Parting Shot from "Ref" Dan Capron: 'Harbaugh Acted Like 4th Grader' on JT Barrett Call
Not to add insult to injury with this post — but retiring thief, oops! I mean "ref", Dan Capron seems to have no problem doing so. The obvious vindictiveness of this guy should disturb anyone who hopes for fair and impartial officiating.
Link to Trib article.
February 10th, 2020 at 12:33 PM ^
He also defended Urban Meyer in the same article for acting like an asshole on the sidelines by saying he was in a high-pressure position...At least he's done refereeing now.
February 10th, 2020 at 2:26 PM ^
Exactly I love how he gives Urban a pass but every other coach is an idiot for being passionate and fighting for their team
February 10th, 2020 at 4:28 PM ^
And this ref acted like an ass-wipe for at least not acting to consider Harbaugh's complaint.
February 10th, 2020 at 12:34 PM ^
I wish Harbaugh could kick this guy’s ass.
February 10th, 2020 at 1:20 PM ^
Objectively, I think Harbaugh could take him, just that he likely won't.
February 10th, 2020 at 1:39 PM ^
For sure. Even old grandpa glasses, screwed up elbow Harbaugh could handle him. I bet Jack could as well.
February 10th, 2020 at 2:42 PM ^
I used to wish all problems could be solved through violence and then I got old and realized that there are probably better methods.
February 10th, 2020 at 2:52 PM ^
Sometimes an ass needs to get kicked - old or not.
February 10th, 2020 at 7:31 PM ^
there could be a fire
February 10th, 2020 at 8:28 PM ^
Solve all of your problems with aggression.
February 10th, 2020 at 11:39 PM ^
Unless that problem is 3rd and 11 or... well you know.
February 10th, 2020 at 3:05 PM ^
Would Jim kicking that guy's ass demonstrate Jim's ethical and moral superiority?
February 10th, 2020 at 3:10 PM ^
Did your comment demonstrate yours?
February 20th, 2020 at 11:10 PM ^
Touche, jpc. Well struck, imho
February 10th, 2020 at 4:41 PM ^
No but it would make me feel better, LOL.
February 10th, 2020 at 5:09 PM ^
Hell I wish I could kick this guys ass. Just sayin....
Go Blue!!!!
February 10th, 2020 at 12:35 PM ^
Written by Teddy who, if I remember correctly, has written some pretty negative articles without much sourcing about UofM in the past. That is unless I’m thinking of someone else.
February 10th, 2020 at 12:40 PM ^
Yes, Greenstein went all-in on the Erik Swenson thing. Reporting was one-sided, in part because coaching staff cannot comment on an uncommitted recruit publicly, but amounted to a hit-job because he took everything they said at face value without any nuance.
OP's title is a bit off, isn't it? The 4th grader comment was about the unsportsmanlike penalty Harbaugh got earlier in the game (iirc - been a couple days since I read it). Regardless, this was more stenography than an article. Any objective person would say that the 2016 Game was officiated horribly (I know two Buckeye fans who flat-out told me, "you guys got screwed. I would be furious if that happened to us.").
So, OK, you interviewed a shitty, retiring ref and wrote down whatever he said. Helluva scoop, Teddy.
February 10th, 2020 at 12:49 PM ^
Let's change the mindset here. Michigan should never have been in overtime in the 2016 game in the first place. They gave that game away long before JT failed on fourth down.
Whining about referees makes the whiner sound like a 4th grader. They make mistakes in every game. Get over it.
February 10th, 2020 at 1:21 PM ^
You get negged for the truth here. I never understand how so many people think we are the only team ever to get screwed by the refs. Refs are human, they make mistakes. There is no secret cabal of refs out there that get together just to screw our team. There just isn't. Great teams overcome these mistakes.
The 3rd down before that 4th down was the play for me. The 4th down was anti-climatic. You don't let a guy 7 yards deep in the backfield dead to rights make that run and not expect to lose.
February 10th, 2020 at 1:28 PM ^
For more negging fodder, this ref did NOT call Harbaugh a 4th grader. What the ref said is if you're a 4th grader, he expects one to throw play cards in the air in a tantrum. If you're making $5MM/year to coach big time ball, he expects more.
February 10th, 2020 at 3:20 PM ^
What the ref said is if you're a 4th grader, he expects one to throw play cards in the air in a tantrum.
This is really splitting hairs.
Why do you want to defend him so badly?
February 10th, 2020 at 3:46 PM ^
You make it sound as though "the spot" was the only point of controversy - despite that entire game being a joke of officiating. OSU was not called for a single live ball infraction despite a reel of video evidence showing that they should have. And this was just one game that Capron influenced poorly - there are many others.
February 10th, 2020 at 4:00 PM ^
No... it's not splitting hairs and I'm not defending the guy.
What I am doing is correcting a bullshit take by someone who didn't read the article/is assuming words not in print/or a part of the Harbaugh cult of personality.
The ref's comment was made about behavior he saw demonstrated... not name calling someone. But attack/neg away. It's what the MGGroupThink does best.
February 10th, 2020 at 7:31 PM ^
But he also acts like Urban and Mork never complain about calls. Seemed pretty obvious that he had a vendetta against JH and his calls support that.
February 10th, 2020 at 9:50 PM ^
This is the internet, people don't care about the truth, they prefer to stick to their opinion, whether correct or not.
This is actually a well observed psychological phenomenon called "Belief Perseverance" which means that people have a tendancy to cling to their initial belief, even after receiving new information that contradicts the basis of their belief.
I write this to say that you can't win an internet argument by bringing in actual facts.
February 10th, 2020 at 8:57 PM ^
Directly or indirectly, he is calling Harbaugh a 4th-grader. How else do you take it?
We know Harbaugh isn't literally a 4th-grader. Saying he acted like a 4th-grader won't make him a 4th-grader. Geez, the difference is miniscule. On the other hand, if you call me a banana, that won't make me a banana so who cares.
February 10th, 2020 at 1:38 PM ^
refs are human, they make mistakes.
That Trib article goes on to mention the refs have 100-110 calls to make a game. They get 4 wrong.
It's a good article if people bothered to actually read it.
It's clear people didn't actually read the article but just reacted to someone supposedly called someone a name.
February 10th, 2020 at 5:42 PM ^
Nope sorry. You pukes are both wrong. When teams are that close in an important game, a few bad calls mean everything. You’re either a troll or extremely close-minded to insinuate otherwise.
February 10th, 2020 at 1:32 PM ^
Comments like these make me wonder if you even watched the game. As others have said, "the spot" wasn't even close to the worst-officiated play that day.
February 10th, 2020 at 4:09 PM ^
FYI, pretty detailed analysis on this very site shows that JT actually did get a first down: https://mgoblog.com/diaries/resolving-parallax-error
February 10th, 2020 at 2:16 PM ^
Like the 3rd down play for Michigan where Perry was mugged before the ball arrived?
https://youtu.be/ZS0sTxihgeE?t=205
Or the blatant hold on Ohio's 3rd down play?
February 10th, 2020 at 2:56 PM ^
Yes, and yes.
Get over it. Michigan lost. The point is to play well enough so the refs don't matter. Michigan didn't. That's just the way it is.
February 10th, 2020 at 3:13 PM ^
Want to play my daughter in a game of basketball? The wager is a million dollars. Oh yeah, I get to ref the game. If you lose, I'm sure you'll get over it...
February 10th, 2020 at 2:36 PM ^
You're talking about a game in which a supposedly "objective" official was caught on camera gently caressing Mike Weber's ass like they had just blown each other in the locker room.
Nevermind the fact that half the damn officials had publicly known ties to and/or preferences for OSU.
We. Got. Fucked.
February 10th, 2020 at 2:54 PM ^
Its easy for fools to dismiss an entire game full of obviously uncalled penalties against one team when one questionable call comes at the end. That 4th down spot was something that happens several times in each game - a contested spot that determines 1st down or turnover. You're correct that the call isn't the one that cost the game. There was no single call (or non-call) that cost Michigan that game. It was an entire game full of non-calls against one team that cost Michigan that game.
I'm not one to say there's a officiating conspiracy against Michigan. But in that game, the officiating crew was the most blatantly sided towards one team that I've ever seen.
February 10th, 2020 at 6:18 PM ^
That video is perfect. I remember losing my shit when #28 (Watson?) got blind sided right in front of the ref.
February 10th, 2020 at 3:00 PM ^
You're using false logic: there's never one reason a team lost the game because all of it matters. It's no more true or false to say the refs decided that game than the turnovers did. Michigan could have overcome the refereeing if it wasn't for the turnovers; Michigan could have overcome the turnovers if not for the refereeing. Ohio State wouldn't have needed the refereeing if they didn't try a fake punt, etc.
February 10th, 2020 at 3:41 PM ^
You're so brave.
February 10th, 2020 at 12:51 PM ^
The bigger crime in Greenstein's title is that he puts Harbaugh's name with Meyer and Pelini, and then puts the 4th grader comment at the end.
Harbaugh was the coach he called a 4th grader, but Greenstein knew he would get more clicks if also had Harbaugh by name in the title. So he essentially named the same coach twice in his title
February 10th, 2020 at 12:56 PM ^
My title is a bit off -- noted. Wish I could edit, but alas, here we are. I do think the Barrett call is sort of THE (pardon my use of copyrighted material) questionable call in that game, and certainly what pushed Harbaugh to so publicly criticize the crew, and thus, what likely cemented the enmity and these comments, several years later -- somewhat overshadowing the earlier unsportsmanlike. But I stand corrected.
My point, I guess, and a more accurate title might have been: "Dan Capron is a Petty, Unrepentant Jagoff".
February 10th, 2020 at 1:14 PM ^
If you're referring to "the spot", that call was one of the least egregious ones of the game. At least it was arguably close.
The play immediately prior got them in a position to win with a trademark Barrett run because defenders were being flat-out grabbed without any call. The offense was so hamstrung by the OSU defense realizing they could get away with anything that there was no question about not going for a two-point conversion. And M's defense had an issue all season with B1G refs letting opponents literally tear off their jerseys with impunity.
To a certain point I want players to play through adversity (not every game will be called fairly) but you can only do so much when the other team's allowed to play Calvinball. The last play would've been worth protest in any normally called game, but that game was such an officiating shitshow that "the spot" I'm actually kinda OK with. I mean, not that it is in a vacuum, but that my perception is distorted in the context of the whole game being atrocious from start to finish. Like, that wasn't even the 20th worst call/no-call of that game. It was just the last one.
I don't like arguing "the spot" because it leads to the impression that the game was decided by one bad call and we're all just petty & bitter. I know we're all aware that nothing could be further from the truth, but it distracts from the issue that the two teams were playing by entirely different sets of rules. Even more than the outcome, I hate the message. I'd rather kids watch a boxing match with two fighters beating each other's faces black & bloody than corruption so brazenly triumphing over fairness.
February 10th, 2020 at 1:15 PM ^
I'd have to disagree with that assessment. There were an egregious PI non-call that would have extended a drive and allowed Michigan to run out the clock. That was the most questionable call of the game
February 10th, 2020 at 1:31 PM ^
1. Your title sucks...
2. ... because the ref DID NOT take a parting shot at Harbaugh. Again, what he said was if you're a 4th grader, he expects one to throw play cards in the air in a tantrum. If you're making $5MM/year to coach big time ball, he expects more.
3. That link was posted previously in Let's make an epic list of UM getting screwed by refs and officials... I'll start
February 10th, 2020 at 1:56 PM ^
1. My title could be better, which I already copped to. Fair enough. People get routinely lambasted on this site for providing way too little information in their titles -- I was trying to provide more and conflated two incidents in the same game in my haste. Mea culpa. (Though I don't really get the vitriol directed against a fellow Michigan fan, but hey, whatever floats your boat.)
2. Oh, sure he did. He was comparing Jim Harbaugh's behavior to that of a 4th grader, and he's saying it as he's retiring from the field.
3. OK.
February 10th, 2020 at 5:04 PM ^
lol, then yes he did Call Harbaugh a 4th grader. Wth else do you think he's referring too? Can you not read between the lines?
February 10th, 2020 at 8:28 PM ^
I agree. Directlyl or indirectly, he called him a 4th grader. Doing it indirectly doesn't mean he didn't.
February 10th, 2020 at 1:24 PM ^
This article was largely “meh”, but I did note that he randomly threw in a throwaway line from Capron where he says something like, “we were talking about Michigan fans...”. That was so odd. Either include the conversation in the story, or don’t include the line at all. Including it seems, idk.. silly?
February 10th, 2020 at 2:49 PM ^
I noticed that, too.
Question for longtime Chicagoans: WTF is "Teddy" (Teddy? Really?) Greenstein's issue with Michigan? I can see that he's a general-purpose ass, but he always gives Michigan a little extra. Did a wolvie steal his girlfriend?