It's Only Cheating If You Get Caught

Not a post about Tim Tebow

This is NOT a post about Tim Tebow.

This was almost a post about Tim Tebow.

About his post-season heroics against the Steelers. About his faith and how it rubs people the wrong way. About the Tebow mania sweeping the nation.

But this is NOT a post about Tim Tebow.

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Instead, this is a post about what happens when you break the rules (inadvertently or purposefully) and no one catches it. Like a great big rule breaking tree falling in forest of deaf, dumb and blind referees, that's exactly what happened in the Louisiana-Lafayette/Western Michigan basketball game last Thursday.

As the game clock dwindled down, LA-Lafayette clearly had 6 players on the court. In real life, this is what we like to call a technical foul.

On Thursday, not so much.

The refs were apparently confused as to what sport they were monitoring and thought the Ragin' Cajuns were on a power play.*

Side note, what the heck is a ragin' cajun? And can you rent one for parties?

Long story short, the Cajuns scored the winning bucket at the buzzer. All six players were right there to celebrate it.

To make matters worse, poor WKU coach Ken McDonald was fired after the loss gave the Hilltoppers a dismal 5-11 record.

And although officials confirmed that there was indeed too many men on the court, the score was ruled as final.

Look, officiating is done by humans. Humans make mistakes. Ergo, human error is part of the game. A frustrating part, to be sure, but breaks will inevitably even out during the course of a season. And like those of us who mess up at our jobs, these officials are facing the consequences (possible suspension).

 Fair? I think so.

At season's end, we'll probably all still be scratching our heads and wondering how not one, not two, but THREE refs didn't realize there were too many men on the court.

But hey, it's only cheating if you get caught.


*Thanks to SBNation's Mike Rutherford for coming up with the brills hockey analogy. Smooches Mr. Rutherford!

Image provided by bleacherreport.