Mike Jones‘Da Birds defeated Discovered, 20-19, to win their third consecutive intramural flag football championship last week.
The championship game had one of the most exciting finishes in recent intramural history. With just under a minute left, ‘Da Birds quarterback Christian Pfluger threw a 50 yard touchdown bomb to tie the game at 19.
‘Da Birds then converted the extra point on a leaping grab from 2005-2006 intramural athlete-of-the-year Anthony Jurisevic. The extra point gave ‘Da Birds a 20-19 lead. Discovered got the ball back but failed on an attempted “Hail Mary” pass on the last play of the game.
Although it was a great finish, the bigger story is the lack of sportsmanship that continues to plague intramural sports.
Whether it is getting in a fight with another team or cursing at referees, every year there is a team or an individual that gets caught up in the heat of the moment during the games. At a place of higher learning like the University of Tampa, students should be able to act in a more mature manner then they have shown on the intramural fields.
This year it was two players on Discovered that continued the trend of poor sportsmanship.
John Fiori and Scott Salvatore got in a heated argument with officials over an offside call with just over a minute left in the championship game.
They proceeded to curse at a female referee who made the call before they were thrown out of the game.
The call was questionable and could have gone either way, but that does not excuse the lack of respect both players gave the official. Players need to realize that this kind of behavior is unacceptable.
Fiori was apologetic after the game though, pointing out that he and Salvatore just got a little too into the game.
“Sometimes when things don’t go your way you do things you don’t want to do,” Fiori said. “Scott and I would like to apologize to the refs for our language and actions. Also we want to congratulate ‘Da Birds on a good game.”
Referee Kelly Handy agrees with Fiori that students get a little over-excited in an intense game. “It was a great game to end a great season,” Handy said. “I hate to see things like this happen though. Some people just get a little too competitive.”
Perhaps the situation could have been avoided if some other players of Discovered had stepped in and tried to stop their teammates. The whole team watched as Fiori and Salvatore went on their tirade.
Intramural student coordinator DJ Gladue did not let the situation escalate though, throwing out Fiori and Salvatore rather quickly.
“We try and deal with situations like this quickly,” Gladue said. “We won’t put up with that kind of behavior.”
If you plan on playing intramural sports at UT in the future, please respect officials and opponents, and don’t get so caught up in a game that you do something you will regret. No one playing intramural sports at UT is going to play professional ball.
So go out on the field and be competitive. Have fun, but most of all, have respect for the people around you.