by Frank Rhombus
Odds are you missed the ending to the Boise State-Colorado State basketball game Wednesday night, and it’s probably because Boise State was playing Colorado State in a game of college basketball.
With the score tied at 84 and just eight-tenths of a second left in overtime, Boise State’s James Webb III hit a prayer from beyond the arc as time expired to give the Broncos what should have been the 87-84 victory.
Or did he?
Replays clearly showed the ball leave Webb’s hand with four-tenths of a second remaining, but Mountain West officials went to the monitor and determined that the play clock operator did not start the clock on time. So they decided to follow what they said was “protocol” and use a “stopwatch overlay” to determine whether or not he could get the shot off in eight-tenths of a second.
Seriously, here’s lead official David Hall’s explanation after the game:
“The protocol on any last-second shot, after the shot is made, you go to the monitor to review whether the shot was taken in time or not. We followed the protocol, we went to the monitor and we reviewed whether the shot was taken in the 0.8 seconds that was on the game clock when the ball was inbounded. We did that and we noticed that the game clock was not started upon touch. We then used a stopwatch overlay from the monitor review system to determine when he touched it and then figure out how many tenths of a second it took from the time he touched the ball until the time he released the ball and whether he was able to get that shot off in that 0.8 seconds. After reviewing that several times we determined that the shot was late. It was not taken in that 0.8-second time frame, but actually closer to 1.2 or 1.3 time frame. As a result, the basket does not count.”
And that, kids, is what the rest of us in the real world call “fucking garbage.”
For starters, which one is it, 1.2 or 1.3? Not sure if you’re paying attention, David, but tenths of a second kind of matter here.
Second, replays show that, if anything, the play clock operator started the clock no later than one-tenth of a second after he or she was supposed to. And in real time, that’s pretty fucking good.
And third, those same replays show that Webb didn’t get his shot off in eight-tenths of a second because he only needed …wait for it… 57-hundreths to do so, less than half of the time Hall and his thugs said he needed. The gang at Deadspin breaks that down beautifully, and you can see it for yourself in the replay below.
So, why would Hall and his band of idiots go through such great lengths to keep that Boise State three-pointer off the board? Just like everything else in life, children, it comes down to money. Believe it or not, people actually risked real money on this game. That’s right, my friends. Boise State played Colorado State in a basketball game and people bet on it.
And call it a coincidence if you want, but who were 87 percent of money line bets placed on Wednesday night? You guessed it: Boise State.
Sure, 52 percent of the point spread wagers correctly picked Colorado State at +3.5 after they won 97-93 in double overtime, but who gives a shit? Only having to pay out on 13 percent of your money line wagers instead of 87 percent is a pretty good reason to make sure Boise State doesn’t win the game, even if it means Hall and his crew have to look like bigger jagoffs than Kanye West when they face the media’s wrath, which come to think of it, doesn’t really seem to exist in this case.
And once again, that’s mighty convenient for the boys in Sin City…
Wait, there’s more: We Could Watch D’Angelo Russell Get Drilled In The Nuts All Day Long
You have got to see this shit:
