The joy of sports, not to mention common sense, was banned in Boston by a flag-happy ref.
In case you haven’t heard about it by now, an official’s misguided decision cost a Boston high school football team a championship and changed one kid’s once-in-a-lifetime moment into a nightmare.
Here’s what happened:
With just minutes to go in Saturday’s Division 4A Super Bowl championship game, 18-year-old Cathedral High School senior quarterback Matt Owens broke through the defense and sprinted for the go-ahead touchdown against rival Blue Hills Regional Technical School.
As Owens broke into the clear at about the 20-yard line, he raised his left arm in triumph — for a brief moment. Most saw it as a harmless, spontaneous and understandable celebration. The official saw it as taunting.
So he threw a flag, wiping out the touchdown. The ball was returned to the 24-yard line, Cathedral High never recovered and Blue Hills won the title, 16-14.
And oh, by the way, Saturday was Owen’s 18th birthday.
The referee was enforcing a new Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association sportsmanship rule that bans any celebratory or taunting behavior by someone scoring a touchdown. The idea, I suppose, is to make sure high school end zones don’t turn into NFL-style taunt zones. The idea is to breed sportsmanship.
I get that.
NBC broadcaster Bob Costas said it best during halftime of the Steelers-Chief game.
“For those of you too busy keeping up with the Kardashians to notice, we live in a culture that in many ways grows more stupid and graceless by the moment,” Costas said. “Sports both reflects and influences that sorry trend, so on playing fields everywhere, true style is in decline, while mindless exhibitionism abounds.”
Agree completely. But Owens’ decision was neither stupid nor graceless. And now the referee’s ridiculous decision that will stay with the kid for the rest of his life.
Cathedral athletic director James Lynch said Owens’ act of raising his hand for a few strides could not be interpreted as excessive celebration, taunting or malicious. At least not by a reasonable person.
“I just give people the analogy: imagine a basketball player making a clutch three-pointer right at the end of the game, and he turns around and he just kind of shakes his fist in the air kind of thing,” Lynch told The Associated Press on Tuesday. “And it was simply just that and it was nothing else … I don’t think it was anything further than just excitement on the player’s behalf.”
Lynch added: “I think it was a wrong interpretation of the rule and I think that our players handled themselves in a sportsmanship manner … for respecting the other team when they received the trophy in the award ceremony and how they handled themselves and how they composed themselves during the game.”
Kenneth Owens, the quarterback’s father, “He raised his hand because he knew was going to the pinnacle. There was nothing dishonorable about the play. There was no doubt it was a touchdown. He gets 20 yards in — and he’s not thinking about the rule — and he just raised his hand.”
Added Kenneth Owens: “He goes to a Catholic school where they are taught that their God is in the sky,” his father said. “So I know when he raised his hand, he was thanking his Lord for what happened to him today. Football is a team sport. There’s lot of kids that are hurting today.”
MIAA spokesman Paul Wetzel told the Herald that the association is still waiting for the officials’ game report, but the game is over. Case closed.
“It’s an unfortunate situation,” Wetzel said. “We have no reason to believe a mistake was made in this case.”
So, what do you think?
Patrick Saunders: 303-954-1428 or psaunders@denverpost.com or
