Spartan Bob "Clockgate" game on BTN right now.

Submitted by Section 1 on

If you haven't seen this outrage, then you don't know the true meaning of "injustice."

I was an eyewitness to this thing, as well as the admitted interference by Eddie Brown on Desmond Howard in 1990, to rob Michigan of the game and a #1 ranking.

They are, in my view, equivalent offenses against common decency and the rules of the game.

If you need any excuse to hate that land-grant college in Ingham County, this will supply it to you.

VAWolverine

July 1st, 2010 at 9:34 PM ^

then turned it off when I saw the date. It was the first time I heard my 9 year old son use the "F" word.

Certainly a developmental milestone.

Section 1

July 1st, 2010 at 9:50 PM ^

I have heard the repeat of the Beckmann/Brandstatter Michigan Radio broadcast.  When I heard that, it sounded like Beckmann wanted to jump out of the press box.

Bosch

July 1st, 2010 at 10:12 PM ^

was this past season's UM/MSU basketball game........

The classic games are nice and all, except that it's tough to stomach reliving all of Michigan's epic losses.

Section 1

July 1st, 2010 at 10:44 PM ^

-appearing in the stadium.  It looked to me like the tv clock was lagging.  Because in the stadium, Spartan Bob shut that thing down the moment Smoker thought about grounding it.

I'll never forget it, I was in a section with Michigan alumni and Victors Club members, and we were counting down the clock.  The play before, when Smoker was sacked on a run (Smoker really should have just thrown the ball anywhere), I said loud enough for all 200 of us to hear, "That's it!  There's not enough time for another play!  It's over!"  Brent Musberger and Gary Danielson clearly knew what was going on, I now see.  "It sure helps to have that home timekeeper," Danielson said.

This was the game that caused the Big Ten to require official Conference timekeepers, and not guys hired by the home team.

schmakj

July 1st, 2010 at 11:55 PM ^

The other ridiculous thing to note about that play is how shockingly fast the referees moved to spot the ball.

My uncle, a college-level referee, first noted about that play that the referees are supposed to spot the ball with the same pace at any and every point of the game. If it takes you 7 seconds in the second quarter, it should take roughly the same time with a minute to go. My uncle is also an Ohio State grad and, if anything, had a bias against Michigan in that game, yet was disturbed by the speed of that ref in the open field.

One FAKE out of five on the referee's 4.38 40-time there...

M-Wolverine

July 2nd, 2010 at 12:25 AM ^

Likewise, those that tried to "time it" using the tv clock.  Which is a separate filming of it and not totally in sync.  If you were in the stadium, you know how bad it really was.  We were counting it down.  and I distinctly remember hitting "3....2....1...0....zero....ZERO..."...and then he spiked the ball. It wasn't a split second timing thing.  There were literally seconds that passed before the clock should have stopped.  

And so as to not glut the board, the next post is accurate too...I've never seen refs move so fast in my life.

Not to mention they missed the most obvious hold call of the game on that last play....

allansrule

July 1st, 2010 at 11:42 PM ^

That was my first and last game at Spartan Stadium.  Too be honest, I'm not sure I ever want to go back, having witnessed that.  I will probably be cursing that stupid asspipe as long as I live.  It is consolation that Lloyd let 6 straight years of biblical wrath rain down upon them for their transgressions, but it still stings.   

MGoRob

July 2nd, 2010 at 12:10 AM ^

I was also at that game and it was certainly brutal.  But as much as I hate "clockgate" and Spartan Bob, there were many things that happened that I was outraged over:

A short, high punt with minutes left gave the Spartans great field possession.

Jeremy LeSueur was flagged for a facemask on a incomplete 4th down conversion, giving Sparty another set of downs.

With 30ish seconds to go, we were flagged for too many men on the field, resulting in half the distance to the goal.

A change in any of those, and the game likely would have resulted differently.  And we were ranked 6th and a possible national contender.  Le Sigh.

And onto another point...Something that I heard while watching part of game before turning it off in disgust.  One of the announcers commented that MSU should keep pounding the ball at us because we were an "undersized defense" and "built for speed".  I found that remark funny and ironic when I think about what the media says with RichRod's team.

M-Wolverine

July 2nd, 2010 at 12:27 AM ^

That also didn't get called.  TJ Duckett kicked someone so obviously we could see it from the stands; and that should have been an automatic ejection.  None of his yards, not on the field that last play.  And I remember some bullshit with one of their receivers, on a catch or fumble or something.  But I confess my memory is going faulty on that one.

The point is that I was thinking it was a horribly officiated game BEFORE that last play.  That play just sent it into the all time stratosphere.  At least until the Alamo Bowl....

tdcarl

July 2nd, 2010 at 2:02 AM ^

All I remember from that game is just jumping up and down screaming holding as the play was happening, then when he caught it some pillows got thrown. I was only 9 at the time, but I felt myself die a little on the inside. The worst part was dealing with all of the state fans the next Monday at school, even though we were only in 3rd grade they still pissed me off.

Blazefire

July 2nd, 2010 at 7:43 AM ^

was merely the victim of the watch effect. You know how when you look at your watch, that first second seems to drag on for a couple of seconds? Yeah, it's like that. Plus the clock can only show full second, and there might have been like, a hundredth of a second left.

Wait... what's that you say? You say that's really, really stupid? You say anyone with brain cells knows that neither of those excuses fits the situation or makes any sense at all? Oh, well... okay then. I guess Spartan Bob was just a screw up.

GVBlue86

July 2nd, 2010 at 8:07 AM ^

I've never heard the Beckmann/Brandstatter call. Is there an archive for that? If anyone has a link handy or a site to try I would appreciate it.

Anyway, I watched it last night too because it brought me back to my Sophomore yr of high school. That is easily one of my most outraged moments that I can remember from that era. I fucking hated TJ Duckett.

And for some reason I can't look away when they replay those moments that tortured me soo much.

WolverineHistorian

July 2nd, 2010 at 9:07 AM ^

Brandstatter hardly said anything because he wastoo furious to talk.  Beckman said that it was criminal another second was left on the clock and then he pointed out the obvious holding on the final play that was never called.The 97.1 morning show I listento on the radio talked about this a few months ago.  MSU fans wantto get Beckman's call for the final 2 plays of this game as a ringtone for their cell phones.  Further proof that a tainted victory over UM is just as a good as a regular win.

Still in AA

July 2nd, 2010 at 8:25 AM ^

In the second quarter, Cato June was called for pass interference while defending Charles Rogers in the endzone (looked like the right call).  The best part was, I think it was Musberger, said something like "that's what happens when a college player tries to cover an nfl player."

ambamb

July 2nd, 2010 at 9:21 AM ^

With 36 seconds to go State misses a first down and immediately calls TO. A flag is tossed for 12 men on the field, which there were, and the refs never give State the TO back that could have been used prior to the last play. Lots of errors by the refs.

Additionally:

"Three years following the game, Dave Parry, the conference's coordinator of football officials, said, "that play, as much as we've put that under a high-powered microscope, was correct. We could not prove that timer wrong."

Let it go.

GunnersApe

July 2nd, 2010 at 9:48 AM ^

D-Day: War's over, man. Wormer dropped the big one.

Bluto: Over? Did you say "over"? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!

Otter: Germans?

Boon: Forget it, he's rolling.

Bluto: And it ain't over now. 'Cause when the goin' gets tough...

[thinks hard]

Bluto: the tough get goin'! Who's with me? Let's go!

[runs out, alone; then returns]

Bluto: What the fuck happened to the Delta I used to know? Where's the spirit? Where's the guts, huh? This could be the greatest night of our lives, but you're gonna let it be the worst. "Ooh, we're afraid to go with you Bluto, we might get in trouble." Well just kiss my ass from now on! Not me! I'm not gonna take this. Wormer, he's a dead man! Marmalard, dead! Niedermeyer...

Otter: Dead! Bluto's right. Psychotic, but absolutely right. We gotta take these bastards. Now we could do it with conventional weapons that could take years and cost millions of lives. No, I think we have to go all out. I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody's part.

Bluto: We're just the guys to do it.

D-Day: Let's do it.

Bluto: *Let’s do it*!

Search4Meaning

July 2nd, 2010 at 12:49 PM ^

(as opposed to "acknoledge" - close but no cigar)

The difference is that the timeout was an error on the refs part.

The "clockgate" issue was home cooked.  Period.  If it was not, why was the rule changed so that timers were forever Big Ten officials, and not employees of the home team?  NOT because there was no problem, but because there was obvious discrepancies.  

I can forget a loss when the other team earned it on the field, but I will never forget being cheated.  I don't lose any sleep over it - but will not "let it go".

EDIT:  I was at this game and will never forget MSU fans pointing at me and saying, "You got fucked!  How does it feel to get fucked by us?" and "Who's the bitch now?"

"Let it go!?!?!" - R I G H T...

Louie C

July 2nd, 2010 at 9:43 AM ^

Me, my brother and a few budddies were watching the game at home. We even started counting down the seconds as the game was supposedly ending. "Five, four, three, two, one.....what the fuck?!" That and the tripping of Dez in th endzone are the reasons why I hope Michigan piles it on everytime they play Moo U.

03 Blue 07

July 2nd, 2010 at 11:16 AM ^

Also: Larry Stevens being held so egregiously it's absurd. I actually met him once, like 5 years after this game. i was like, "you're Larry Stevens? Dude, you were fucking RAPED on the last play of that MSU game!" He agreed. He gave me some sort of high five/hand pound, and I insisted on buying him a drink. He was a nice guy, by the way.

Bryan

July 2nd, 2010 at 10:17 AM ^

I was 16 on a camping trip listening to radio...I have only been angrier once in my life. The Toledo game. I am still sorry for the children that were within earshot of me that day. 

Noahdb

July 2nd, 2010 at 10:23 AM ^

There are times when you lose when the other guy is just better. There are times you lose when you're better, but the other guy has his one moment of glory. There are times you lose when you just got unlucky (LSU vs. Kentucky in 2002).

And then there are times when Boggs and his buddies trap you in the laundry and take turns raping you.

And that's Sparty's favorite moment.

umich_fan1

July 2nd, 2010 at 10:31 AM ^

I read the first 10 posts and stopped here. This still hurts. I was too young for Desmond being tripped in the endzone....Not sure how any M-fan can stand even a couple minutes of this game.

umich_fan1

July 2nd, 2010 at 10:31 AM ^

I read the first 10 posts and stopped here. This still hurts. I was too young for Desmond being tripped in the endzone....Not sure how any M-fan can stand even a couple minutes of this game.

zoltan the destroyer

July 2nd, 2010 at 11:07 AM ^

...we absolutely blew all of our chances in this game.

Interfering with Rogers, 12 men on the field... terrible. All we had to do was NOT implode to walk out of there with a win and revenge for the Plax show in '99.

I don't enjoy reliving UM football shooting itself in the foot, so let us never speak of it again.

03 Blue 07

July 2nd, 2010 at 11:13 AM ^

Just seeing the title of this thread made me throw up in my mouth. That was a terrible day. I broke some things in my house after that game. "Fuck this drywall! Fuck this table! Fuck MSU!"

mgomartin

July 2nd, 2010 at 11:53 AM ^

This one never bothered me that much. We got away with 12 men on the field on the previous play and it cost them a timeout where it shouldn't have.

 

Now the infamous trip in the endzone on the other hand....that one makes me furious.