Where in the World is Eddie Hightower?

Ed Hightower is a college basketball referee and for some reason is on my TV set every night. Any time, I turn on a game on ESPN or the Big Ten Network, I see Eddie calling fouls. How in the world does he do this? He is everywhere!

Let's take a look at Eddie's last month for an example of what I am talking about:

2009-03-02 Baylor 57 Texas 73 Austin, TX
2009-03-01 Michigan State 74 Illinois 66 Champaign, IL
2009-02-28 Ohio State 50 Purdue 75 West Lafayette, IN
2009-02-26 Purdue 78 Michigan 87 Ann Arbor, MI
2009-02-25 Iowa 54 Michigan State 62 East Lansing, MI
2009-02-24 Penn State 59 Ohio State 73 Columbus, OH
2009-02-22 Northwestern 45 Minnesota 72 Minneapolis, MN
2009-02-21 Marquette 78 Georgetown 72 Washington, DC
2009-02-19 Minnesota 62 Michigan 74 Ann Arbor, MI
2009-02-18 Providence 76 Louisville 94 Louisville, KY
2009-02-17 Michigan State 54 Purdue 72 West Lafayette, IN
2009-02-16 Pittsburgh 76 Connecticut 68 Hartford, CT
2009-02-15 Michigan 70 Northwestern 67 Evanston, IL
2009-02-14 Iowa State 67 Oklahoma State 86 Stillwater, OK
2009-02-12 Buffalo 58 Eastern Michigan 49 Ypsilanti, MI
2009-02-10 Michigan State 54 Michigan 42 Ann Arbor, MI
2009-02-08 Western Michigan 63 Akron 87 Akron, OH
2009-02-07 Indiana 47 Michigan State 75 East Lansing, MI
2009-02-05 St Johns 81 Seton Hall 91 Newark, NJ
2009-02-04 Villanova 94 Providence 91 Providence, RI
2009-02-03 Purdue 72 Ohio State 80 Columbus, OH
2009-02-01 Penn State 72 Michigan State 68 East Lansing, MI
2009-01-31 Wisconsin 63 Northwestern 66 Evanston, IL

In Summary:

• Ed did 23 games over 31 days
• Over those 23 games there were 885 fouls called an average of 38 per game
• Ed did: 14 Big Ten, 5 Big East, 2 Big 12, and 2 MAC games
• For the season Eddie has done 70 games to date
  

Over this time period, Ed hasn't made too many fans happy. Even Ohio State fans are mad at Eddie after their 25 point loss to Purdue over the weekend.

There is even a funny YouTube video with Eddie watching himself on TV.

So is Eddie a bad referee? Maybe, maybe not.

Is Eddie just a bad ref lately? Maybe, maybe not.

Is Eddie over-worked? Looks like it.

Memo to Eddie: The conference tournaments and post season tournaments (NCAA and NIT) are coming up, there could be over four games a day depending on the conference tourney and many more at the start of the NCAA tournament. Try not to do all the games or at very least take one of those five hour energy drinks. See you tonight.