Lawmaker Wants Finish To Lady Vols/Rutgers “Investigated”
Sigh. I’m tired of politics. I’m tired of the election. And I’m very, very, tired of the new trend of lawmakers using sports to advance their personal agendas and drum up cheap support with their home voters.
The newest case involves the controversial ending of the Tennessee/Rutgers, women’s basketball game earlier this year. During that game there was a clock malfunction, too much time was given to UT, and the Lady Vols used the extra time to make a game winning shot. Issue was debated, then forgotten, both teams are high seeds in the NCAA tournament and the planet continues to rotate. Right?
Apparently not. According to The Tennessean:
State Sen. Robert Singer wants the NCAA to investigate the Feb. 11 game that Tennessee won 59-58 over Rutgers despite a question over whether the clock expired.
The Republican’s non-binding legislation calls upon the NCAA to investigate why the game clock seemed to pause for more than a second just before reaching zero. Tennessee had time for Nicky Anosike to make two foul shots to win.
Okay. I did not have much problem with Congress investigating baseball, because in the end, there were illegal drugs involved. But the Arlen Spector/NFL feud and this New Jersey case are two examples of why politics and sports do not mix. Both cases have politicians who have personal agendas, using the power of their positions to interfere with events that should not be within the scope of their duties.
Full disclosure, I’m located in Tennessee, but in all honesty I’m not much of a women’s basketball fan, and I would feel this way had the teams been flipped. At the end of the day, that one game is not going to have an effect on how either team’s season ends up.
In fact, I believe that if I was a New Jersey native, I would be going absolutely apeshit over the thought that one of my senators didn’t have anything to worry about except the ending of a women’s basketball game from over a month ago.
Here’s the video from the game:
