Thursday, August 26, 2004

Women's Football in the Olympics

Excuse me. "Soccer".

I caught the end of regulation time on NBC and watched the beginning of extra time, as the score was tied 1-1. What was odd was that the refs didn't come back on the field when the players did. In fact, they had to send someone to find out where they were. The announcers were perplexed, saying they'd never seen anything like it before.

There was speculation. Did the refs mistime how long they had to rest? Was there a reason they weren't coming out, a protest? Maybe they forgot there was extra time? No... none of that. Eventually word reached the announcers that the main ref during regulation had suffered a hamstring injury and wouldn't be returning, and the delay was in finding another ref to take her place.