MSG Magic

One of my favorite things about living in New York City is having such great access to some of the best sporting events in the world.  Madison Square Garden is just 2 subway stops away, and it is easily one of my favorite places to go to watch an NBA game, a concert, a Hockey game, or a College Basketball game.

Madison Square Garden is home to some of the best
sporting events in the world, including St. John's baskeball.

In fact, Kenna and I went to the St. John's-Pittsburgh game a couple of weeks ago, which was one of the best College Basketball games I have seen in a long time.  St. John's won on a last-second shot with 1.5 seconds left.  The Garden was going crazy!  It has been quite a few years since St. John's has been relevant, but in classic New York style, their fans have come out in droves this year to fanatically support their team.  On Wednesday afternoon, St. John's played Rutgers in a close game in 2nd round of the Big East tournament, and the Garden was going crazy - again!  Take a look at what happened here.

My biggest issue with the result of this game was actually not the referees or the blown calls that went predominantly against Rutgers during the late stages of the game.  No, my biggest issue with this game is the fact that St. John's, who plays many of its home games throughout the year at MSG, was playing a HOME game in the Big East Conference Tournament.  Playing at HOME is an advantage for teams for many reasons, including the following: familiar surroundings during the game (court, rim, locker rooms, etc.), familiar routine before and after the game (sleep at home the night before, family / local support, etc.), but I feel the biggest impact of playing at HOME is the effect the crowd and the biased supporters may have on the referees!  Referees have one of the hardest jobs in sports and I recognize that none of us are perfect, but what is not evident in the ESPN highlight is the loud and boisterous crowd that was riding the referees and criticizing them (only as New Yorkers can do) during the entire second half as the game was picking up intensity and as Rutgers pulled ahead towards the end of the game.  Seeing the reactions of the referees during the last 4 seconds of the game and their inability to make any applicable calls (1. traveling, 2. out of bounds, 3. technical foul for throwing the ball in the air, 4. etc.) only highlight the fact that their judgment was significantly impacted by the intensity of the moment and the persuasive nature of the St. John's crowd.  These were seasoned, proven Big East officials, but they just wanted to get out of there!

Duke is one of the many teams that have fallen
victim to the St. John's / MSG magic this season.

Even though the game was only this afternoon, the NCAA has already come out and said that many "unacceptable" mistakes were made in the officiating, but if the NCAA really wants to avoid these kind of emotional mistakes by the referees, then they will do everything possible to play these tournaments at "neutral" courts.  As Championship Week continues and the Mountain West Conference begins its tournament in what I like to call the UNLV Invitational, let's just hope that the players and coaches are the only ones that will have the biggest impact on the outcome of these all-important tournament games.