BT's column on Mulkey's tirade

[sybarite]

The worst officiating error that I ever saw was actually parttially corrected by the officials, but not by Mulkey or the Big Twelve.

In the game in Norman in Jo's freshman year, she and Griner were running down the court after a made basket. Nobody was in anyone's way. Griner just kind of edged over to run beside Jo. Just as they crossed the midcourt line, Griner threw an elbow to Jo's face, knocking her flat. There was no provocation. It was not in the flow of the game. It was not a reaction to a push, shove, or any other activity. It was simply a deliberate attempt to establish dominance over Jo, to define who was boss.

Play was stopped. A foul was called on Griner, belatedly. They did go to check the monitor, but I'm not certain why. I don't even think they had the elbow above the shoulder rule at the time. But:

Griner was not ejected
Griner was not suspended
As far as I know, neither Mulkey nor Griner ever apologized.

Given that type of incident, exactly what should the penalty have been? What should Mulkey have done once she saw the monitor? Would a semester's suspension have been warranted? I don't know that I have ever seen a deliberate attempt to intimidate or injure, especially that was not in the flow of the action. What should have been done? If it had happened outside in the street, what would the police have done?

It was about two weeks later that Griner hit Barncastle.

 

[Sweetest OU Girl]

I remember that moment clearly. Started to mention that act by Griner in my post - but I did not recall it was Jo it happened to. I have that event still on video.

In my opinion Mulkey should have obviously benched Griner for a game or two and made her send a public letter of apology. Perhaps that would have kept the Barncastle tragedy from happening.

The fact that Mulkey did not do something like that says more about MK & Baylor than all our words ever could.

 

[sybarite]

I don't think a game or two's suspension would cover a deliberate act. I can see that for something done in the heat of emotion, during a part of the action. But, to assault someone intentially and deliberately is a criminal act. Curiously, hockey is now actually holding people accountable and sentencing them to time in jail for violent acts occurring during a match. Why not women's basketball?

 

[soonerstar]

Sweetest OU Girl, I think the game with Baylor you are referring to was at Waco. The referee was Clarke Stevens. He suffer4ed a knee injury and did not return to the game. 3 women called the Baylor game at OU. I agree with everything else you said. You also might add the throwdowns Grinder did to Prins of ISU in the conference tourney. Sulkey has no right to talk about physical play.

 

[tycat947]

I seldom respond to these threads but I will on this one:

Many of them are. However, Ms. Mulkey does not seem to show any sense of disgust in the times those errors have helped her team. The game between Baylor & OU this year in Norman is a perfect example. In the first half Griner hit Joanna McFarland with an elbow. It stunned Jo and she froze and held her jaw for several seconds while play continued at the other end. Refs said no foul occurred with body language that seeemed to say to Jo: "oh shut up and get back in the game". JoAnn was obviously concerned and kept rubbing her jaw for a good while after that. At the other end on the next series, Griner threw her elbow at Jo again and the same official again failed to call a foul. This one is not quite as obvious that she made contact - but she certainly threw her elbow and Jo reacted like she had been hit again. Interestingly that official never returned to the game after halftime - with only 2 officials calling the second half. And although he calls Big-12 games regularly, I can find no Big-12 game he officiated for the next 2 or 3 weeks. My guess is that the Big-12, through their monitor of officials benched him - although that is obviously an assumption since no public disclosure was ever made. At least none I ever saw. I suppose it's possible he took ill at halftime and had to just take some time off for a few weeks. I have this sequence still on video. It is exactly what happened. Mulkey never showed concern about that event that I am aware of. No wonder - it helped her team.

My assumption was that the Big-12 did not want to have the embarrasment of having the same player (Jo) injured again with no foul being called and no response from the big-12 office. That is due to the events in the paragraph below:

The most obvious official's error I can ask you to recall is the game when JoAnna McFarland had her jaw broken by an OSU player. An obvious elbow was thrown, she laid on the court while the game continued to the other end - and the refs said no foul had been committed. I'm not sure how they could possibly believe no contact was made when a jaw was broken. They obviously knew it had happened - just did not want to admit it after not calling it originally. It HAD to be at least a flagrant I by rule. Yet they claimed it was not even a foul. I have this sequence on video too. You will recall she had her jaw wired shut and had to wear a mask the rest of the year. Never fully recovered back to her full playing style until this year. And to the best of my knowledge no apology was ever made - at least not publicly. That is the biggest blackmark on the Big-12 office I have ever seen. At least after the game they could have apologized about letting a player suffer a serious injury with the officials doing nothing to protect her.

Kim Mulkey has never even mentioned any concern about these kinds of events.

Someone mentioned the time this year when Griner knocked down the UConn player - in as dirty a play as you will ever see - yet no foul was called. Did Mulkey ever show any concern about that obvious error? Not to my knowledge.

Officials will make some mistakes. It has to be expected and accepted. However it is highly unlikely it will involve the same players or teams over and over. Odds are high against that - and brings questions about the integrity of the game.

I would be much quicker to accept KM's complaint if she would be consistent about discussing such errors when they are not tied up with a loss by her team.

Well said, well said!!!

 

[Big12]

...The game between Baylor & OU this year in Norman is a perfect example. In the first half Griner hit Joanna McFarland with an elbow. It stunned Jo and she froze and held her jaw for several seconds while play continued at the other end. Refs said no foul occurred with body language that seeemed to say to Jo: "oh shut up and get back in the game". JoAnn was obviously concerned and kept rubbing her jaw for a good while after that...

Of course, McFarland is widely known as the biggest flopper in the Big 12, so an official is going to discount her theatrics unless there is a definite sighting of a mistreatment of her.

 

[BanjoCharley]

Mulkey says that Griner has no elbows.

 

[sybarite]

:ez-roll::ez-roll::ez-roll:

Mulkey says that Griner has no elbows.

 

[BlackwellSooner]

The worst officiating error that I ever saw was actually parttially corrected by the officials, but not by Mulkey or the Big Twelve.

In the game in Norman in Jo's freshman year, she and Griner were running down the court after a made basket. Nobody was in anyone's way. Griner just kind of edged over to run beside Jo. Just as they crossed the midcourt line, Griner threw an elbow to Jo's face, knocking her flat. There was no provocation. It was not in the flow of the game. It was not a reaction to a push, shove, or any other activity. It was simply a deliberate attempt to establish dominance over Jo, to define who was boss.

Play was stopped. A foul was called on Griner, belatedly. They did go to check the monitor, but I'm not certain why. I don't even think they had the elbow above the shoulder rule at the time. But:

Griner was not ejected
Griner was not suspended
As far as I know, neither Mulkey nor Griner ever apologized.

Given that type of incident, exactly what should the penalty have been? What should Mulkey have done once she saw the monitor? Would a semester's suspension have been warranted? I don't know that I have ever seen a deliberate attempt to intimidate or injure, especially that was not in the flow of the action. What should have been done? If it had happened outside in the street, what would the police have done?

It was about two weeks later that Griner hit Barncastle.

Would it be possible to post that bit of video, if either you or Sweetest OU girl have it (or could upload it to Youtube)?

It would go far further toward rebutting Mulkey's whining about the "physical play" than anything else could possibly do.

 

[sybarite]

I don't have the video.