Extra Extra! Jayne Appel NOT Thrown Out of Next Game

Well, we can all breathe a little easier (and C and R will stop with the "extras", we promise). Jayne is not suspended for Sunday’s Stanford Women’s Basketball game against USC. Stanford senior Jayne Appel was ejected from the UCLA game Thursday night for what the refs thought was a flagrant elbow to Jasmine Dixon’s face. The PAC-10 will typically meet the next day review the play and to decide if the player needs to be suspended for the next game.

Both the UCLA coach, Nikki Caldwelll and the player hit, Jasmine Dixon, insist the elbow was not intentional and that Jayne is not a dirty player.

Internet theorists are suggesting two things: One, because the PAC-10 ruled the night of the foul to not suspend Jayne, they did not agree with the refs that it was a flagrant violation. This calls into question whether or not Jayne should have been ejected in the first place. Internet theory number two: UCLA is insisting the foul wasn’t flagrant because they want Jayne to be eligible for the next game, which is USC, a team UCLA is tied for second place in the PAC-10 and UCLA needs Stanford to beat USC.

Okay, that last theory is fun, but C and R place no stock in it. Dixon and Caldwell made those statements immediately after the game and would have to really, really be calculating and manipulative to be thinking ahead to Sunday’s game. Now, for the former, that the PAC-10 didn’t further suspend Jayne, we believe it was a bad call all around (see last post), maybe worth a foul on Jayne, not a technical and not an ejection.

Don’t forget, the game is this Sunday, Superbowl Sunday at 1 PM. Stanford will be celebrating the 1990 National Champion Team and Jennifer Azzi, Katy Steding, Trisha Stevens and Val Whiting will be among the former players expected to be present. Yes, yes, C and R know this is Superbowl Sunday, but with the 1 PM game time, we will have you back in your snug little homes in front of you big screen TVs in time for the 3:20 PM kick off. So come on out!

LATE BREAKING STORY…
Ah, geez, our Internet scouring robots just found out Jayne was NEVER in danger of being suspended. According to Jake Curtis on the San Jose Examiner’s website, the PAC-10 did not need to make a ruling, because:

“(Jayne’s) foul was called a flagrant PERSONAL foul, not a flagrant TECHNICAL foul. A flagrant personal foul, which is excessive contact while the ball is live, is not subject to suspension and does not require a review by the conference office, so Appel was never in jeopardy of being suspended. The penalty is two free throws and an ejection, and that is all.

“A flagrant technical foul involves unsportsmanlike conduct that is extreme in nature during play or excessive contact while the ball is not in play. Fighting is the best example. A player hit with a flagrant technical foul is subject to a suspension, depending on the ruling of the conference after a review.”

So take that, internet crazies… oops, C and R are one of the many crazies.. so what’s new? We like our version of reality better, anyway. Jayne shouldn’t have been ejected!