A football referee at a Maine Maritime Academy game was hit in the face by a cannon blast over the weekend and now the school is ordering the days of having a cannon at games is officially over. Just like that, tradition is out the window at the Academy. One ref takes a shot to the face and everyone freaks out.
The good news here is that the ref should be OK, but the school can’t have refs being blasted in the face. Imagine the lawsuit coming for this one cannon blast on the Maritime’s field. This could get ugly in the courts.
It’s academy tradition to sound off a cannon using a blank shotgun shell whenever the team scores, according to the sheriff’s office. But authorities said an alumnus of the school who brought his own cannon to Saturday’s homecoming game against Massachusetts Maritime Academy had loaded it with black powder and “a substance that he had made into a wad.” The referee was struck by the wad and taken to a hospital with injuries that weren’t considered life-threatening.
This wasn’t just any game for the Academy, it was the 47th Annual Admiral’s Cup / Homecoming. To add insult to injury here, Maine Maritime is really bad at football. The school is now 2-28 since 2016 and also loses its cannon tradition. Hate to see it.
I’ve seen refs get hit by things like a Christian Hackenberg pass, but never a cannon blast to the face:
CHRISTIAN HACKENBERG JUST HIT A REF IN THE HEAD WITH A PASS: https://t.co/Pu3WLu6Hu8 pic.twitter.com/XxRhYmJWVx
— Inside NU (@insidenu) November 7, 2015
