Here at LBS, we often offer you the finest in athletes and managers getting carried away during competition. A manager gets upset, kicks dirt on home plate, says something unfavorable about the umpire’s mother, occasionally spits, and if you are lucky throws a chair. Usually when you look back it’s funny. But sometimes athletes cross the line.
Rangers soccer player Jose Pedroso clearly crossed that line when he earned himself a 27-game suspension for choking referee Marcelo Miranda during a match between Rangers football club and Concepcion in a Chilean league. And in the glorious internet age that we live in, video footage of the incident is, of course, on YouTube. Here’s the video of Jose Pedroso choking referee Marcelo Miranda:
If there is one rule that is universal across all sports, it is don’t touch the ref. I feel silly even writing this considering how obvious it is. 27 games is not long enough to sideline Pedroso, who according to the Associated Press later told Chilean newspaper La Tercera “I’m not the least bit sorry.” Surely any sports fan can, for example, compare this incident to the one that got Ron Artest suspended for 73 games and debate whether fighting a spectator or referee is more disgusting (tough call), but with comments like that the man clearly needs discipline more severe than, in his case, a mere 27 games.
By the way, Rangers lost 3-0, and Miranda did not file charges.
Sources:
Referee choker gets 27-match ban [FOXSports]
Video Credit: YouTube user [tyman921]
