crunched for time, pressured by television and the on-field referee for a rapid decision, and there was such a delay in getting the video feed to Riese that he never even got to properly review the play. The Pac-10's coordinator of football officiating confirmed that Riese didn't get all of the replays that ABC was providing. With all the cameras working the game that one half of the country was watching, Riese saw only a single frame of video, the source said. The angle was bad. But it appeared to show an Oklahoma player touching the ball with his helmet before it hit the Oregon player. (From other angles, clearly, it hits the Ducks player first.) With no other video immediately available, and television waiting, Riese did what he's told to do when he's out of time and has no conclusive evidence. He upheld the call on the field. At this point, I think most folks just want to know how this happened. I suspect this may now include Pac-10 commish Tom Hansen, who was quoted yesterday while suspending the officials one game that "on the kickoff play ample views were available." I guess he just took it for granted that the proper Pac-10 Conference policies/procedures were followed, specifically that the "Pac-10 will utilize a TiVo-based system developed by XOS Technology, one of the leading video technology companies in the nation." XOS confirms the policy, specifically that "Monitors in the booth can review each play and create bookmarks for each play without disrupting the game. This allows them to decide which plays should be reviewed, and already cue up several angles to expedite the process once it begins..." Most readers here know I don't suffer fools well. Maybe now hockey fools will understand it's not just in their game I hold to high standards...