Posted on 02/08/2006 3:54:24 PM PST by bikepacker67
SEATTLE - And now a word about the officiating in Super Bowl XL. Two words actually.
It stunk.
The interference call, a push-off on Darrell Jackson that cost the Seahawks a first-quarter touchdown, was hideous.
If former Dallas Cowboy Michael Irvin hadn't been allowed to use his arm to get separation the innocent way Jackson did in Sunday's loss to Pittsburgh, Irvin would have caught maybe 20 balls in his career.
And the fourth-quarter holding call on right tackle Sean Locklear that nullified a spectacular catch by tight end Jerramy Stevens at the Pittsburgh 1-yard line was equally egregious.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
After all of us posters are dust. It will still say 21-10.
What a sweet Steeler victory it was. Even sweeter listening to crybaby bikepacker76 whining like his whole world collapsed with the Seahawks loss.
What fun it is to watch him whine and cry like a little baby. He has what, about 500 or 600 posts where he does nothing but whine and cry and cry and whine?
You would think he would be out of tears by now, or be dehydrated, but he just goes on and on and on.
Think she'll ever get over it?
This profoundly life changing incident happened on a Friday...little 17 year old Joshie (an honors student and waaaaay smarter than everyone else in the school, teachers included) told mommy of trials and tribulations of the day when he arrived home. Mom called the school. Guess what? It was closed. Gee whiz...what's an upset parent to do? Wait and call the principal or a school administrator on Monday morning...nah!!! Why of course, call the Associated Press office in Denver. Yes Denver. Oh and the Vannoys are nicely lawyered up now. So little Joshie will get a year or two of college paid for by the home owners of the Big Beaver Falls School District. I really think little Joshie is dumb like a fox, and the teacher, Mr. Kelly just (stupidly walked into it).
I teach. You don't do stuff like that to a student.
I'm a parent. I would never call the Associated Press.
You win your own Super Bowl...for whining and crying. And crying and whining. With the asterisk (*) of course!
Super Bowl I* for whining and crying.
I just want to add, that kids who were in the class stated it wasn't as dramatic a scene as Vannoy depicted. The parents made one attempt, one, to call any school official. Then they opted to call the Associated Press office in Denver, Colorado. Put yourself in Mr. Kelly's place...your first discussion of an incident in your classroom involves wire services and CNN...is that right?
Pingaroo!
I wouldn't either. However, the actions of the parents after the incident have no bearing on the conduct of the teacher during the incident.
And the actions of one idiot teacher have no reflection on any other sports fan of any team anywhere on the planet. Guilt by association doesn't fly here.
Again...other kids in the classroom have a different interpretation of what happened. But before the other students, the teacher, the principal, any administrator or member of the school board had any opportunity to discuss what happened, interviews were given to the AP, CNN, et al. So does anyone know what happened...other than the story the media reported? Again...happened on a Friday, the boy tells parental unit after he arrives home. One call to the now closed school, and call number two goes to the AP office in Denver. Is that a rational way to approach an incident in a HS classroom?
You are so right...guilt by association doesn't fly...but this story was so blown so far out of proportion. It speaks to the parents and the media. It was just Josh Vannoy's statement...and boom, on the AP wire out of Denver. There was no comment by the school district because, surpise, the district offices were closed for the weekend. By the time they could get an adminstrator, the family had already talked to CNN.
I was in Pgh in 2001 when they lost that playoff game to NE. I have never seen an entire city with clinical depression before. We had more than a few people call in sick on Monday.
When they could talk about it, several people that were at the game told me it was eerie. 72,000 people leaving the stadium in complete and total silence.
I am in Denver now and their loss to Pgh was more like a Los Angeles loss -- some vitrol but mostly shrugged shoulders. Big difference.
Up until today I've felt like the "whine" of the Seahawk fans - and really, I think much more "whining" came from people without a dog in the hunt who felt cheated out of a good game they could feel happy about - was more than offset by the Pittsburgh fans who were so shrilly and almost maniacally saying, "Stop talking about the referees! You're ruining our fun!"
But today I'm just tired of seeing more bickering about the calls that will never be agreed upon or reversed. Just let it go.
However, there is a point to what I'm doing. It's to impress upon them the importance of their job, and the consequences of being mentally or physically unprepared for their job.
Young people have very strong wills and very fragile spirits. It's everything I can do to break their wills without damaging their spirits, and you HAVE to break their wills to get them to function as a team. It's obvious from the story that the student was being melodramatic. However, I can think of no way that I could make one of my students lay down on the floor and have other students throw things at him that wouldn't be humiliating. The point of all this is that anyone who teaches in a classroom today has to be aware that parents may call the press if they don't like the way their child was treated. I can't stop that. What I can do is make sure that my conduct in the classroom is something I can adequately defend. I have seen instructors in both high school and college who use their authority to embarrass students. IMHO, they have no business in a classroom. I should NEVER give an order in a classroom that does not do one of three things:
1. Ensure proper order.
2. Teach a skill or knowledge objective.
3. Assist my student in achieving his or her goal of becoming a firefighter.
Some of my students root for Texas A&M. I went to Texas. We kid each other about it. I would NEVER order a student to do push ups because he wore an A&M ball cap (see my three rules of giving an order.
I did put myself in Mr. Kelly's place. I would say, "I was wrong. I want to extend an apology to the student, and promise him I will not engage in that type of conduct again. By way of apology, I will wear a Denver Broncos jersey all next week."
By the way, I HAVE been wrong in interactions with students before, and I have apologized to them in front of the class. It's embarrassing as h#ll, but it sure beats pretending you were right when you know you weren't.
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