Cowardly Refs Refuse Comment On Talib Incident
November 29th, 2010
Joe has a lot of respect for referees of all sports. It’s a thankless job that Joe wouldn’t want for any amount of money short of $250,000 annually.
(Yes, even Joe can be bought).
That written, Joe expects officials to have a modicum of decorum. If a player gets out of hand, defend your case and walk away. If the player persists, there are many options available for officials to deal with a disruptive player from tossing a flag to an ejection to writing up a report to the NFL office and warden commissioner Roger Goodell.
By no means or measure should an official involve himself (or herself) in a verbal bout of profanities with a player and it is beyond the pale to call a player’s performance, using a vulgar term for a woman’s genitalia.
That is exactly what happened yesterday when Aqib Talib, an emotional player if not something of a loose cannon, berated an official after the Bucs loss to the Crows, and the referee, in full view of the Bucs press corps, retorted with the aforementioned profanity.
So if said zebra has the cajones to call out an NFL player like that — who by the way played every bit like the man he is — at least don’t compound the matter and act like said woman’s genitalia and hide.
But that’s just what happened reports dapper Rick Brown of the Lakeland Ledger. He tried to query the officials as to the roots of the incident, and Brown was told via a pool reporter of all things, in so many words, to go take a long walk on a short pier.
The officials, through a pool reporter, had this to say: “We only make comments to the pool reporter when it’s about a call that was made on the field,” said officiating supervisor Neely Dunn. “So, we have no comment about whatever you’re talking about. That’s the only thing I’ll say right now. We have no comment about it. If you want to ask us something that happened out on the field, we will entertain that. But we’re not going to entertain what you’re talking about.”
Joe thinks this is just rich. Though this may be a bit harsh, the official in question should never work another NFL game. If he did this with Talib, who is to say he’s never done this before with another player and won’t do it again? Certainly his crew cannot work a Bucs game if he still is employed.
Already this official is tainted. How can he work another Bucs game and be objective? It’s none of an official’s business how a player plays so long as a player abides by the rules.
This official who crudely went after Talib certainly didn’t abide by simple good taste or professionalism expected from a man in his position.
The NFL doesn’t need to turn into baseball where umpires have rabbit ears and often try to bait players and managers into arguments.
November 29th, 2010 at 8:19 am
refs in all sports at every level are an inexplicable breed…..I am still in disbelief at some of the calls they make
November 29th, 2010 at 8:27 am
The bad calls throughout the game were multiple…and went against both teams at times.
How some of these guys get jobs is beyond me.
November 29th, 2010 at 8:58 am
In a perfect world this referee would be fired from the NFL. However, most leagues stand behind their referees and I expect the NFL to do nothing in regards to this incident. The NBA is the worst. At least this incident happened off the field. In the NBA similar stuff is said to players while they are on the court.
I think the Bucs should make an appeal to the NFL to prevent this referee from officiating another game the Buccaneers are involved in.
November 29th, 2010 at 9:04 am
does the name Jerry Markbriet ring a bell……that guy dogged the Bucs from day one till the day he retired…
November 29th, 2010 at 9:37 am
His name is Boris Cheek, the field Judge.
November 29th, 2010 at 10:23 am
I guess it’s okay for a player to corner a Ref after the game is over and verbally assault him. Then when the Ref gets hot and answers back in the same manner in which he was assaulted he is wrong. Then Talib, after starting the confrontation to being with, tries to physically assault the Ref.
This is a real class team we have now. And I cannot believe Joe is actually saying the Ref was wrong. I guess our new team Motto should be “beware Refs, if the call don’t go our way we will beat you up after the game”. Tell us, Joe, how would you have responded if you were the Ref and were verbally assaulted after the game by a player from the losing team?
November 29th, 2010 at 10:33 am
When he commented on Talib’s play, that makes you wonder if he had a bias during the game. The NFL CANNOT allow their officials to show a preference, especially not so blatantly open as this.
Joe’s right, the official should have walked away. Even a retort from him, though unprofessional, would have been understandable. But a direct attack on a player and that player’s performance? That crosses several lines. He should be looking for work today.
November 29th, 2010 at 10:39 am
@Tampa2 you don’t get it, players on all teams yell stuff at the refs EVERY week. The officials WALK AWAY. That’s what Joe has said, that’s what the refs traditionally do, that is what should have happened.
And, should a ref respond, his response should NEVER questions the players performance. If he crosses the professional ethic line of responding, then his response should be limited to “Watch yourself”, or “Calm down” or “Hit the locker-room.”
His actions call into question his neutrality throughout the game. If he is assessing players, and not plays, then he is not doing his job. If he is focusing on a player in particular, instead of his assignment, he is not doing his job. That is why the officials just trot off the field. That is why, on the RARE occasions that they respond, the response is limited to calming the player.
Yes, Talib was being a hot-head. Officials get that almost every week. The reasons this is a big deal is because this official crossed uncrossable lines.
November 29th, 2010 at 10:41 am
@Tampa2 by the way, before you ask a question about an article, try reading it. You wrote:
“Tell us, Joe, how would you have responded if you were the Ref and were verbally assaulted after the game by a player from the losing team?”
In the article, Joe wrote:
“If a player gets out of hand, defend your case and walk away. If the player persists, there are many options available for officials to deal with a disruptive player from tossing a flag to an ejection to writing up a report to the NFL office and warden commissioner Roger Goodell.”
Joe already said how he’d handle it; the same way a PROFESSIONAL REFEREE should have handled it.
November 29th, 2010 at 10:54 am
Actually Ish, you don’t get it. The refs are the authority on the field and no player should be allowed to abuse them the way that Talib did. Question yes, abuse no. The NFL makes it perfectly clear that they want the game played in a respectful manner. I doubt very much that the league will side with you or Joe on this one. I for one am getting a little tired of reading about ‘cabbie-killa’ and his attitude in the headlines on Monday mornings.
November 29th, 2010 at 11:03 am
@No koolaid
I get that Talib was wrong. I’m not defending him. I also have no doubt that the NFL will come down very heavily on him, as they should. Goodell has very clearly shown he has no tolerance for players acting out.
That being said, I stand by my points. The officials get this sort of thing all the time. Its a thankless job. Think about it, beside Hocculi, known for his biceps, when else do you hear about an official? When they screw up. Its never nice for them.
BUT, there is a professional line. He should have walked away. IF he decided to address the player (who, again, was WAY out of line), it should have been telling him to calm himself or to go to the locker-room. But to address his play, to attack him with profanity, that is beyond the pall for an official.
I know Talib will get punished by the NFL. I’m afraid this official will not. That is why I’m so hot on the subject.
November 29th, 2010 at 11:04 am
Tampa2:
Joe is not condoning Talib’s actions, let Joe be clear on that. Talib is not the issue here. It’s how a referee reacted to Talib.
Referees are held to a higher standard. Or at least supposed to be.
November 29th, 2010 at 11:05 am
@Tampa2
“Then Talib, after starting the confrontation to being with, tries to physically assault the Ref.”
I hope you’re better at life, than you are at reading.
November 29th, 2010 at 11:06 am
Talib should not get punished if the reports are true. One report said the Official said something to Talib first.
What the hell is he instigating things off the field after the game for? He needs a suspension and should definately not work another Bucs game.
The officials think they can talk crap after a game, call a player out, and then refuse to comment on anything unless it pertains to “on the field”
What a joke
November 29th, 2010 at 11:07 am
Also, Talib did what coaches and players ALL do. He said, “that was a bad call you made when…” He laced it with profanity, too.
The officials reaction: “You played like a ….”
How is this an appropriate reaction? For a professional official? How is this showing neutrality? How is this acceptable to anyone?
Talib should have kept his mouth shut. Barring that, he should have left out the profanity. But the comeback from the official… that’s WAY out of line.
November 29th, 2010 at 11:08 am
Tampa2 and No Kool-aid,
You idiot haters blow everything out of proportion. You’re tired of reading about “cabbie-killa” and his attitude problems on Monday? You act like he’s in the paper for problems every week. You’re both just haters that are rooting against the Bucs because you have personal feelings about the new regime. Get over it, pussies.
November 29th, 2010 at 11:10 am
DING… DING… DING!
November 29th, 2010 at 11:14 am
BTW, the NFL is the only sport in the big 3 (NFL, NBA, MLB) that lets players interact with the refs to such a high degree. The NBA has technical fouls (which they’ve increased the frequency of) and MLB umps throw players and coaches out of the game for even mentioning some subjects (ie balls and strikes). So your idea that “The NFL makes it perfectly clear that they want the game played in a respectful manner” is unfounded.
I’m not saying they don’t want the game played in a respectful manner, but the NFL is certainly not at the forefront of establishing a non-combative relationship between refs and players. Players only get thrown out for fighting (Seymour, Finnegan, Johnson) or other physical confrontations (Haynesworth’s face stomping and Sean Taylor spitting in Pittman’s face).
November 29th, 2010 at 11:31 am
Yeah I have to agree that this ref will probably lose his job. The only other choice is for him to never officiate a Bucs game again. There is precedent for an official to simply not be allowed to referee for a specific team. It happened with David Boston’s dad who was a ref. He just wasn’t allowed to call a game Boston was playing in. However, that circumstance was not due to any kind of disciplinary action like this case. I somehow doubt that Goodell will bend the system like that to accomodate this refs actions. It would set a precedent that he cant afford to set. Namely that if a ref dislikes calling games for a certain player or team all they have to do is make some kind of biased statement and they won’t have to deal that player\team anymore. Its a shame cuz knowing Aqib Talib im sure he was being a total douche to the ref but he needs to lose his job as this situation goes to the heart of the integrity of the game.
November 29th, 2010 at 11:41 am
The thing that really kind of boggles my mind about the whole thing is why was Talib still pissed about the call after the game? It seemed to me that the phantom holding call against the Ravens on Ray Rice’s big TD was nothing more than a makeup call. People get so pissed about blown calls. But they always equal out in the end. I mean that call against the Ravens was even worse than the call against the Bucs. I hate it when players or coaches think the referees cost them a game. Did the refs keep the Bucs D from tackling Ray Rice on that final drive? Give me a break.
November 29th, 2010 at 12:39 pm
Ish is spot on…Oh, and Tampa 2…You are always talking about how the team has no class anymore, but in the past that would have been Gruden cursing out the ref. Joe’s article is right on, and Ish spelled it out for the yahoos.
November 29th, 2010 at 1:34 pm
@Tampa2,
How the hell do you know who started the confrontation? Were you there? Seems to me like you are assuming Talib was the one who started the “verbal assault”. Believe it or not, officials are people too and they make mistakes as well. Mistakes are not just reserved for the players and coaches on this team. It wouldn’t matter if the official went up to Talib and hit him with a baseball bat, you would still find a way to blame the Bucs. Besides, you make like Gruden wasn’t one of the worst at degrading officials! To call you an idiot is an insult to idiots.
November 29th, 2010 at 2:22 pm
Why is my long post not showing up? And why do I get an error message that says ‘duplicate post’ when I try to re-post it?
November 29th, 2010 at 2:59 pm
I have to chime in. I work in mental health counseling, and if I were Talib’s anger management class monitor, we would have a looooong talk about backsliding.
Confrontation (for someone who already HAS anger management problems) is not a way to learn from your mistakes and move on. In fact, he is very lucky this did not brew up before the Sunday incident, or they may not have dropped the charges. What they teach you in that class is how to make decisions that will not lead you back to trouble. This leaves me wondering if he DID learn what he needed to learn.
There were several bad calls, we can all agree on that. But taking it to the ref AFTER the game? Nah, man. Not good. This worries me…Sure, he passed his class, and the charges are now dropped. But there will probably be more incidents.
If Rah is the coach we think he is, he will have a serious talk about this with Aqib.
November 29th, 2010 at 3:00 pm
Ahh…Used a naughty word, my bad.
November 29th, 2010 at 9:22 pm
Sorry to quote you Joe, but “This official who crudely went after Talib certainly didn’t abide by simple good taste or professionalism expected from a man in his position.”
I have read many articles written about this confrontation and all of them have Talib confronting a group of Refs and either calling the Ref a pussy, or making a pussy call. I have “never” heard of a Ref “going after” a player. And the Ref “aledgedly” said, well, you play like a pussy too. And the players had to restrain thug Talib before he went after the Ref.
I certainly didn’t hear of any Raven players going after the Ref, and they had “much more” reason than the Bucs did, with that phantom holding call on the Rice TD run. If you were a Ref, or just a Man, and this guy comes up to you and calls you a pussy you are either going to make a come-back remark, or start swinging. I don’t think that Refs are supposed to be subject to that kind of abuse. Raheem has “no” control over Talib. He proved that in England when Talib went after him! If Talib isn’t punished it will only send the message that the Refs better call the game in favor of the Bucs or a Player will be waiting for them after the game!
November 29th, 2010 at 10:37 pm
@Tampa2 Coaches say the exact same things (or often worse) to refs every game. Do you think that THEY need anger management, too?
I don’t know what you’ve been reading, but every account I’ve read says Talib said “bad call” (however he dressed it up). The standard official answer is to ignore. Talib said it and kept walking. UNTIL… the ref crossed the line and called Talib out.
I’ve been a soccer ref. I’ve had people who were having to be restrained yelling at me. I did what I was supposed to do — I ignored them. That’s what ref’s do. They ignore critics. The ONLY acceptable answer for them (no matter how bad the insult/taunt/allegation/threat) is to say, “Calm down.
No one here is arguing that Talib was wrong. They may argue the degree of wrong (as what he did was not untypical). But the key is THE OFFICIAL WAS WRONG!!!
Why can you not see that? Do you just hate Talib that much or are you ignorant? The ref is the MORE WRONG person here.