Boston Mayor Slams MIAA About Penalty That Cost Team Super Bowl

December 7, 2011 /

Boston Herald, Marie Szaniszlo

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1386677&srvc=home&position=active

Mayor Thomas M. Menino this morning called the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association “frustrated athletes” for adopting rules that robbed Boston’s Cathedral High School of a coveted Super Bowl title.

“I think sometimes these rules are written by frustrated athletes,” Menino said on a visit to the high school. “They never participated in a sport, and they don’t know what it is to be excited. You play in a football game, you run for a touchdown, and you do something special.”

Cathedral quarterback Matthew Owens raised his left arm for two strides as he raced across the 20 yard line during the final minutes of Saturday’s Super Bowl game. Owens was flagged for violating a new sportsmanship rule, his touchdown was called back and Blue Hills Regional Technical School soon after took home the Division 4A championship trophy with a 16-14 victory.

“This kid was 18 years old, his birthday, running for the Super Bowl championship,” Menino said. “You wouldn’t be a human being if you didn’t show some expression.”

The mayor said he will treat the Cathedral team to lunch on him to make up, if only slightly, for the crushing setback.

Menino said he thinks the MIAA will revisit the new rule “and maybe readjust it, but I have no say in that at all.”

He also said he had no hard feelings against Blue Hills.

“We applaud them, they won the game, and they’re going to get their due,” the mayor said. “I just want to give the kids at Cathedral their due also.”

“It’s not just one game; it’s how they handled themselves the whole season… all the other games in the year – class acts,” he said. “They worked hard at it. They worked hard in the classroom.”

Menino also praised Cathedral players for shaking hands after the game with the victors.

“They rose to the occasion,” he said.

Paul Wetzel, a spokesman for the MIAA, said the rule in question was written by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Massachusetts became the first state to adopt it in 2010 and implemented it this year. Texas became the second state to do so this year. Massachusetts and Texas are the only states to play high school football, using NCAA rules, he said.

“I’m not interested in getting into a back-and-forth with the mayor,” Wetzel said. “He may be right (about the rule being written by people who have never played the game) for all I know, but I doubt it.”

He said the rule was adopted after a rash of touchdown celebrations “getting out of hand” — including celebrations while play was in progress.

“We’re very concerned about high school students adopting things they see in the professional leagues,” he added.

Nevertheless, the MIAA may reconsider the rule when its football committee meets in the spring, Wetzel said.

“If they think this rule needs to be adjusted, we can do that,” he said. “But so far this year, we have been very pleased with the way the rule has been implemented.”

The association also may release the report it received about the Cathedral play from the referee later today, Wetzel said.

“Basically what he said is, ‘I saw a violation, and I called a penalty,’ ” he said.

The MIAA has no plans to review the video, Wetzel said.

“There’s no provision to change the outcome of the game after it’s over,” he said. “Referees make mistakes all the time. But when the game is over, the game is over. This is what happened, and you have to learn to live with it.”

MIAA