referees Page 2 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Referee Clock Boner Very Nearly Screws Saints In Monday Night Thriller
Monday night’s Texans-Saints game ended with two incredible late drives and a dramatic walk-off 58-yard field goal to put the home team over the top, 30–28. However you feel about the Saints and their fans, one positive takeaway from their victory is it managed to wipe out a pretty significant refer...

FIBA Officials Missed A Call So Bad They Got Kicked Out Of The World Cup And Inspired A Ferocious Coach Meltdown
Lithuania’s run at the FIBA World Cup ended this morning against the Dominican Republic, though their chances of advancing through the second group stage were killed on Saturday when they lost to France by three points. The nature of that loss was highly controversial....

WNBA Referee Walks Into Astou Ndour’s Hand, Delivers Emphatic Ejection
You can’t touch a referee. That’s the rule in basketball and basically every sport. So, the ejection of the Chicago Sky’s Astou Ndour from today’s game against the Washington Mystics was understandable. But the reaction of WNBA ref Kevin Fahey was a bit over the top....

Referee Tony Corrente Pays Tribute To Late Red Cashion With Signature "First Dowwwwwn" Call
Early in the first quarter of Packers-Bears, Tony Corrente, the game’s referee, announced a defensive holding call against Green Bay. At the end of it, he paid tribute to late former NFL referee Red Cashion by doing his own version of the classic elongated “first dowwwwwwwn” call....

Brazilian Referee Becomes Second Ref This Month To Stop Match Due To Homophobic Chants
While FIFA’s recent disciplinary code changes meant to address racist abuse from supporters in the stands, the updated rules have already been called to action this month to combat homophobia, first in France and now in Brazil....

Manager Ascends To New Level Of Consciousness, Makes Completely Logical Connection Between The Handball Rule And Brexit
The modern discourse is a never-ending cascade of Expanding Brain memes. Everyone plays their part, and when Deadspin is doing its job well, we provide takes that belong to one of the latter panels, ones hopefully more sophisticated than this but less out-there than this. Proving that our angle on t...

FIFA Puts A New, Useless Coat Of Paint On Its Anti-Racism Rules
FIFA announced changes to its disciplinary code on Friday, and the biggest tweak is a new addition to referee power that, in theory, could do much to help curb some of the racist abuse from supporters. Unfortunately, this is FIFA, where the theory almost never comes through in practice....

Messi On Copa América: "I Think The Cup Is Fixed For Brazil"
Despite the absence of Lionel Messi, and being down to 10 men on the field, Argentina were able to hold off Chile in the Copa América third place game with a 2-1 victory to take home bronze in the tournament. However, the Argentinian superstar was noticeably absent from the ensuing medal ceremony, d...

Lionel Messi Goes Off On "Bullshit" Refereeing After Argentina Lose To Brazil
VAR has been a disaster at the Copa América this summer, and last night’s Brazil-Argentina semifinal was no different. And as evidenced by his scathing postgame comments slamming VAR and the refereeing in general after his team fell to Brazil, Lionel Messi is fed the fuck up with it....

NBA Set To Add Coach's Challenges To Review System Next Season
According to a memo reportedly sent Friday morning, the NBA will be experimenting with adding a coach’s challenge to its current replay review system. The trial will begin with summer league basketball next month, but the league “anticipates using the rule during the 2019-20 regular season as part o...

Texas High School Referee Who Was Very Racist On A Phone Call Defends Himself As A "Jokester" Who Watches BET
The Texas Association of Sports Officials has suspended a longtime high school football referee for the 2019 season after audio surfaced of him being racist on a phone call. We’re talking “hard-R” racist....

78 Seconds Of Batshit Argentine Soccer Features Violent Tackles, Tears, Unconscionable Flopping
Argentine soccer is plagued by a bullshit macho culture where the biggest sin is losing and the biggest virtue is lunging about, heedlessly throwing your body into as many opponents as possible to prove how large your testicles are. For a short clip demonstrating the anarchic, violent, dive-y style ...

Soccer Referee Dies After Suffering Heart Attack During A Match In Bolivia
Víctor Hugo Hurtado was refereeing Sunday’s Bolivian first division match between Always Ready and Oriente Petrolero when he collapsed on the pitch midgame due to a reported heart attack. Stadium support staff took Hurtado to a local hospital, where the 31-year-old suffered another heart attack and ...

Well, Here's Another Type Of Call That Needs To Be Reviewable Now
The Boston Bruins can’t be too bent out of shape about it, because they still ended up beating the Blue Jackets 4-1 to even the series at two-all. But they did get their shutout ruined by a goal that shouldn’t have counted, and now we have another video review controversy in the NHL....

The Rockets Are Only Embarrassing Themselves
It’s not enough that the Houston Rockets have to whine that they lost Game 1 because the refs didn’t take their signature gaming of the “landing zone” rule as seriously as usual. They elected to follow that snit with what is perhaps the most pathetically lame sports media leak of all time, as ESPN m...

Vegas Says NHL Apologized For Game 7's Bad Call, And Those Referees Won't Work The Next Round
The San Jose Sharks are in the second round of the playoffs, and it’s mostly because of a third-period Cody Eakin major penalty. In the Golden Knights–Sharks Game 7 on Tuesday, Eakin crossed-checked Sharks forward Joe Pavelski on a face-off with Vegas leading 3-0 and 10 minutes remaining. Pavelski h...

Gregg Popovich Gets Himself Ejected Just 63 Seconds Into Spurs Game
Spurs head coach and noted curmudgeon Gregg Popovich must’ve had someplace else he needed to be Wednesday night. At the 10:57 mark of the first quarter of his team’s game against the Denver Nuggets—just 63 seconds after tipoff—Popovich was hit with a double-technical and ejected....
![Steph Curry Taunts Ref After Incredible Buzzer-Beating Three, Warriors Lose Seconds Later On Weird Foul [Update]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/zlmwgy6hu2h3iaph1si7.jpg)
Steph Curry Taunts Ref After Incredible Buzzer-Beating Three, Warriors Lose Seconds Later On Weird Foul [Update]
After the Warriors leapt out to a 19-point third-quarter lead against the Wolves tonight, Minnesota responded with a nutty 50-22 run, only to falter at the end of regulation. That was probably fine for fans, since the game had been an entertaining back-and-forth contest, and five minutes of free bas...

High School Wrestling Ref Who Forced Teen To Cut His Dreadlocks Preparing To Sue For "Emotional Distress"
The New Jersey high school wrestling referee, who forced a teen to cut his dreadlocks or forfeit a wrestling match in December, has begun the process of filing a lawsuit, claiming that he suffered “emotional distress” and “defamation of character” in the aftermath of the incident, according to The I...

Paul George Believes The Thunder "Haven’t Gotten A Fair Whistle All Year"<em></em>
The Thunder accomplished a rare feat in their 118-110 loss to the Clippers on Friday that they probably won’t think fondly of when the season finally ends for them. For the second time in the past 10 seasons, three starters fouled out before the end of regulation: Paul George, Russell Westbrook and ...