The Sky Exploded In Agony

...as Michael Crockett (finally back from injury after being out 4 or 5 weeks) is sent off for the entire game after an ordinary high tackle 4 minutes into play in which the ball carrier unfortunately was badly hurt and carried off in a stretcher. All hopes for the Crockett-inspired Warriors revival were thrown out the window, and playing with one less guy on the field led to another painful Warriors loss. Yes, the Warriors officially suck now. Playoff hopes are looking more doubtful with each second-half breakdown we have to endure.

Fair enough that he got sent of for maybe knocking a guy unconscious, but I don't like how the ref waits until after he sees how long he lays on the ground before deciding how harsh the penalty will be. I think if a tackle is so extraordinarily dangerous that it warrants sending someone off for the game, the ref should decide that right then and there when he calls the penalty, and his decision should not be based on the level of injury the guy happens to end up sustaining. My point here is this: if the ball carrier had popped right up after that tackle like they so often do, that would have been just an ordinary high tackle penalty and nothing more. But because he appeared to be seriously injured (which could have just been the way he fell funny or maybe he was kneed in the head after) he gets sent off for the game. That's just not right. It made it even worse that in the next 10 minutes there were 2 highish looking tackles from the other team that could have been just as severe as Crockett's if our player had decided to lay on the ground and pretend to be injured, but they didn't, and so not even a penalty.