Is it wrong that at 56 I still giggle everytime I hear the words "pooped down their chimney"?
Higgins case against KSR dismissed
- Thread starter JFCats22
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Anyone that listens to KSR knew this would get thrown out. Matt Jones never told one person to call and attack this idiot.
See my response to BBUK above. ^
I guess you could argue the flipside, that they thought it was all benign and it didn't bother them.
I think that narrative is much less likely, however, and probably borders somewhere between B.S. and naivety.
Again (and yes, it's pretty much a given that qualifying my statement is needed in this thread for all the obvious tribal reasons), I'm not making a case for Higgins. I'm just offering a logical view that his family likely was not having a post-game picnic in its interactions with BBN.
There were many calls to his business and his home. There were 800+ bogus reviews of his business. Were they deserved? One could make the case either way, but my greater point is that after such a deluge, are we to believe that Higgins would want to go through that process again by reffing a UK game?
That's what some fans are saying in this thread, and personally think that take is absurd.
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Let's review the actual threats made, or at least the ones released. You will recall the breathless coverage that weekend, with news that Higgins had received over 3000 threats. Knowing how ugly people are in this current culture, I didn't even want to see them, you could just imagine how bad they must have been. Then, several months later, the local authorities decided not to press charges - the first hint that this might all have been overblown. Then days later they released what presumably were the worst 7 of the 3000 voicemails left. They are pasted below. My point is not to defend the conduct of the knuckleheads who took the time to leave an ugly voicemail after a game with a ref - you deserve the criticism you got. My point is, when you actually see them, the threats are frankly pretty mild relative to what was hinted at originally. And - this is the way this always works - every day for a solid week we were treated to endless condemnation about this, and interminable lecturing. Months later, no one noted that they'd decided not to bring charges, or that it might all have been overblown a bit.....Of the 7, one is a "you should" do such and such, and 3 other were of the "hope"/"wish" variety, asking him to do something unpleasant to himself. Only 3 really constitute threats. 3 out of "over 3000"........
https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/k...urbing-voicemails-kentucky-fans-john-higgins/
Voicemail No. 1 – “You should put a gun in your mouth and blow your own frickin brains out.”
Voicemail No. 2 – “If I ever see you in person, I’m going to smack the taste out of your frickin mouth.”
Voicemail No. 3 – “You’re going to pay, buddy.”
Voicemail No. 4 – “You enjoy your life before somebody kills you.”
Voicemail No. 5 – “Hey, you hear that garbage truck in the background over there? Wish you were in it personally.”
Voicemail No. 6 – “I hope to hell John Higgins falls off a roof and spends the rest of your life in a wheelchair.”
Voicemail No. 7 – “I hope you all get in a plane crash and die.”
https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/k...urbing-voicemails-kentucky-fans-john-higgins/
Voicemail No. 1 – “You should put a gun in your mouth and blow your own frickin brains out.”
Voicemail No. 2 – “If I ever see you in person, I’m going to smack the taste out of your frickin mouth.”
Voicemail No. 3 – “You’re going to pay, buddy.”
Voicemail No. 4 – “You enjoy your life before somebody kills you.”
Voicemail No. 5 – “Hey, you hear that garbage truck in the background over there? Wish you were in it personally.”
Voicemail No. 6 – “I hope to hell John Higgins falls off a roof and spends the rest of your life in a wheelchair.”
Voicemail No. 7 – “I hope you all get in a plane crash and die.”
I kind of agree with those wanting him to ref a UK game. 50/50 calls would have to lean our way because every eye would be on him to see what he does.
Was the case dismissed voluntarily or involuntarily, or was summary judgment actually entered? The tweet says "dismissed with prejudice" which has a precise meaning when utilized by lawyers. Just curious.
Maybe, I guess.
I don't know though. How many outside our own fanbase actually know of Higgins past gaffs calling UK games? If any know, they probably don't care or are even happy about it. We've never seen evidence that the NCAA was concerned about Higgins screwing UK over time and time again. And for Higgins to allow a fanbase (his report or perception at least) to influence him to call games for their team more favorably? I obviously don't know him but that's a bad precedent to set. Maybe I'm cynical but I picture him digging his heels in and continuing to screw over UK with little outrage from anyone outside of UK fans.
Spot on. While it is stupid that these people even reached out to the Rooferee, none of these constitute "Death Threats"
There is one direct threat of violence #2, but it would have to be one massive smack to create a legitimate risk of death. The rest where expressing violent fantasies. Again anyone who called him because they were mad at the outcome of that game is stupid and I'm embarrassed they are a part of this fanbase. But the charge that these were death threats is simply not true.
It means just what it says, dismissed. Therefore, no judgment was entered. It's unlikely that his side would dismiss with prejudice, meaning they can't refile...., so I'd say it was involuntary.
I guess it all comes down to two things:
1. How did his family view the deluge of BBN messages? Even if the messages offered nothing more than a mere annoyance, the reality was that the Higgins family had no picnic with BBN in the game's postscript. Were they truly terrified? Maybe. What we do know is they were annoyed, at the vert least, and BBN affected his business life and at least put his family on the lookout. To assert that Higgins would want to go through that again is weird and touches on conspiracy theories that totally remove the reality of the humane element.
2. Would Higgins want to go through that process again?
We can argue the legitimacy of the threats or the lack thereof, but the theme I'm addressing is in relation to the notion that Higgins will ref another UK game someday.
Those advocating the affirmative are basically rejecting any notion that Higgins would want to avoid the high level of annoyance that he went through.
And again, to qualify for those short on time and who haven't read this whole thread: I'm not defending Higgins; I'm merely empathizing with his claims so as to negate the notion that he'd want to ref a UK game in the future.
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We were talking (https://kentucky.forums.rivals.com/threads/will-rooferee-be-in-the-midwest.291376/#post-7778984) just a couple days back about the possibility of him officiating UK games. I think the likely answer is “no” based on this article, “Inside the Dark World of Trolling”: https://www.si.com/more-sports/2018/03/29/twitter-internet-trolls-sports-athletes
Quote: “The biggest change in John Higgins’s life since the storm of last season is the officiating assignments he chooses. None of the 70-odd regular season games he called this year were anywhere near Lexington, Ky. His regional NCAA tournament games were in San Diego.”
Higgins, along with Shows and company, was not allowed to work the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament or the Final Four last year because of the debacle in the first round Auburn-Charleston game. (And yes, Shows call the Auburn-UT SEC Championship on Sunday).
I get the impression from the article that he will not officiate any UK games, lawsuit or not.
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I agree that this was a frivolous lawsuit. Those of us who listened to the broadcast that morning know they were imploring people NOT to harass. In fact, Louisville media personalities got a hold of the reviews and tweeted them out BEFORE KSR even went on the air. To blame KSR was ridiculous, when so many other media outlets were reporting it, too.
Quote: “The biggest change in John Higgins’s life since the storm of last season is the officiating assignments he chooses. None of the 70-odd regular season games he called this year were anywhere near Lexington, Ky. His regional NCAA tournament games were in San Diego.”
Higgins, along with Shows and company, was not allowed to work the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament or the Final Four last year because of the debacle in the first round Auburn-Charleston game. (And yes, Shows call the Auburn-UT SEC Championship on Sunday).
I get the impression from the article that he will not officiate any UK games, lawsuit or not.
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I agree that this was a frivolous lawsuit. Those of us who listened to the broadcast that morning know they were imploring people NOT to harass. In fact, Louisville media personalities got a hold of the reviews and tweeted them out BEFORE KSR even went on the air. To blame KSR was ridiculous, when so many other media outlets were reporting it, too.
People say this made our fan base look bad...I really don’t care. This man knocked us out of the tournament on suspicious circumstances one too many times for it to be a coincidence. No doubt he was on the take, and he should be in prison right now. BBN took justice into their own hands because the NCAA sure as hell wasn’t going to.
I understand but fans are left with so little options. There is a difference between calling a bad game and what Higgins has done to UK. I do not condone what happened but so much of this would go away if there was accountability.
They make the kids be available, the coaches be available but not the officials for questioning. Reporters think nothing of trashing an 18 year old kid for poor performance. When was the last time an objective reporter went after an official for their performance? No fans are always wearing tin foil hats according to the media.
Maybe if Higgins were held accountable for the crap he pulled vs UCONN and Wisconsin before, the UNC debacle would have never happened. Fans would not have gone after him and the game would have been called straight up.
Yes the fans are to blame for their actions, but the flames were fanned by the lack of accountability for refs. Higgins did not have a bad game. He blatantly has screwed KY time and time again.
Stuff like what? You mean writing comments on a Facebook page that is public and is designed to accept messages ? The alleged death threats that were complete bullshit?
Not once did that ever cross my mind...
.... but I was hoping that Matt Jones' legal team would get to depose Mr. Rooferee. It would be enlightening to sit him down in a conference room and play every second of the 2011 UConn Final Four, 2015 Wisconsin Final Four and the 2017 UNC E8 games and have him explain his terrible calls.
We don't know all of the facts about the case being dismissed. The tweet just said the suit was dismissed with Prejudice. That does not give the reason Was the dismissal voluntary or involuntary? If it was voluntary the plaintiff may have received compensation and a settlement made. I am sure Matt Jones and crew have liability insurance and it could be the insurance company negotiated an out of court settlement.
Now if the judge made it involuntary that means the judge dismissed the case against the plaintiffs wishes. We don't know or have the total facts based on Matt Jones tweet. If someone has the total facts, please speak up. Was the case dismissed because the two parties agreed on a settlement or did the judge just throw it out.
But the important thing is we may have seen the last of Higgins at a UK game. Let's hope so.
Now if the judge made it involuntary that means the judge dismissed the case against the plaintiffs wishes. We don't know or have the total facts based on Matt Jones tweet. If someone has the total facts, please speak up. Was the case dismissed because the two parties agreed on a settlement or did the judge just throw it out.
But the important thing is we may have seen the last of Higgins at a UK game. Let's hope so.
This comment leads me to believe you are being willfully ignorant to the facts that are readily available about the dismissal.
Google and Twitter are your friends. No settlement, dismissal was by order of the Court and the order references the objections presented by Rooferee's legal team.
Thanks, I was going by Matt Jones tweet which was incomplete of the facts. If the judge threw it out I think that was the correct thing to do because I did not see any liability on KSR. If I had been on the jury had it gone to trial I would have sided for KSR.
Thanks for bringing the facts.
For those who forgot, the media at the time widely claimed that Higgins received death threats. Yet none of the supposedly worst examples listed above were actual & legitimate death threats. (Although they certainly were in poor taste & shouldn’t have been made.) Really odd. /sarcasm
I for one was looking forward to seeing the identity of these idiots revealed, mainly to see whether they were actual UK fans or not.
I say that because of my experience in this board where after a loss, granted there’s a lot of upset UK fans but also a high number of imposters looking to stir the pot.
It wouldn’t surprise me one bit that while most who harassed Higgins were indeed UK fans, that there might have been some non-UK agitators posing as UK fans as well.
Unfortunately we’ll never know because the identities were never released (and no nothing was ever forwarded to the FBI either, again unlike what was erroneously claimed by the media.)
The worst part about what these embarrassments did is mark us in the eyes of other officials. If you're part of the officiating "brotherhood" and you see someone taking the abuse he received, that's in the back of your mind the next time you officiate our games.
So while we may have assured we never get Higgins again, we've also set ourselves up for bias from his associates. Or maybe they're worried we'll come after them and are biased towards us.
So while we may have assured we never get Higgins again, we've also set ourselves up for bias from his associates. Or maybe they're worried we'll come after them and are biased towards us.
Ok so like if there were two swingers, and the woman said she’s done swinging WITH PREJUDICE” It means she’s not gonna allow it again.
So basically it’s over.
He will never be assigned another UK game. Guaranteed. If he were to be, he would almost have to go out of his way to look impartial, which is and of itself is not impartial, and every single call against UK would be questioned.
Luke Maye wouldn't have even been in position to do so without Higgins. Let's start with the foul at the end of the half where Fox was nearly killed ... want to?
Again,
Where was this information from? If from Higgins his court case was thrown out with prejudice. (No evidence)
I understand where you are coming from.
Hmmm, based on this sentence we can assume this to be an actual tarhole player. And most likely Luke Maye himself as he spelled the name correctly.
Not entirely true. Maye hit the big shot but UK would have been well ahead before that shot if the foul calls weren't so unbalanced. Pretty much our entire roster was sitting on the bench in foul trouble during the first half. That gave UK a huge hole to dig out of in the 2nd half.
It should also be pointed out that several people posted comments that the officiating crew was given a half time talking to by tournament officials because of how lopsided the calls were. They did in fact even out but like I said UK was now digging out of a hole.
The correct spelling threw me off, we know Tarholes can't spell so maybe it is Maye
Many people are ignorant. Then theres the NCAA. Higgins will be assigned to us again by the NCAA, just to prove a point. And we will be f***ed again, and told to shut up or we'll get another.
There’s no way this pathetic P.O.S doesn’t ref the elite 8 game if it’s UNC/UK again. The timing of this is very strange to say the least.
Well said! Just this very morning, ironically, an article was published at the New York Times rehashing the theory that there were death threats: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/20/sports/ncaa-tournament-referees.html I posted more about it this morning over at the Higgins Missed Calls Thread.
AGREE that we don't even know the identities of the ones who did the worst. It is a fact that Louisville-related media was circulating some of the reviews and basically encouraging it long before the KSR broadcast aired. We'll never know for sure if it was really UK fans if they don't release the information.
If the NCAA is stupid enough to do that then they deserve what they are getting. I don't condone threatening a ref but let's be serious about this. The reason this happened in the first place is the NCAA's policy that refs are 100% correct 100% of the time and they are permanently untouchable. If they continue doing that and fans continue to see their school screwed over again and again by the same ref then they will do exactly what happened.
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