Adventures in collegiate journalism

You know, we've poked fun at college newspaper articles in the past, perhaps unfairly at times. But you have GOT to read the article by the Daily 49er's Abbey Mastracco about the Cal Poly / Long Beach match.

See, Long Beach State lost to Cal Poly this past weekend in five games, at the Pyramid. Hard fought battle, right? Between two big time programs, right? So what is Mastracco's beef?

"Unfair ref cost LBSU match"

Stupid refs. Always gettin' in the way of Long Beach bein' Long Beach.

"Any fan in The Pyramid will tell you that Cal Poly had a huge advantage: referees Eric Asami and Marvin Hall."

Gee, ask any Long Beach State fan if the refs made bad calls against their team? That's like asking any Husker fan if they think Pavan, like, totally rocks. So how do we know Mastracco knows what she's tal--

"I have refereed several volleyball matches."

Ah, well, even if you've refereed does that mean you know what to look f--

"I know what to look for in each referee position."

What about the rules and hand sig--

"I am well-versed in the rules and signs."

So, her bona fides established, what could Asami and Hall have possibly done as referees to attract the ire of Mastracco?

"Asami and Hall obviously had it out for LBSU from the start."

A-ha! A conspiracy!

"Oliver Stone? Yeah, I've got a great idea for a movie. It's about how two referees totally had it out for one team during a volleyball match. Hello...?"

You know, I've felt screwed over by a call or two before -- I've even been irate, irked -- but I never thought the refs were trying to botch the whole game. And I never wrote a newspaper article about it. Or did I? It's all kinda...hazy.

So, OK, the refs were unfair, et cetera. Is that all?

"Asami soon went from strictly officiating to being downright unfair, Hall as well."

Unfair? OH NO! Not unfair! I hate unfair! Is there proof of this "downright unfair"-ness?

"When looking at the error totals from each game, that doesn't look to be the case, but if you were in The Pyramid that night you know what I'm talking about."

Ah. Of course. Sneaky bastards made sure there wasn't a paper trail. Asami and Hall are good, I tell ya'.

Mastracco even says that she wondered if the refs were deciding before points what call to make against Long Beach. That is, until the fourth game, when 9 errors called on the Beach compared to only 2 for Cal Poly sealed the deal in her mind.

"Asami is a national member of the Professional Association of Volleyball Officials, and his conduct was about as unprofessional as I have ever seen."

The capper, according to Mastracco, is that Gimmillaro got a yellow card. Well, that's really all the proof I needed.

"If anyone, it should have been Asami getting the yellow card for playing an immature and unprofessional game of favorites."