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DALLAS — Big 12 officials are off the hook. With Oklahoma and Texas off to a new land, how to legislate the Horns Down hand gesture is now the SEC’s problem.
John McDaid’s problem.
After giving a presentation to open SEC media days on Tuesday, McDaid, the SEC’s coordinator of football officials, didn’t get far before he was surrounded by a half-dozen reporters all wondering the same thing: Will flashing Horns Down be flagged?
“The playing rule that would be applicable is unsportsmanlike conduct,” McDaid said. “We’re gonna read the context in which it is done.”
McDaid asked his officials to weigh three criteria:
1. Is it taunting an opponent?
2. Is it making a travesty of the game?
3. Is it otherwise affecting our ability to manage the game?
SEC MEDIA DAYS: One big question for all 16 teams in Dallas this week
It’s a travesty that Horns Down is still taken so seriously, but what exactly is “making a travesty of the game?”
McDaid: “A travesty of the game is something that offends the census. Take the act out of a football stadium, go put it in a shopping mall, a grocery store, is it something that would offend the census of the majority of reasonable people in the area?”
That last part, “in the area,” could be key.
Would Horns Down offend the census at Penn Square Mall in Oklahoma City? No, it would delight. Would Horns Down offend the census at an H-E-B in Austin? I expect it would.
Also, I wouldn’t say football stadiums are filled with “reasonable people.”
“Giving this signal to me isn’t offensive in that particular context,” McDaid said. “So let’s go back on the field to a player that’s giving it. Is it taunting an opponent or is it making a travesty of the game?
“If an opponent of Texas would score a touchdown and in celebration with their teammates go up the sideline,…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/sec-officials-call-penalty-horns-151548021.html
Author : USA TODAY Sports
Publish date : 2024-07-16 15:15:48
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