Michael Wilbon on ESPN rules analyst’s Ole Miss-Miami take: ‘Don’t be a sniveling idiot’
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Michael Wilbon took his rightful place on Pardon the Interruption, a show he’s co-hosted for the past quarter-century on ESPN, and he lit into ESPN rules analyst Bill LeMonnier for not having “the guts” to do what he should have done at the end of Thursday night’s semifinal showdown between Ole Miss and Miami.
The Fiesta Bowl thriller ended with a Hail Mary pass by Ole Miss not being caught, as Miami held on for a 31-27 victory and a spot in the national title game. But that wasn’t Wilbon’s point. His point was that Miami should have been called for a pass interference penalty for grabbing onto an Ole Miss receiver as he was trying to position himself in the end zone for a game-winning catch.
“Don’t be a sniveling idiot,” Wilbon said, or screamed, during PTI on Friday afternoon. “Have the guts to call it or criticize your colleagues down on the field.”
LeMonnier wasn’t down on the field to make the call, but he was on the ESPN broadcast on Thursday night and could’ve criticized the officials who didn’t make the PI call in the final seconds of the game. But the call wasn’t made and there was no criticism coming from LeMonnier, and that’s what made Wilbon so frustrated one day later.
Here is the video of Wilbon’s full take on the finish, the non-call and the non-critical LeMonnier:
Wilbon also pointed out on Friday that if a penalty was called, it wouldn’t have put the ball down near the goal line, giving Ole Miss a huge advantage to score that winning touchdown.
It’s not the NFL, where that would’ve happened. But what’s right is right, Wilbon said, and the right thing didn’t happen in the waning seconds of Thursday night’s game, either on the field or on the ESPN broadcast.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
