The Daily Dose/April 6, 2024
By Gaylon Kent – America’s Funniest Guy™
Leading Off
Notes from around the human experience.
HERE WE GO AGAIN: It is getting increasingly difficult nowadays to have a major sporting event without some sort of officiating controversy. It happened again in Friday’s second NCAA women’s national semifinal, where Iowa defeated UConn 71-69. With 3.9 seconds, UConn’s Aaliyay Edwards was called for an illegal screen while the Huskies tried to set up a final shot.
Upon Further Review: It was a good call because Edwards was not completely vertical during the screen. She stuck out an elbow and leaned into the defender, which gave her an unfair advantage. A foul call was appropriate.
&%#$#^&!!!: Even louder were the shrieks that the call should not have been made because of the circumstances. Phrases like “you can’t make that call,” “let them play,” and our favorite, “let the players decide it,” were ringing from sea to shining sea. When an official hears this, they can go to bed knowing they earned their game fee because comments like this are not about the call itself but about you having had the guts to call it.
Get Your Official Daily Dose Policy Right Here: These comments are witless. First off, if you’re not going to make that call then exactly when are you going to make it? In preseason scrimmages? And the players did decide it, with one of them committing an illegal screen with 3.9 seconds left.
Oh Yeah: It was the fourth illegal screen call of the night on UConn, so you can’t whine about inconsistency. It had been a foul all night.
The Bottom Line: This country is going to hell. Instead of being praised for A+ off-ball coverage, the crew is getting pounded for having had the courage to make the right call late in a close game. This really isn’t a bulletin because officiating has long been the second-most misunderstood trade, right behind prostitution. On the other hand, better to take crap for making the call than swallowing your whistle and not calling it.
Editor’s Note: Gaylon is a retired high school sports official.
Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually.
The Diary of a Nobody – Sparrow loses his mind. Today’s Diary.
The floors were swept, the carpets and rugs vacuumed, and the cat box cleaned out…We got laundry done, too…
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On This Date
Extra, extra, read all about it.
In 1865 – The last major battle of the Civil War between elements commanded by Generals Ulysses S Grant and Robert E Lee takes place near Farmville, Virginia. The battle was a victory for the Union, with Confederate troops having over 7,000 captured and an unknown number killed and wounded. The battle came three days after the Confederate capital of Richmond fell and History refers to it as the Battle of Sailor’s Creek.
1987 – Sugar Ray Leonard wins the WBC middleweight title, defeating Marvelous Marvin Hagler in a split decision at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. It remains the only middleweight title fight for Leonard, who earlier had won welterweight and light middleweight titles nad would later win super middleweight and light heavyweight titles. It was the final fight for Hagler, who retired still holding the IBF and WBA middleweight titles.
In 1959- Frankie Avalon is at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the fifth and final consecutive weeks with Venus. The song also went to #1 in Belgium, peaked at #16 in Great Britain, at #10 on Billboard’s soul chart, and was Billboard’s fourth biggest song of the year. It was the fourth of 13 Top 40 hits for Avalon, his third of seven Top 10 hits and his first of two #1s (Why, one week, 1959). Avalon’s given name was Francis Thomas Avallone.
Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
Older voters who had lived through the Depression and two world wars fretted that America had somehow lost its grit and will to sacrifice.
Evan Thomas
Ike’s Bluff
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Knowledge is power.
Thomas Jefferson is the only US president to serve two full terms without vetoing a bill.
Today’s Stumper
Match wits with Gaylon. It’s not that hard.
In what weight class did Sugar Ray Leonard win the gold medal at the 1976 Olympics? – Answer next time!
