Apologies Owed to Top Prospect Nick O'Leary From Many Directions

Nick O'Leary deserves an apology. Apologies, actually.

The referees who robbed his Dwyer High School football team of a victory last Monday should say, "I'm sorry." They should apologize for either being incompetent or corrupt, and they should do so publicly.

The Glenville High School players and fans who taunted him should apologize. O'Leary punished them physically, but not verbally, all game and afterward they taunted him. He was by far the best player on the field and instead of shaking his hand in respect, they mocked him. They are an embarrassment.

ESPN, you also owe O'Leary (and his grandfather) an apology. You do not ordinarily show highlights of high school football games on SportsCenter, but because you televised the Dwyer-Glenville game, and because O'Leary is the grandson of golf legend Jack Nicklaus, and because Nicklaus was generous enough to do an in-game interview with you (parts of which you re-ran during the highlight), you felt justified in treating this like Saints-Vikings. And so when a 17 year-old kid lost his cool --more than justifiably, I might add -- for an instant, after the game had ended, you aired it on national television.

Shame on all of you.

If you do not know what happened, let me review. Last Monday afternoon ESPN aired a high school football game -- dubbed the Kirk Herbstreit Classic -- from Ohio Stadium. The game pitted Dwyer High of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., the reigning 4A state champs, against Glenville (Ohio) High. Throughout the game, Nick (short for Nicklaus) O'Leary, the nation's top tight end prospect according to some scouting services, was a rock-hard stud king. He had nine catches for 156 yards and a touchdown. He also started at defensive end and punter.

Late in the game, Dwyer trailed 26-22. On its potential game-winning drive, O'Leary caught a pair of fourth-down passes (the first one a spectacular diving grab) to preserve a chance at victory. Then wide receiver Tommylee Lewis caught a touchdown pass, but the referees called him out of bounds (he clearly was not, but that miscue was somewhat forgivable). On the game's final play, quarterback Jacoby Brissett clearly seemed to score on a quarterback sneak from one foot out, but the referees never signaled touchdown.

The clock ran out and Dwyer lost. In the heat of the moment, an obviously upset and exhausted O'Leary, who was in on as many as 140 plays, was taunted by opposing players and fans. The last time that happened on opening day on national TV, you may recall, the taunted player decked his tormentor. O'Leary simply flipped the bird in frustration.

Again, this was after the game had ended.

But, since ESPN cameras caught O'Leary's flippage, and since it aired on national television, the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) is suspending O'Leary for two games. By the letter of the law, yes, O'Leary's action is a violation. Then again, what do the by-laws say about schools traveling to play exhibition games out of state or appearing on national television?

"We think it's a bunch of crap," Dwyer's coach, Jack Daniels, told the Palm Beach Post on Wednesday. "There are no repercussions for the adults who made the calls on the field, but there is for an 18-year-old kid who reacted in the heat of the moment."'

When someone named Jack Daniels is your voice of reason ...

How come dozens, if not hundreds of stories have been written about O'Leary's gesture and suspension (granted, many of them, like this, in support of him), but nowhere have the referees from Ohio explained how they missed not one but two (and possibly three) game-winning touchdowns?

Even the game's namesake, who was unable to attend because he was calling the Boise State-Virginia Tech game, was repulsed by the officiating.

"I was with a buddy of mine (watching the game)," Kirk Herbstreit said on the Joe Rose radio show. "He played high school football with me, and I said, 'Imagine if we flew down to Florida to play one of their better teams and we drove the last drive and scored the winning touchdown and a Florida referee looked us in the eye and said, 'Nope.'

"And we scored another winning touchdown and a Florida referee said, 'Nope." And we scored a third winning touchdown and a Florida referee said, 'Nope.'"

"I'd feel like like O'Leary, too. I'd be upset, too."

Herbstreit, who lives in Columbus, was calling the referees in Columbus homers.

Now imagine if, after all that, fans and players from the other team talked trash.

"As an eyewitness to the event, I can tell you that [O'Leary] exhibited restraint beyond his years," Dwyer athletic director Tom Pagley wrote in a letter to the FHSAA. "What was not captured on the video was the aggressive taunting by a few of the Glenville players during the period just after the final horn."

And while watching high school football in its organic state is cool, watching ESPN arrange interstate contests played in sparsely filled football cathedrals, at least 100 miles from either school's campus, is a little like watching the Little Miss Sunshine pageant. This is about programming, after all. Cheap programming.

High school athletes are not paid like NFL players, and they are not on scholarship like most college players. Nick O'Leary and his teammates probably were fired up to play on national television, but they were just pawns in the next big brand ESPN is hoping to build: televised big-time high school football.

O'Leary will sit out at least one game (Pagley and Herbstreit are both lobbying the FHSAA to reduce the suspension) and, okay, rules are rules and he broke one. How wonderful, and how even more shocking, it would be to see the principals who incited his profane gesture, and who then exploited it, to stand up and say, "I'm sorry."