And yet he (whoever he was) failed to make the exact same call on the exact same activity by a Miami player later in the game when Miami finally scored a touchdown during the same game. Was the guidance to call the penalty on spinning the ball only during the first half?
I've heard baseball players say they do not mind a tight strike zone or a loose one, as long as it is called consistently. Without consistency, an official is worse than useless.
Yes and no.
At the 2:13:26 mark on the above post, y'all can see this. There is a SLIGHT difference although I concur with you. Lassic spun the ball on the ground like a top. Granted, I thought even that was too "ticky" and should not have been called; it cost us four points. Kevin Williams DID spin the ball slightly coming out of his hand ("dropping" it as opposed to, say, spiking it, but that might have been considered "incidental").
However - my problem with that is that the ONLY reason that Lassic's penalty even got called was because MIAMI was the team that had gotten flagged for over 200 yards of penalties in the 1991 Cotton Bowl against Texas. Officials were trying to tone down the nonsense. Ok, fair enough....but then you DON'T call something ticky against the team that CAUSED all of this?
What makes it nuts is that Lassic honestly thought he'd scored a TD or he would not have spun the ball. Williams DID score a TD and apparently that was the difference in deciding to call it. What I'm saying is that I can see a "very slight" difference in it (which would merit a non-call) but I don't think the one on Lassic should have been called anyway. Williams's spin drop was MILD for Miami back then - ref might not have even noticed and was probably waiting for the backflip/high five/California Quake/Fun Bunch routine.
Johnny Bench remarked that the only time catchers get angry at home plate umpires is when you been setting up a guy all game long in the same spot and all of a sudden a strike is called a ball on an "out" pitch. And that's all anyone wants.
However.......I don't have any sympathy with those here who are somehow wanting to pretend officials cost teams games. It RARELY happens - and might I add, I'm always amused by fans willing to overlook 50 different mistakes made by their own players (missed blocks, missed coverages, missed open receivers) and then haul off and blame an official for a bad call. Granted - there's LESS EXCUSE nowadays with the instant replay (and there are times I'm going..."what video are THEY watching?"). But it simply rarely happens. (I get no end of flack here for pointing out we still had a chance to score in the 1983 Penn State game and failed).
To me, it's like the Red Sox fans blaming Buckner and conveniently forgetting the score was already tied when he made his error......and that game 7 was rained out and delayed a day, which enabled the Sox to come back with their post-season ace Bruce Hurst and spot him a 3-0 lead.
Good post, though.