Re: Star Treatment and "Dumb Rules"

I have NEVER seen such a blatant display of star treatment as I did in the Tennessee – Ohio State sweet 16 match-up.

With about 2 minutes left in the game, Greg Oden got cut on his chin and blood started noticeably dripping onto his white jersey. The officials then stopped the action and forced him to the sideline, presumably to stop the bleeding and change his jersey.

What happens next blew me away: He stood in front of his bench for about 3 seconds, and proceeded to calmly walk back onto the court. The scorers table buzzed him in, and the officials didn’t say a word. He didn’t change his jersey nor stop the bleeding. In fact, during all remaining timeouts during the final 2 minutes (roughly 27 of them), he went straight to the trainers who continued to clean his wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding. New blood spots continued to appear throughout the game.

It is impossible to argue that the refs didn’t consciously ignore the rules to aid a star player in a big game. It’s one thing to not make a call during the final seconds of utter chaos…but this was a conscious decision made during a dead ball.

Maybe this is also a dumb rule, but the final 2 minutes of a sweet 16 game is NOT the time to make a stand against it.

Ironically, this year before the tourney, the officials announced that they would enforce the rules to the letter of the law…