Butler University: The Real Winners In My Book

Did you watch the basketball game last night? Duke won on the scoreboard 61-59, but the kids from Butler University were the real winners. Some might say I am exhibiting poor sportsmanship to complain about the three men that called the game on the floor - the officials. But, I have watched my share of college hoops this past season on my HDTV, and I know when a game is being called correctly and when there is, for lack of a better word, a political agenda in the air. A few missed calls can be expected in the course of any basketball game even with three experienced officials calling the game. But, the last two games of the Final Four were different. Duke, in not just my opinion, but that of a former pro and college basketball player and announcer, committed a number of contact fouls last night that simply were not called. As Bob Huggins said Saturday night to one of his players, "they don't foul." We would have to be naive to believe that CBS and the NCAA would have not preferred to have had another big name college basketball program in the finals against Duke. In my opinion, the lack of calls against Duke for contact only substantiates my claim that the game was not on the up and up. The kids from Butler can be very proud of their team. In my book, those kids, the players and the rest of the student body are all winners. They also learned that they can play with the best, but they also learned another valuable lesson, you can't beat the officials.

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