As we are about to close the books on Day 4 of “America Held Hostage: SEC Officials Under Siege”, the one person we haven’t heard from is the head of the crew from last Saturday’s Florida-Arkansas officiating debacle.
Until now.
Shortly after it was announced by the conference that his crew had been suspended until Nov. 14, an interview with referee Marc Curles, head of the suspended crew, was posted on ESPN.com.
The interview paints Curles as a sympathetic figure, but sympathy was the last thing on the minds of some fans in the immediate aftermath of Saturday’s game. Curles said he was deluged by calls and emails from fans raging against the bogus personal foul penalty and the two very questionable pass interference calls -- or non-call, as was the case in one of them. Some even accused the five-year SEC veteran of being on the take.
Needless to say, that didn’t sit well with Curles.
“I have gotten 50 or 60 e-mails just in the last two to three days,” Curles told ESPN.com‘s Mike Fish. “At work. I had about a half-dozen voice messages on my home phone when I got home Sunday. I have gotten phone calls [at work]. People are passionate about their teams, and I understand that. We kind of know what we are getting into when we do this. But some of things they say -- think about what you are saying. Saying I should be investigated for gambling. Saying I should be ashamed of myself. Saying the conference is pulling the strings.
“If people could just understand there is a human element to it. Hey, I am trying my dead-level best. I am getting e-mail from folks accusing me of being on the take, all this kind of thing. We are absolutely trying to get it perfect every time. And nobody feels worse than we do when it doesn’t happen.”
To his credit, Curles admitted that he erred on the personal foul call.
“I understand people are passionate about their teams,” Curles says softly. “Like I said, we sign up for this. I admit I made a mistake in this ballgame. I deserve a little bit of people getting on me. I am getting on myself.
“From a personal viewpoint, I don’t need to hear what folks say, because I know if I made a mistake. And no one feels worse than I do. I have to evaluate myself. We are our own worst critics at times. All the media, the message boards and things like that, I honestly don’t listen to them too much. Just don’t listen to them, don’t read them.
Curles then went on to explain what he saw -- or more importantly, what he didn’t see completely -- on the personal foul call, saying that he “saw out of the corner of my eye what I thought was a foul. I can’t think something is a foul.”
Once again, none of this will assuage the angst of the Arkansas faithful, but it does put a human face on what was previously a faceless affront to college football.