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i may have crossed the line some. I'm hoping I didn't, but i wouldn't be me, if i didn't write how i felt.
Other than my wife, there wasn't an adult in that gym that matters to me.
Kids matter to me. Kids. That's all. They're innocent, they matter and I thought they suffered unfairly. Still do.
HL
A fair anf legitimate assessment.
I'll never understand the three officials thing. It's wrong for high school basketball. it's wrong to change the mechanics for guys who've been two-manning all year long.
I'm not saying Muldoon's column decided things. The MVC's chasm between coaches and referees has taken on new life around this state this winter.
Everyone involved is human. The subconscious does strange things.
HL
If you think for 1 second that the person who assigns officials isn't aware of what's been going on in the MVC then you my friend need to get with the program. It is a fact that the person responsible for assigning officials discusses any concerning issues before hand. I'm not going to get into how I know that or why I know that, you just need to trust me when I say that it does happen.
Unfortunately, like I said this doesn't effect Paul or any other coach it hurts the kids. The fact that you weren't there last night doesn't help your your arguement. 8-0 in fouls for an entire quarter. that says it all.
Please don't take this as me attacking you, I just firmly believe that this article did play a role last night. My only qusetion to Mike Muldune is why did he feel he needed to put that out now considering that Paul and Dave Fazio have been coaching this way for the past 10 years or so. If his arguement is going to be that it's gotten out of hand lately then he is wrong. There have been many sitautions invloving heated exchanges between players and coaches and many technicals handed out over the past 15 yrs. Why say something now!!!!
You should be ashamed of yourselves for trying to take anything away from Somerville kids for their hard fought win. You failed to mention key facts to make your argument. Let me give you some facts that will help you. Somerville had three key players in foul trouble in the 1st half two with 3 fouls and one with two fouls. (If I remember correctly I think Somerville had more fouls in the 1st half, but I could be wrong). Somerville switched from Man to Man to a zone for the whole second half, and Lawrence sat outside and shot threes. Lawrence stopped pounding the ball inside in the second half and basically shot from deep. You failed to mention that instead of making adjustments your Coach decided to use his timeouts screaming at his kids and the refs (I know because I was sitting right behind the bench). Was the "touch" foul in the backcourt a bad call? ABSOLUTELY! Did one bad call really cost them the game. I say NO. How about a timeout and an adjustment during a 15-2 run. I ask you this did the refs shoot/miss the three foul shots for the Lawrence guard who was fouled during a three point attempt??? In your game recap you didn't even mention the best player on the floor Somerville's #12 who got every rebound in the second half and was an absolute beast the whole game. Or Salvador's 20 points.
I am a Somerville fan, but I live in this area and read your writing and you lost all credibility with your claims of Lawrence being robbed. You got bullied into this blog by a Coach who should have kept coaching instead of crying!
You should be thoroughly proud of your basketball team. Those kids played their tails off on the road, against a Lawrence team that had them staggering at 45-31 in the third.
Paul Neal didn't cry to me. And he's a tough, tough man, but he didn't bully anyone.
I mentioned right up front that Lawrence's public enemy No. 1 was Lawrence. First and foremost, they killed themselves, with the 11 for 24.
The zone had nothing to do with it, although the S'ville coach did a great job of mixing things up.
When Lawrence lost the big guys inside, who you have to admit were hurting S'ville badly. This game was over.
Now. i'll stand by my ability to tell what's a foul and what's not and sleep fine at night, when i state that a half-dozen of the 10 calls against Lawrence's bigs, were to say the least, ticky-tack.
Thanks for chiming in with the Highlander perspective, though. I'm glad you did.
HL
Not being there, I have no idea if the refs "cost" Lawrence a game. I do know that the "foul count" argument is not something that usually swings my opinion either way: It's very possible to have a superbly officiated game with a big discrepancy in the total fouls. Depends on the style of play, the score/situation, and sometimes just the variability of high school athletes. I read that Lawrence went to the line 24 times, which is a lot, and converted only 11. On the other hand, Hector, your passion in conveying it does sway me, mostly because you're not one to focus on this kind of thing. If you felt it, it probably has some merit that it wasn't well officiated. But I don't think it's fair to lump in the almost-beyond-belief unprofesionalism of the Charlestown game a couple years ago, as documented in "The Assist" (which has led to that particular offical being held out of the MA state tourney and now a lawsuit from said official against the assignors) with what might have been a poorly officiated game. There's no doubt in the Charlestown-Andover game that year that there was an official with a specific point to make and bone to pick; Do you really feel like last night was that explicit? I find it hard to believe that the article would have that profound an impact on the officials. I know we all read the paper and it made for some good conversation, but there's nothing in the article that was all that controversial. Same stuff that people in the area have spoken about for some time, and it certainly wasn't news to the officials. I'm not buying the conspiracy angle. Maybe the officials did a poor job, but I have a hard time believing this was an intentional screw job to send a "message" to Coach Neal. Regardless, congrats to the Lancers on their season and looking forwared to watching the young guys keep growing and improving on the court.
Timing is everything. And yeah, the kids come first.
Somewhen told me today, I accused people of cheating. I did not.
I saw kids getting the short end repeatedly. Hey, you walk into a casino and there's that board on the roulette table and you notice it has come up "red" 15 straight times?
It can happen. Sure, it's called coincidence.
But if you saw the string of calls/breaks/coincidences that happened last night. I'm guessing, the doubt would be there.
And I kept thinking of that official's words that night three years ago, his disregard for the kids involved just to prove a point. I guess i got carried away.
MVCfan, you make sense, a lot of it.
Thanks,
HL
I assume your reference to the inner workings of a casino are through hearsay and careful due diligence. As Claude Rains says in "Casablanca"...I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here! ...
Was not at the Lawrence game but if red has come up 15 times in a row someone I know has just lost ten times in a row betting on black...
I don't think anyone mentioned that the somerville kids didn't deserve to win. In my opinion, they outcoached and outhustled LHS from beginning to end. My comments were strictly based on how the officiating was towards LHS and how I felt that comments written about Paul a few days earlier hurt his kids. I never said that they were robbed. The truth is your boys deserved to win because they wanted it more.
Now, I'm not sure wanting it more is going to help you too much Saturday Night. Good luck!! You will need it!!!!!
Although, I give all the credit to the Somerville kids. Man they play hard.
HL
Fans do help infuriate the masses with their whining.
i understood it perfectly.
HL
But Big Hec Sr. would never have appreciated a slur like the "G" word you used.
For all my fellow Italian-Americans out there, please don't be offended by this redneck from Tar Heel country.
He was trying to lighten things up only and means no harm. Like this writer, sometimes he just can't help himself.
HL
Let's hope we are not talking about refs for the rest of the week!
It was a long night for the local squads, what with Methuen, Lawrence and St John's Prep going down. Good kids and coaches from all three squads.
I think the bottom line is it was a great clash of classy-hard working- blue collar kids giving everything they had for the love of the game and their school!
I too would like to apologize for my pot shots at Coach Neal....I honestly never met the man, but do know his reputation with the young man who was tragically shot. He seems like the perfect person for Lawrence High School.
Just to put it in perspective - the official that caused this craziness had his son with him at the game - he was the Charlestown BALLBOY!!!
The official, who made the statement which myself and at least two other people at press row heard then followed through on it, only tarnished the Charlestown effort with the behavior.
He made what could have been a good game a travesty.
You weren't disappointed because you got into the theater of it all. It was a travesty - plain and simple.
Plenty of people who know him (not just officials) and what he is about, know some of the interesting facts of that night.
As far as his stint in the NBA - from what i have heard through reliable sources - he was a replacement official during a strike.
It is nothing personal - excpet when you know one of your close friends is offciating the game alongside this guy and he is steaming because in the end, the kids got robbed!