The Defensive Play of The Game or Just Rude?
During the Creighton vs. St. John’s men’s basketball game on Sunday, March 1st at Carnesecca Arena in Queens, New York, there was an incident that happened at the scorer’s table with 8:32 to go in the second half. Take a look at the video below. Specifically, right at the 9-second mark of the video (apologized for the technology it may take a moment to load).
Defend The Replay Trackball At All Costs
You can see referee, Brent Hampton, swipe or slap away the hand of, what we think is, the female replay official or coordinator. If you look at this comedically you could say that the replay coordinator “got caught with her hands in the cookie jar” or the referee should have been called for “hand checking”.
You have to give credit to the referee’s excellent peripheral vision. It appears that his attention to the replay screen did not waiver as he somehow caught the motion of the replay official coming after the trackball and effortlessly slapped it away without losing a beat or his concentration on the replay screen. Perhaps this is a known rivalry between referees and replay officials and this is a trained move?
Did It Matter That The Replay Official Was Female?
This we don’t know for sure. It is well documented that it is difficult for women to work in the male-dominated sports arena.
To get some perspective you can read this New Yorker May 2019 article by Louisa Thomas that chronicles NBA beat writer Jackie MacMullan who has won the ESPN Lifetime Achievement Award for Literary Sportswriting.
There is also a good piece by Sports Illustrated writer Richard Deitsch on the experiences of young women (under 30) in sports journalism. It features a story by sports radio host Amy Lawrence on her experience with verbal and sexual harassment.
In any case, it looks like an apology was in order and hopefully that happened. Both jobs are likely stress-filled and difficult and heat of the moment things like this tend to occur in sports.
Other Observations
One interesting thing is that this incident seemed to go unnoticed. The announcers on the call didn’t seem to notice it or at least didn’t comment on it.
If you scan the people around the scorer’s table the only subtle reaction is from the gentleman in red (yes, a lot of people in red since it was a home St. John’s game) furthermost to the left (looking at the video on your screen).
Watch his eyes right after it happens. They seem to dart back and forth between the replay official and the referee. If the eyes could speak they seem to nervously say “did that just happen, uh oh, how is this going to go down, Did anyone else notice that….ok, I guess no one is going to say anything”.
So What Was the Result of the Replay Review?
After all that I don’t even remember which team was the beneficiary of the replay call. It didn’t much matter as the St. John’s Red Storm put on a scorching 3-point shooting clinic at 63.% and the Creighton Bluejays shot a very uncharacteristic 14.8% with the Johnnies going onto a 91-71 upset victory of the then #10 Bluejays.
Feel free to comment below and give us your take on the situation. If you are interested in becoming an official check out our guide on how to become a basketball referee.
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