Witvoet sped up the adoption of instart replay
- Thread starter christoph
- Start date
The Mt. Rushmore of referines responsible for instant replay: Witvoet, Honig, Parry & LeMonnier.
ChiTown, do you remember the guy who called our initial Michigan game in 1993? I think he was even honored at halftime in Ann Arbor when he retired. He was very Honigesque, IMO.
Smells like Honig but can't say for sure. Would love to know the answer to your question about the excessive crowd noise game.
It wasn't Dick, but he was one. He called a clear Michigan QB fumble and subsequent TD return by PSU an incomplete "forward" pass.
Though I recall the skunk's QB stopping play often to quiet the crowd, I don't recall any actual penalty ... unless there was a loss of a PSU timeout charged.
Is lemonnier still around?
I know all those guys suck but who is the asswipe that told us we were lucky we were still playing? John o Neil? He is still around and we have to watch him.
Yes, it was O'Neill, responding to Devon Still's complaint about being constantly held.
It was also O'Neill who penalized Matt McGloin for "spiking the ball in anger," following an OL false start.
And, of course, it was O'Neill who called the 2014 Ohio State game.
Do you have any documentation or quotes from Still on O'Neill saying we were lucky to be playing?
I've seen it posted that he made that comment to McGloin and to Mauti. I think it may be an urban legend.
Also O'Neill is a huge OSU homer He's witvoet for this decade.
In all fairness... nine out of ten throws to Tony were no-catches #phonebooksforhands
Witvoet sped up the adoption of instant replay but it was a long list of blown calls over the years by a number of officials that contributed. IMO, Witvoet (Plainwell, MI) and Honig (Ann Arbor, MI) were just plain cheaters and you'll never convince me otherwise. What rankled JVP was their assignment to near every PSU/Michigan game along with their crew members who were also domiciled in Michigan and/or had affiliations with the school. Honig to this day remains associated with the BigTen as a replay official.
Here is a list of the Michigan domiciled crew members who were at one time or another part of Witvoet's and Honig's crews and sometimes more than one at a time.
David Chesney, Belmont (line judge)
Paul Engelberts, Royal Oak (field judge).
Percy Mun, Detroit (umpire).
Dino Paganelli, Grand Rapids (back judge). Left for the NFL in 2006
Tony Payne, Lansing (umpire).
Ed Peters, Marshall (head linesman).
Bob Stinson, Acme (back judge)
Ron Torbert, West Bloomfield, (MSU grad) Left for the NFL in 2010
Mike Dolce, Hudsonville, (head linesman) refereed in last years PSU/UM
Todd Geerlings, Norton Shores (crew chief)
Those guys were stooges. The old timers, Witvoet, Parry, Lemonnier, Honig - they're gone now. The Woody and Bo backscratchers are dropping by the wayside. Who was the goof at the B1G offices, the Director of Officials, who had the 'shrine to Michigan' in his office? What the hell is this about?
This is not to say that they still do not suck, because they do. Bill Carollo is another nitwit. Him and his red check marks. I want to see when a B1G official is fired or suspended it be made public. 'Joe Blow, from Grove City, O., was suspended for two weeks for having the wrong feed'. Let people know you're trying to have it on the up and up, and let the zebras know there is real consequences for their shenanigans.
http://www.mlive.com/spartans/index.ssf/2012/11/big_ten_supervisor_of_official.html
Those guys were stooges. The old timers, Witvoet, Parry, Lemonnier, Honig - they're gone now. The Woody and Bo backscratchers are dropping by the wayside. Who was the goof at the B1G offices, the Director of Officials, who had the 'shrine to Michigan' in his office? What the hell is this about?
http://www.mlive.com/spartans/index.ssf/2012/11/big_ten_supervisor_of_official.html
That would be the Dickster himself, Mr. Honig. I read somewhere that he played baseball at Michigan ... even coached there, I think ... got both degrees from UM, as well ... clearly understandable that he would be so devoted to his alma mater ... however, it is NOT understandable how he could be considered an impartial judge of games in the most visible and money-producing sport in the conference
Exactly right. Now playing ball for a Conference school should not, in and of itself, should not disqualify a man from being an official. Obviously you can't do your own school's games, but you should WANT guys who know how the game is played. But they owe it to the game, the players, the fans, and the conference to bend over backwards to avoid any appearance of funny stuff. Have your 'shrine to Michigan' in your man cave - not in the effin' league offices.
A well-known poster aptly described these yonkos as Midwestern Shizholians. Truer words were never spoken.
I have an old Official High School Baseball Rulebook, one of the sponsors was Honig's Sporting Goods in AA. He is/was a big-time distributor of baseball equipment, which makes sense given his past as a (very good) baseball player.
