An Oklahoma high school is suing to have the last 64 seconds of a high school playoff game -- or maybe the whole game -- replayed because the refs negated a TD that should've counted. A coach accidentally bumped a ref during his team's 58-yd pass play that went for a TD. The team had received a sideline warning earlier and the ref threw a flag. But instead of assessing the penalty on the extra point or the kickoff, as required under the rules, the refs negated the TD. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/09/sports/court-weighs-int...

Wonder if there's a statute of limitations on refs' blundering.

Situations like this kind of make my thinking go back and forth.

One the one hand, it is a game. The games played as part of a sport exist for many reasons. Winning is a good thing, but leadership and character development is a great thing. It is important to learn as young as possible that life is not fair and you will be dealt some bad hands, even when you don't do anything to deserve it. Sounds like what happened in this game is a prime example.

There is also something to be said in giving others forgiveness when they wrong you, especially if they make an effort to apologize for it.

That being said there have been numerous discussions on this board and others like it on the volume of money, time, institutional commitment etc. to athletics, especially football. When a team pours all that it does into players, facility development etc., with the goal to win a championship and all that comes with that, and those aspirations are dashed by what looks to possibly be an error that could have been corrected/overturned, it can be very, very frustrating.

In my opinion the risk you take when participating in an athletic competition is that a factor beyond your control could ultimately decide if you win or lose and you need to realize that going in. The focus needs to be on doing your best and let the rest handle its self.