Throughout our lives in this society we are taught that the Establishment is infallible. That there is a mortal arbitrator who has the final decision that cannot be overruled.
It's kind of like the T-shirts and coffee cups you see at Cracker Barrel that cite Rule Number One: "The Captain is always right." Rule Number Two: "If the Captain is wrong, see Rule Number One."
Last weekend, in a major college football game, the Captain, or official in this case, was wrong. Not only was the official on the field wrong, but the official system in place to backup the officials on the field was wrong.
You may have heard about it. Oklahoma at Oregon. In a wild finish, the Oregon Ducks came back to beat the Sooners 34-33 after scoring two touchdowns in the final one minute, 12 seconds of play.
Since Oregon is a member of the Pacific-10 Conference, Pac-10 officials were assigned. In short, they blew it. Several officials' calls in those final moments were wrong on the field and the automatic review team in the booth upheld the errors.
The most talked about play was an onside kick by the Ducks. They recovered and went on to score the game winner. Videos showed that the ball had been touched by an Oregon player before it traveled the required ten yards. As a result, the ball should have gone to the Sooners.
Not only was the ball touched illegally by a Duck, but was actually recovered by Oklahoma, not Oregon.
On Monday, Pac-10 Commissioner Tom Hansen announced that the entire officiating crew was being suspended for a week for their failure to perform. Hansen noted that not all members of the crew made errors, but that they work as a team and suffer as a team.
He described them as a "Solid veteran crew" on the field, with an instant replay official who had "a fine career as a referee in the Pac-10."
He apologized to Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops and his team, but the Sooners and their fans are not entirely buying it.
OU President David Boren sent a letter to Kevin Weiberg, Commissioner of the Big 12 Conference, asking him to see about having the game wiped off the books.
Come on, Kevin, this is not the first game to be decided by incorrect calls by officials.
Their next scheduled game against a Pac-10 opponent with Pac-10 officials is in Washington in 2008. They are threatening to back out of that game rather.
That may be a bit too much pouting. If you intend to hold a grudge for two years, you maybe need to grow up and move on.
Most unfortunately, some Sooner fans also are going overboard. The instant replay official has reported getting telephoned death threats against himself and his family.
Come on, folks. It was an important college football game … but it was only a college football game. You should be so upset about some real injustice in the world, of which there is plenty.
He did say that he hopes the Pac-10 will review its policy of having only Pac-10 officials work non-conference games in Pac-10 stadiums, but he doesn't expect they will.
As Weiberg pointed out, everyone knows about the policy when they sign a contract to play at a Pac-10 school. You can't cry foul if it goes against you.
What could develop if the situation is repeated is that top non-Pac-10 schools might refuse to sign contracts to play on Pac-10 turf.
That would change the policy.
Finally, an open note to Ben Roethlisberger and Bill Cowher: We understand that Ben wanted to play. We understand that he needed to knock off the rust that developed while he had an appendectomy so he would be ready for the really important game against the Bengals next week.
But it was obvious he wasn't ready to play against the Jaguars. Charlie Batch, of whom I am not a big fan, nevertheless showed that he can work well with the Steelers' offense when he has to.
Where is your one-game-at-a-time mantra now, Bill?