How about a discussion of the worst officiating we've ever seen? I know everyone complains about the refs and thinks they screw over whichever team you pull for, but I think the vast majority of the time they're doing their best to be unbiased and the overwhelming majority of blown calls are honest mistakes.
Only once have I ever thought differently. It's the worst example of officiating I ever saw in more than 50 years of watching football, and the only time I ever thought a crew was on the take.
In the '95 Bama-Arkansas game, we led 19-13 in the final minute of the game, but Arkansas was driving deep in Bama territory. Here's where it gets interesting. On two consecutive and critical plays in the final seconds, Arkansas had 12 men on the field... and it didn't get called either time. I don't mean 11 men in formation and the 12th trying to get off the field. I mean 12 guys lined up for a power run to the left with an extra blocker. I've watched roughly 1500 football games in my life and NEVER seen too many men on the field NOT get flagged except in this game. It's not a judgment call. You can't miss it. It sticks out like a sore thumb... yet every official on that field "didn't see it" while the announcers, the fans, and the Bama sideline all saw it and were going nuts screaming at the refs. On top of that, after the first play, our coaches let the refs have it, pointed it out, and yet they "missed it" again on the next play too with Arkansas lined up in exactly the same 12-man formation.
Finally, with only 7 seconds to go, Ark threw a pass into the endzone that clearly bounced - you could easily see the ball kick up turf and change direction. Not even a close call and would be overturned on review today 100% of the time, yet the refs "missed" that one too and called it a TD. Arkansas kicked the PAT and won 20-19.
What that crew did was no honest mistake or just a blown call. It was intentional. It was so blatant that the SEC suspended the entire crew within 2 hours of the game and made the suspension indefinite within 48 hours. Not a single member of that crew has ever officiated a college game in the 17 years since. They've been effectively blackballed for life. I've seen plenty of blown calls go against my team over the years, but no more so than against any other team, and they all tend to even out. This wasn't a blown call. This was a corrupt officiating crew.
