Perhaps Big Ten officials spent Monday morning concerned with something that truly matters _ the safety of the Ohio State community. Hopefully reports indicating that none of the nine victims has life-threatening injuries will bring peace to that campus.
Now it's time for the league to address some ugliness on a much smaller scale.
Jim Harbaugh acted like an ass after Ohio State's 30-27 double-overtime victory Saturday, going on and on and on about the officiating.
His response _ when you lose, blame the refs _ was precisely what we do not teach our kids about handling defeat. The only thing as bad as a sore winner ("millions" of illegal votes, really?) is a sore loser.
Harbaugh drew an unsportsmanlike penalty during the game for ranting about an offsides call that was valid and then ripped the official who flagged him, insinuating that the side judge was not focused on the game. Harbaugh also insisted that J.T. Barrett came up short on the fourth-down rush that preceded Ohio State's 15-yard game-winning touchdown run.
The MGoBlog analyzed the play and concluded that Barrett likely made it by an inch or two. Yet people, spurred on by Harbaugh's bluster, actually think that Big Ten replay officials should have reversed the call, ending the game in the emptiest way possible.
I'd feel the same if Barrett had been ruled short. Replay exists to correct calls that are obviously wrong, not to flip ones that reasonable people with good eyesight find debatable.
All this happened Saturday, and the Big Ten has yet to chime in, yet to censure or fine Harbaugh. (Texts to Commissioner Jim Delany and a league spokesman were not immediately returned.)
I've said it before, I'll say it again: Harbaugh is a wonderful coach, an asset to the Big Ten and a hoot to cover because of his zest for competition and his unpredictable and occasionally zany answers. I picked Michigan to beat Ohio State in the Tribune, by the way.
But again, Harbaugh acted like an ass. He still needs to learn the basics of sportsmanship, of praising your opponent and acknowledging that no game is determined by a single play.
"What's your deal?" Pete Carroll asked Harbaugh at the 2009 Stanford-USC postgame handshake after he ran up the score on Carroll's Trojans. We're still not sure.
The officials did not lose the game for Michigan on Saturday. Were there some questionable pass-interference calls? Yup. There are every game.
The Wolverines turned it over three times against Ohio State, fumbling inside the 2 and attempting a pass from its own 6 that went for a pick-6. Its defense surrendered 177 yards in the fourth quarter and two overtimes. That's why they lost.
Harbaugh's comments have spurred on unfortunate stuff like this: The Michigan Insider, a sports-talk station, fired on Big Ten coordinator of officials Bill Carollo on Monday in a tweet to its 36,858 followers: [hashtag]FireBillCarollo [hashtag]BoycottB1G Events. The station included the phone number of the league office with Carollo's extension.
A lengthier explanation from the station included fair-minded criticism of Michigan for "their failures in the game" and a slam on the Big Ten and Carollo over its choice of officials, alleging that two are "Ohio natives and known OSU fans ... Why even subject yourself to this postgame scrutiny? That's why I've said [hashtag]FireBillCarollo. That was negligence from the league before the game even started."
Maybe Big Ten honchos like Carollo think it's beneath them to respond to conspiracy theories regarding their officials and where they were born.
Harbaugh, meanwhile, is one of their own. Come out, Big Ten, and say something.
