Sports fan know this pain. It’s not a pain of losing in the postseason to a better opponent. It’s the pain of something happening in the game that could be easily rectified with an official’s proper call.
In baseball, the best example of that would be Don Denkinger’s “safe” call at first base in the 1985 World Series, when the runner was clearly out by three steps. In hockey, one could argue until they were blue in the face that Brett Hull’s skate was in the crease and his Stanley Cup-winning tally against the Buffalo Sabres did not count.
And now we come to the Saratoga Racers.
The Racers are the American Basketball Association team for whom I called several public address games this year. They played well enough to make the postseason; heck, they were even ranked as high as #24 in the ABA’s power rankings.
But the ABA, as a basketball league, has a myriad of problems. Imagine going to a game and your opponent shows up with five players – or four players, and the coach suits up – and the team loses by 80. Or imagine another team who doesn’t play road games because travel costs are too prohibitive. Or another team who doesn’t play HOME games because they can’t afford a home court.
Can you taste what I’m drinking here?
Last week, I blogged about how the Racers – who had a better record than their first-round playoff opponent – had to travel to Vermont and play the lower-seeded team on THEIR court. Naturally, the Racers stomped the Vermont Coyotes like they were the ACME product customer service department.
So now it’s on to the next team in the playoffs, the New England Sharks of Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
And the Racers were leading in that playoff game … and then some seriously shady shit went down.
Follow along with me.
In the second quarter, there was a bench-clearing altercation on the court. Most of the New England players went onto the court to battle, while the Saratoga team stayed at their benches. After the fight was dispersed, the New England players were assessed two technical fouls for running on the court – and Saratoga received two technicals for the fight itself. So yeah, the referees were a little heavy-handed on the technical foul situation.
It gets better. Saratoga had a 106-99 lead going into the final moments of the game, but turned the ball over. This happens. The Sharks hit a 3-pointer. Time out was called. The refs later told the scoring table that the shot should have been a “3-D” basket, counting as four points. Yep, it’s that wonky ABA rule that a steal in the backcourt that results in points garners an extra tally. EXCEPT – the turnover occurred after the ball crossed halfcourt, so the 3-D rule should not have been applied in that situation.
And then … when New England drained a shot with four seconds to go to take the lead, for some reason, the game clock kept running. The Racers are screaming for a time out – which they still had available – and the referees ignored the request. At the same time, the Sharks players and personnel are hitting the court and celebrating like they won Game 7 of the NBA Finals – while the game is still going on and Saratoga still has a chance to tie or win the match. Again, no technicals called for players on the bench taking the court without permission.
In the end, Saratoga lost to the Sharks 114-112. New England advances, the Racers head home, a strong season tarnished by a whole bunch of crapola.
From what I’ve been told, the Racers are protesting the game. While I hope that the ABA would take action on this – maybe replay the game on a neutral court, for example – I sadly know that the ABA won’t do jack shit to rectify this mess. Which, in the end, completely blows.
You could theoretically make an argument that the Racers should have just poured on the points, kept a full court press, and never let the game get down to a margin that could switch on a single basket. Or you could argue that the referees should have left their seeing eye dogs back at the hotel. Or you could argue that the ABA doesn’t freaking care.
The only thing you can’t argue is that the Racers should have advanced in the next round of the ABA playoffs. And because of shenanigans like this, through no fault of their own, they’ve been bounced from a single-elimination tournament. Ugh.
We’ll see what happens next year in the ABA.
Maybe there’s some hope for this goofy, godawful league.
The Saratoga Racers deserve better than this.
Much better.
Ugh.
Chuck The Writer 