The “JK LAWLZ” Defense

So I really love Twitter. Twitter is a place where jokes and good times can come to the forefront and where topical humor lives and breathes. Generally speaking, it’s been my understanding, though I haven’t been in many boardrooms at 23-years-of-age, that topical humor shouldn’t be in the boardroom. Ed Rush is learning that first hand. Ed Rush, the PAC-12 Director of Officials, has squarely put his foot into the mouths of the PAC-12 as a conference and they should put a foot to his backside.

If you haven’t been watching ESPN today let me fill you in. Sean Miller is the head coach of the

University of Arizona Men’s Basketball team, and a good coach to boot. He was charged a technical foul during Arizona’s game against UCLA in the PAC-12 Tournament semi-final, which Arizona lost 66-64. Earlier this week, CBS broke the story that an PAC-12 official said that Ed Rush, the Director of Officials for the conference offered, “$5,000 or a trip to Cancun,” to either eject or charge a Technical Foul to Miller. Ed Rush apparently offered this twice, before two separate Arizona games. Today, Conference Commissioner Larry Scott had this to say about the incident, “Based on the review, we have concluded that while Rush made inappropriate comments that he now regrets during internal meetings that referenced rewards, he made the comments in jest and the officials in the room realized they were not serious offers.” That’s great; that’s also the worst response to a scandal the PAC-12 has ever released, but that’s great.

Having watched the video of Coach Miller’s reaction to the wrong double-dribble call it seems absurd to call a technical at all. Miller is an emotive guy, he yells and waves his arms, like almost every coach but he didn’t react like Steve Lavin or Tom Crean would. If they got hit with that same technical foul I bet those two coaches would be rolling around on the floor as if they were possessed by some demon. Keep in mind that this play was also the first time that Sean Miller had received a technical foul all season and he took it on the chin, a very confused chin.

Having read everything there is to read about this story, it’s insane to believe that the DIRECTOR OF OFFICIALS would make a joke about being biased towards a coach in that conference. Ed Rush, joking or not, told his officials to be biased against Coach Miller. It’s astounding to me that someone in a position of authority that Ed Rush is in would make a statement like that. His comments are especially out of line when you consider that Rush has been called a “great mentor” to young officials. He’s mentoring them to maintain a bias against coaches.

The insanity persists when you read Larry Scott’s comments and expect fans to believe that “JK LAWLZ” should have followed the statement. Larry Scott believes college sports fans should swallow down the excuse that it was simply a joke and that should suffice. Jokes or not, this is an absurdly inappropriate series of events for which Ed Rush should lose his job. Regardless of if it’s a joke or not,

Ed Rush is the guy that lets you ply your trade as a referee, if he says he wants Miller put in his place are you not going to be quick with the whistle? Yes, yes you are. I absolutely believe that a ref, regardless of if he was expecting 5 grand or a trip would want to be on the good side of his boss than not. The adage, “It’s better to be on the right-hand of the Devil than in his path” comes to mind in this situation. Ed Rush has been called a bully but you know… he was really showing his gleaming sense of humor during this situation.

I just heard Larry Scott on my favorite ESPN radio show SVP & Russillo say that Ed Rush will retain his job because he didn’t do anything unethical. I find it hard to believe that jokes about being biased in a job when your role is to supervise the unbiased arbiters of the rules is nothing short of unethical. If I were to joke about reporting more billable hours on a job or project would I keep my job? Nope. I’d be canned. It’s hard to imagine that joking about intentionally doing your job poorly is acceptable behavior anywhere, in any job, at any level.

I absolutely believe that Ed Rush has completely ruined the credibility of not just the Conference as a whole but most importantly, the referees he is still responsible for. From now on, as long as Ed Rush still is in his job, I will be leery of every last technical or ticky-tack foul a PAC-12 official is going to call in conference. Ed Rush’s personality and apparently his sense of humor have turned the PAC-12 officials into what seems to be his cadre of goons. I, as a fan of the game, will definitely have a lot of questions about every call that comes in the future.