Reasoning for the termination was, well... About what you would have eventually suspected from Karl Hess...
Hess' termination from the ACC comes after he was accused of making a racial comment to Atlanta hotel magnate Mit Shah during Sunday's Louisville-Wake Forest game in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Shah, the former chairman of the Wake Forest University board of trustees, tweeted after the game the exchange he had with Hess.
Karl Hess to me at the Wake-Louisville game tonight..."When I'm older, I want to sit in your seat & watch your Egyptian ass ref a game" #Wow— Mit Shah (@MitShahNoble) January 5, 2015
For fans of the ACC, this is most certainly a welcome moment. This guy was a nutjob in the worst case a nutjob can be, and far more often than not was more concerned with making the games about how he was reffing than the actual game itself. His most infamous moment had to be in 2012 when he ejected NC State legends Tom Gugliotta and Chris Corchiani from their court-side seats for having the audacity to heckle the ref during the game itself, showing Hess was far more concerned with himself than what was going on with the game.
The result from this incident was an outright ban by the ACC of him working any games in Raleigh from 2012 until this season. Interestingly enough, his first game back after that ban, he overturned what would have been the game winning shot in Reynolds Coliseum. To put it lightly, NC State fans aren't exactly bummed with the news.
Adios, Karl, you won't be missed.
Comments
I've officiated basketball for years, certainly not at Hess' level but I can tell you this:
If your name is that well known, you're probably doing something wrong. People do not show up to see refs, and those that let reffing go to their heads should not be in the business.
Whether the accusations are true or not we'll never know...but the ACC is better without him.
Kinda like Joey Crawford in the NBA. Dude just draws so much attention to himself.
Ed Hochuli.
After many years of turning the channel when I see him on the court, all I can say is
Now things can get back to normal and joyfully watch our young Hokies Basketball team in ACC play and not have him to add to the "excitement"
to play devil's advocate the NC state buzzer beater call was correct the ball was still on his shooting hand when the clock struck 00:00.
With that said i'm still glad he's gone
I agree with you there. The really egregious one was calling a technical foul on Gottfried within 5 minutes of the game starting for just normal coach gripes.
Karl Hess should have been gone about 20 years ago, and 'certainly' (emphasis) should have been gone after the Gugliotta/Corchiani incident. As for there being any question about the allegations, there is no question. Look at the person who was insulted, who reported the incident. There is zero reason for him to fabricate anything. Hess's reputation is also proven, and this is not at all out of character for him.
As was said above, any time an official is so well known, it is 'never' (emphasis again) a good thing. Teddy Valentine is another one that should also have been gone years ago, as he is as bad or worse than Hess for seeking attention and losing focus on the game.
Yep, exactly. Mit Shah is the owner of La Quinta Inns who happened to be the former Chairman of the Wake Forest Board of Trustees. This guy has absolutely no reason whatsoever to lie. He's a power player within the ACC, and Karl tossed him a racial slur like it was nothing.
Also makes you wonder, if he's willing to say this to a guy like Shah, what has he been casually tossing around to other players and fans in the past who didn't have the power that Shah did?
Hess is a racist dirtbag. The ACC is much better off without him.
Now, I'm certainly not condoning this. And I'm also not saying that Hess shouldn't have been fired.
But this comes in so far down the 'racist' totem pole that it doesn't even register to me. Is Mit Shah actually Egyptian? If not, then sure, maybe it was straight racial. But if he is it was either a really good guess or not all that offensive in my book.
Again, need to emphasize that Hess should be able to ignore everything that isn't the actual game, and he might have been on a few strikes already, so I think the ACC made the right call, but if this is racial then my horse ass needs sensitivity training too.
Per the ESPN article, he's of Indian descent but born in New Jersey. (not that it matters... saying what he did is inexcusable regardless of how 'correct' it might have been. You never, ever, ever say anything disparaging about someone while using a racial identifier). You can go ahead and file this one under "straight up racist"
Can do.
It also doesn't help that his defense of the situation is the all too original 'I was just joking'
Also of note... He has decided to voluntarily terminate his relationship with the American Athletic Conference, and is contemplating his future with the Big 12, Big East, and SEC. Sounds like he might use this situation to hang up the whistle for good.
What if he'd been right (or guessed well), and said "Indian?" Or "New Jersey"? Does that really make it racist, or an adjective?
I'm barely following VT basketball enough to know when we're playing and how we're doing, never mind the rest of the league and/or its officials. But I'd be concerned enough about the Everlasting Outrage Machine that seems to be coming on-line in the US. It will be worse than SkyNet, I predict.
A little thought exercise puts this in perspective for me. Imagine Shah was black and Hess had said "your black ass."
Drawing unnecessary attention to race or ethnicity while being critical always crosses the racism threshold in my mind.
Okay, if that's how you feel, I'm fine with that. We all own our emotions.
Personally, having had 'your white ass' aimed at me, I am aware of the attention to ethnicity while being critical. I don't claim it to be anywhere NEAR an equal burden - not even close. But I also know that I didn't "burn this motherf----- down" when it was done, either. I'm just saying that people seem much more ready to be outraged - outraged, I say! - now.
(Also, rather than use that, I would have gone to the much better off-the-tongue phrase "your dumb ass" instead. Might not be true, if this guy is a CEO or nuclear physicist, or whatever, but it flows better, and it can be pejorative without going to race or ethnicity. Everyone wins!)
And look, if this ref pisses off every ACC fan in the state of North Carolina, regardless of school, he might not be all THAT bad a guy. The NC schools ran, and still run, ACC basketball, so let them have the occasional ass-pain once in a while. When I say that, I don't refer to this incident, but the Gugs ejection is what comes to mind.
OR...we are finally just refusing to tolerate the latent racism inherent in American society since, well, forever.
Racism is for lazy people. There are so many valid reasons to hate people on an individual basis.
Can we just not do this conversation anymore?
Nothing good is going to come of it.
Sorry.
I was actually just trying to close it out on a funny note. That "racism is for lazy people" thing was a bit of stand up comedy I heard once and thought was clever. I didn't have any intention of maintaining an ongoing dialogue, and I'm not really trying to change anyone's opinion.
Wow. Seems like a lot of stretching to excuse a racist being, well, a racist. Personally, I never can find a reason to excuse that.
Not to mention, what bad thing did Egyptians ever to do the US, other than improve our culture?
Kinda reminded me of this
BO-DEG-AS
No one happier than Greenberg & Jeff Allen.
I'd be more offended about him talking about my ass than calling me Egyptian. It doesn't seem racist, just insulting (which of course should get him fired.)
Well, I guess there's nothing left to say here except Karl Hess...
