It was overdue but the National Federation of State High School Associations finally made a partial move into the 21st century by passing a rule that will allow basketball officials to go to the video tape to review last second shots in championship games.
Spartanburg High fell victim to the lack of such a resource in 2008 when a three-quarter court, potential game-winning shot, which appeared to be released by Zicorian Robinson just before the final buzzer sounded and the backboard behind him lit up, was waved off and Summerville was declared the winner.
The officials at that game simply talked over the matter instead of having the ability to use the Colonial Life Arena’s video system to get the call right. Having watched that shot over again I can say it might have been tough for even the right call to be made looking at the tape. But you could see that Robinson either released the ball a fraction of a second before the backboard lit up or at the very least simultaneously.
Spartanburg coach Doug Lowe has said that he simply wants the opportunity to exist to get the call right. That’s the case moving forward, albeit a little late for the Vikings.
As this week’s BMW Charity Pro-Am takes place in the upstate the organizers again were jabbed by the handful of celebrities who initially committed to play but then backed out. Thus, the tournament’s left with Dennis Quaid and Greg Kinnear as its headliners.
With due respect to those “stars” who will come to the area it’s a celebrity pool that probably won’t draw much in the way of energy from the fans for a format which enters its ninth year.
It’s a well run tournament each year, especially when you considered it’s held on three courses several miles apart. But the folks who put it on probably need to step back and evaluate how they’re doing things on the celebrity side and decide if it’s worth continuing on the current path.
By the way, I was thinking the other day that it would be quite humorous if somehow the Arizona Diamondbacks could find their way to the playoffs and face the Mets at some point. That way, in these times when credit remains a little tight, the team playing at Chase Field would square off against the one from Citi Field and America would constantly be reminded of that.
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