OT: Zeke Pike ejected at 7 on 7 tourney

Submitted by The Baughz on

My twitter account has been blowing up about Zeke Pike getting thrown out of a 7 on 7 tourney for throwing a ball at an official. I first saw it on Bruce Feldman's twitter page. This is not good coming from a highly touted recruit. I dont know the whole extent of the story, so Im not going to divulge into at all, but I hope this is not a sign of things to come. Again, I do not want to speculate about an 18 year old kid who I do not know anything about except that he is one of the nation's top high school qbs. Just thought Id inform you guys and see what you think about this whole situation.

 

 

http://twitter.com/#!/BFeldmanESPN

Kal

April 10th, 2011 at 2:07 PM ^

Honestly, if he just tossed the ball at him out of frustration I don't think it's a big deal. If he wound up a rocket and blasted the ref in the face then I could see it being an issue.

1464

April 10th, 2011 at 2:41 PM ^

There have been several times in my life that if I was within throwing distance of a referee, he would be wearing whatever substance I was holding like a gorilla mask.  And I think I'm pretty well adjusted.

The more I think about how seething mad I get at refs, the more I realize that in the hundreds of organized sporting events I've played in, I have only been ejected once for arguing with the refs.  I don't know what a TV does to your pysche, but it seems to ilicit a more serious rage response.  Perhaps that's why the internet is such a mean place...

BlockM

April 10th, 2011 at 2:10 PM ^

Yeah, this is almost certainly a huge character flaw and probably represents an immense underlying psychological issue. /s

Obviously throwing a ball at a ref is a bad idea, but let's not blow this out of proportion.

The Baughz

April 10th, 2011 at 2:11 PM ^

Ya, I have no clue if he just tossed it at him, or if he did a 5 step drop and threw a bullet. Whatever he did, it was obviously severe enough to warrant an ejection. Who knows though. Everything gets blown out of proportion these days, so I guess we will have to wait and see.

vegasjeff

April 10th, 2011 at 2:30 PM ^

If the story is true, ejections, especially for actions that threaten referees, are serious.

I'm surprised that so many folks immediately seem to excuse the player's behavior.

I'd like to wait to see exactly what happened before commenting further.

But let's not be so blinded by wanting talented recruits that we are willing to accept players with bad attitudes -- if that's what this episode suggests.

Beezy

April 10th, 2011 at 3:01 PM ^

As a IM referee working for Rec Sports at U of M, I agree that this is a pretty big deal.  I've reffed games where players have thrown balls at each other and have immediately been ejected for the game, sometimes forcing their teams to forfeit.  This situation is even more serious than those above especially since we are more defenseless than the players.  If this story is as serious as it suggests, then I'm disappointed in this recruit since it takes a big lack of sportsmanship to do something like that.

Kal

April 10th, 2011 at 3:13 PM ^

In all fairness though, IM refs never interject early enough. I've been in numerous games where things are getting chippy and asked an IM ref to say something before things get out of hand, and they usually do nothing.

Marley Nowell

April 10th, 2011 at 3:35 PM ^

Are you really comparing "reffing" IM sports to people who do it for a living? Unless this was a Varsity Blues type situation where he rocketed the pass at the ref's face its probably not a big deal.

BlueBarron

April 10th, 2011 at 2:30 PM ^

I wouldn't be too concerned if he came to Michigan because honestly, do you think coaches, fans, higher-ups, etc would allow behavior like that at Michigan? If anyone has to mature their personality, I think UoM is the place to do it.

4godkingandwol…

April 10th, 2011 at 2:35 PM ^

If this was an Ohio State commit, we'd be calling it the second coming of TP.  I agree we shouldn't jump to conclusions, but throwing the ball at an official is ALWAYS a bad sign.  It may be relatively minor, but is still worse than if he had never done it.

Don

April 10th, 2011 at 2:56 PM ^

You're justifying it on the basis that a ref is being a dick? You don't think that refs are dicks in BCS level football?

If it actually happened and it wasn't a misunderstanding—like Pike lobbing the ball to an official who wasn't looking for it—there's no way it's not a huge red flag. That's Ryan Mallett/Ryan Leaf kind of behavior.

Mustachioed Ge…

April 10th, 2011 at 6:16 PM ^

I'm saying "why not?". He isn't ruining a team's season or anything and I'm sure the majority of people on here have thrown a ball at someone in a low consequence setting. And no, it's not Mallet/Leaf like behavior. I don't see any text of him partying epically, doing narcotic drugs, or anything of that sort. He's a kid playing football in high school lapses in judgement and anger control are bound to happen.

aaamichfan

April 10th, 2011 at 2:38 PM ^

This is mind blowing news. I have no idea how to handle it. Thank god for the advent of Twitter, because it allows people to hype information of this magnitude.

JimLahey

April 10th, 2011 at 2:59 PM ^

Who hasn't wanted to chuck a ball at a ref in their lives? Better to get it out of the way at 18 so as to have the "young and dumb" excuse. It's out of his system now, now come to Michigan and win.

dennisblundon

April 10th, 2011 at 3:11 PM ^

You all do realize this was just something posted on twitter and not gospel at this point. Lets reserve judgement of any kind on this 17 year old kid, until you hear it from a more reliable source. Then by all means some of you may return to condemning the kid for all of eternity.