Heaven Forbid, Don't Hurt Their Feelings!

I swear to all things holy, Canadian sports media — outside hockey, where everyone believes "real men" play and can apparently take the criticism — is a true reflection of our apathetic, apologetic society as a whole. That or the media think the viewing public is too dumb to notice when they're dead wrong.

How else can you explain The Score's Mike Morreale's reluctance to actually do his job and analyze Guelph Gryphons receiver Jedd Gardner's non-catch the officials ruled a touchdown?

After Gardner made what looked to be a semi-sensational grab by his standards it was obvious upon replay Gardiner never had control of the football — not for a second. Instead, he bobbled the ball and trapped it between the ground, his thigh and stomach when he landed on his right hip and rolled over.

But no. Morreale, like the officials, simply, and in his case quickly, passed it off as a catch. It clearly wasn't.

Morreale said something to the effect of 'there's not enough evidence to overturn it anyway' — "not overturnable" I believe was the quote. So it wasn't worth debating.

Wrong.

It was a key play in the game — a major score for crying out loud. If an official missed it, please discuss. Tell us he did. Morreale seemed as if he wanted the issue to simply go away. But it has ramifications — Guelph won by six remember? And your job, as a former player — former RECEIVER! — is to take us down to the sideline, into the huddle and onto the field and tell us how players or coaches might be feeling or reacting to a call like that.

Two live blogs, including the Score's own, had several participants proclaim "no catch!"

Look, we all know there isn't replay in the OUA — nor can the league afford the luxury. And, it's "just one play" of many — ask Detroit Lions head coach Jim Schwartz about that:

“If anyone talks to the media and blames this loss on the catch, it’s really a coward’s way out,” (Schwartz) said, according to the players. “We had a chance to put the game away and we didn’t.”

Queen's head coach Pat Sheahan may say something similar, especially given the play of his team in the first half in particular. But that's not the point.

The point is Morreale is a paid member of the media paid good money to tell us the truth; offer unbiased, unabashed insight. Not to sidestep the issue and hope it goes away because he's afraid his honest opinion will offend the player, the official or the OUA, with which The Score, his employer, is engaged in a contract.

Well, too bad. The media needs more honesty; needs to hold more people accountable. Yes, even players and officials in the OUA.

So analyze, don't apologize. Just tell us the truth. And just don't play us for simpletons.

Comments

[Greg Layson]

Earlier Saturday I incorrectly spelled Devan Sheahan's last name in a pair of posts. The spelling has since been corrected. My apologies to Sheahan and Gaels fans.

[bob from burlington]

Greg. We chatted at the game at Guelph and I flubbed my 50 yard FG attempt at half time show for potential $10 K winnings, only to see Dan Village nail one in the second half. Mine might have gone thru upright if 30 yard attempt. Maybe my friends were being kind! At least it was straight and high but light wind wasn't enough to compensate for lack of power/skill.

Look, despite that Guelph TD being a bit dodgy even from my vantage point behind Gryphon bench(Queen's section) , Gaels got the ball back twice in the last 2:50 and couldn't do much including missing a 3rd down conversion to turn the ball over. Not a lousy team at 1-2 but not a great team either this year. Loss of Branagan, Jimmy Allin, Shimori, and Ozzie just to name a few, has shown itself.

Guelph on O executed better especially exploiting the run, also getting breaks on what seemed to be defensive interference when on D, and still had 3 INT's. Shabby running game by Queen's and lots of overthrown balls to open receivers including ones to a certain one that dropped a sure TD in Hamilton in first half and had his share of dropped balls in this game.

Stu Lang coached Guelph team now the most dangerous in this young 2010 OUA season, and as they exited field looking like they won the Yates that eluded them in front of sold out crowd against Western in 2007. Nice mix of veterans and newbies that really executed well against Gaels and will be everything Western can expect next week at Guelph Homecoming. Unless of course Gryphons like some other OUA teams this year(Laurier to begin the season) start reading their press clippings.

Scheduled to go down to Kingston to watch Gaels and Ottawa this weekend, but think I will change plans and travel back to Guelph to see if Marshall's Western Mustangs will have their "A" game on(Ottawa and Windsor games notwithstanding).

Robert

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