OT: Holy Terrible Super Bowl Officiating!

[ronm3-migration]

The officials stink!! But I won money because of it!!

 

 

[joe_collector]

When the heck is Arch going to pull this thread so we can get back to bittching about comics? I honestly thought it would be gone this moring.

[ronm3-migration]

When the heck is Arch going to pull this thread so we can get back to bittching about comics? I honestly thought it would be gone this moring .

 

yeah plus you are starting to sound like Scooby Doo.

[Sal]

ascribing a "conspiracy" to the officiating, wherein the league for some reason wants Pittsburgh to win over Seattle...well, that immediately takes you into looney bird territory

 

Strangely, that's exactly what some people said to me when I stated the Russians had fixed the 2002 Olympics. Of course, thanks to the FBI, we all know about the conspiracy now, between Russia and France, and the direct involvement of the Russian Mafia. But at the time, a lot of people refused to believe that their beloved sport was fixed.

 

Some people, even with the evidence sitting right in front of them, do not want to think that sports are often fixed and overtly manipulated. They'd rather live in the past, viewing 2006 sporting events through rose-colored glasses. Roger Staubach rather than Ryan Leaf. That's why ESPN buckled to the NFL and cancelled Playmakers, as it showed a side of pro sports they do not want disseminated - they'd rather leave fans with their nostalgic fantasies.

 

Now I am not saying the Super Bowl was fixed, only that a great many sporting events are, from point shaving to fake injuries to officials in your hip pocket. That's a fact Jack, but everyone can make up their own mind about Super Bowl XL.

 

you make some interesting points, but unfortunately they are ancillary at best to what i was talking about.

 

yes, the Russians and the French rigged the Olympics. Yes, ESPN caved and cancelled a decent show due to pressure from the NFL. yes, a great many of sporting events are fixed.

 

surprised you didn't bring the point-shaving scandals of the NCAA from the early 70s into it...

 

to say that the Super Bowl - the most-watched sporting event in the US, the one that's viewed through the most exacting microscope of public opinion - was in any way "fixed" because of a conspiracy between the NFL - which could give two sharts about who wins - and the refs...that's just

 

to even think that the refs or the NFL could have wanted a specific outcome over another -

 

oh, and Dook still sucks. that is all

[chrisco37]

 

oh, and Dook still sucks. that is all

 

The Dook avatar is due to a lost bet. Not b/c I'm a fan. I cannot stand the dookies.

 

I like the Terps.

[Sal]

 

oh, and Dook still sucks. that is all

 

The Dook avatar is due to a lost bet. Not b/c I'm a fan. I cannot stand the dookies.

 

I like the Terps.

 

my sympathies. for both the avatar, and the team you're rooting for.

 

62-58.

[FlyingDonut]

[chrisco37]

 

oh, and Dook still sucks. that is all

 

The Dook avatar is due to a lost bet. Not b/c I'm a fan. I cannot stand the dookies.

 

I like the Terps.

 

my sympathies. for both the avatar, and the team you're rooting for.

 

62-58.

 

Yep. The officials really jobbed us that game.

 

I'm going to the game tomorrow against UVA. Don't have a good feeling about that one either.

[Sal]

 

i'm terribly, terribly sorry. what a wonderful year for you folks. couldn't happen to a nicer group of people, btw.

 

Julius Hodge says "hello"

 

[joe_collector]

to say that the Super Bowl - the most-watched sporting event in the US, the one that's viewed through the most exacting microscope of public opinion - was in any way "fixed" because of a conspiracy between the NFL - which could give two sharts about who wins - and the refs...that's just

 

Why would you think that?

 

Two things drive sports fixing: money and national pride.

 

Since the latter doesn't apply, that would leave only money. If the Super Bowl was fixed, and I am NOT saying it is, it would revolve around those who could make money on a known decision, such as criminal or gambling elements. It's common practice to take a low-paid athlete, judge or official and give them some serious cash for help, and NFL refs are only part-time nobodies.

 

But no way I'm saying the NFL would do it. Certainly there have been allegations of favoritism on the way to the championship game (TV ratings, keep the small market teams out), once the two finalists are set, there's no reason to play favorites anymore.

[JiveTurkeyMoFo]

Okay, I can't say I totally buy this....but from an article in YahooSports:

 

The magazine (Sports Illustrated) screwed up when it started selling its "Steelers Championship Package" on its website before the game even started. If you typed in "www.sipittsburghoffer.com," up came an order form for all sorts of Steelers championship junk. But there was no such Seattle package. In fact, when you typed "www.siseattleoffer.com," the Pittsburgh one came up.

 

Vince, I thought you'd like this.

[Sal]

that's hilarious. someone at SI had a bad morning as a result, i would think.

 

 

if you want to accept the premise that the Super Bowl is capable of being rigged in some way, then that's your bag, i guess. it's too farfetched for me to consider seriously. if you want to discuss the possibility of practically any other sporting event, then i'm probably going to be on your side. but no the single largest sporting event in the US. it's too closely scrutinised by so many different sets of eyes to have any real chance of being tampered with. by anyone, be it Cosa Nostra, the ghost of Pete Rozelle, or the Ref's Union.

 

football games were never really targetted for point-shaving and fixing in the past, because any one person can't really have that large an effect on the outcome without making it completely obvious, and once you go to multiple people, the likelihood of it collapsing in your face increases exponentially. this is why basketball games are ripe for fixing. and why boxing is the single perfect sport for shady dealings. but football? there's 22 people with a hand in it, not including special teams, and if someone is playing so badly - on purpose or not - to make their team lose, the coach will pull him in a second.

 

there's no way anyone would go within a league of trying to massage the outcome. it's just too risky

[joe_collector]

football games were never really targetted for point-shaving and fixing in the past, because any one person can't really have that large an effect on the outcome without making it completely obvious,

 

Methinks someone might have gotten greedy, as yesterday's stupidity was quite obvious.

[Comicdey]

I live in Alaska, so I'd have preferred the Seahawks to win, but didn't really mind either team winning.....that is until I watched part of the game. My wife recorded the game from the halftime forward. I watched and rewinded and watched again the bad calls time and time again. We get bad calls in hockey all the time, but with all this review in football, you'd think they'd have figured out how to call a game. It was painful to watch.

[Sal]

football games were never really targetted for point-shaving and fixing in the past, because any one person can't really have that large an effect on the outcome without making it completely obvious,

 

Methinks someone might have gotten greedy, as yesterday's stupidity was quite obvious.

 

agreed, quite a bit of obvious stupidity in the game yesterday. that blocking call on Hasselback still makes me go .

 

there's a quote out there which paraphrased reads as "never ascribe to conspiracy that which can be adequately explained by incompetence."

 

that's basically my thinking here

[JiveTurkeyMoFo]

that's hilarious. someone at SI had a bad morning as a result, i would think.

 

 

if you want to accept the premise that the Super Bowl is capable of being rigged in some way, then that's your bag, i guess. it's too farfetched for me to consider seriously. if you want to discuss the possibility of practically any other sporting event, then i'm probably going to be on your side. but no the single largest sporting event in the US. it's too closely scrutinised by so many different sets of eyes to have any real chance of being tampered with. by anyone, be it Cosa Nostra, the ghost of Pete Rozelle, or the Ref's Union.

 

football games were never really targetted for point-shaving and fixing in the past, because any one person can't really have that large an effect on the outcome without making it completely obvious, and once you go to multiple people, the likelihood of it collapsing in your face increases exponentially. this is why basketball games are ripe for fixing. and why boxing is the single perfect sport for shady dealings. but football? there's 22 people with a hand in it, not including special teams, and if someone is playing so badly - on purpose or not - to make their team lose, the coach will pull him in a second.

 

there's no way anyone would go within a league of trying to massage the outcome. it's just too risky

 

Hey, two years ago, if you would have told me that CGC would set up an in-house pressing service so their top-tier clients could have books massaged to their full "potential", I would have thought you were nuts. Or that they would actually propose a label method for slabs that blurs the line between restoration and conservation so badly as to invoke immediate uprage from these boards. Or that their ability to detect micro-trimming would hinge almost entirely on the ability of the public to do the work for them....and on....and on....

 

As a Hawk fan, I've swallowed my bit of bad calls. The Testeverde Phantom TD in 1999 (the play that brought back replay). The refs failure to restart the clock in the Ravens game of 2003 that basically gave them 30+ precious seconds to drive the field as time expired. The Dallas MNF game of last year where the receiver catching the TD landed out of bounds, and the booth never bothered to review, though it was under a minute to go.

 

Even in the NFC Championship game, the non-call for blocking in the back on the Steve Smith punt return. The ref called it, the replays clearly indicated he was right, yet he decided to pick up the flag and let it stand.

 

All these calls have one thing in common: the NFL admitted their error and apologized. Ho hum, the Seahawks lost. Sorry guys, we'll try not to screw you next week. All teams go through it, I know. And the best teams overcome it.

 

But last night, I can't really get my brain around last night.

 

Was it rigged? Did the officials get together and pre-determine the winner in accordance to the NFLs wishes? Sounds looney really. But, can the outcome of a game be manipulated when all the calls go against one team or the other....? Guess we all need to answer that for ourselves.

[JiveTurkeyMoFo]

One last thing:

 

For everyone I may have gone overboard with, please accept my apologies. Whether we agree or not on what happened, there was no reason for it to be contentous. Stress, frustration, and an hour of sleep will do that to a fan though.

 

I'm at least encouraged that the overall public is speaking out against what they saw, and that the media is at least addressing it.

 

Now, its nappy time.

[Illiterati-migration]

that's hilarious. someone at SI had a bad morning as a result, i would think.

 

 

if you want to accept the premise that the Super Bowl is capable of being rigged in some way, then that's your bag, i guess. it's too farfetched for me to consider seriously. if you want to discuss the possibility of practically any other sporting event, then i'm probably going to be on your side. but no the single largest sporting event in the US. it's too closely scrutinised by so many different sets of eyes to have any real chance of being tampered with. by anyone, be it Cosa Nostra, the ghost of Pete Rozelle, or the Ref's Union.

 

football games were never really targetted for point-shaving and fixing in the past, because any one person can't really have that large an effect on the outcome without making it completely obvious, and once you go to multiple people, the likelihood of it collapsing in your face increases exponentially. this is why basketball games are ripe for fixing. and why boxing is the single perfect sport for shady dealings. but football? there's 22 people with a hand in it, not including special teams, and if someone is playing so badly - on purpose or not - to make their team lose, the coach will pull him in a second.

 

there's no way anyone would go within a league of trying to massage the outcome. it's just too risky

 

Hey, two years ago, if you would have told me that CGC would set up an in-house pressing service so their top-tier clients could have books massaged to their full "potential", I would have thought you were nuts. Or that they would actually propose a label method for slabs that blurs the line between restoration and conservation so badly as to invoke immediate uprage from these boards. Or that their ability to detect micro-trimming would hinge almost entirely on the ability of the public to do the work for them....and on....and on....

 

As a Hawk fan, I've swallowed my bit of bad calls. The Testeverde Phantom TD in 1999 (the play that brought back replay). The refs failure to restart the clock in the Ravens game of 2003 that basically gave them 30+ precious seconds to drive the field as time expired. The Dallas MNF game of last year where the receiver catching the TD landed out of bounds, and the booth never bothered to review, though it was under a minute to go.

 

Even in the NFC Championship game, the non-call for blocking in the back on the Steve Smith punt return. The ref called it, the replays clearly indicated he was right, yet he decided to pick up the flag and let it stand.

 

All these calls have one thing in common: the NFL admitted their error and apologized. Ho hum, the Seahawks lost. Sorry guys, we'll try not to screw you next week. All teams go through it, I know. And the best teams overcome it.

 

But last night, I can't really get my brain around last night.

 

Was it rigged? Did the officials get together and pre-determine the winner in accordance to the NFLs wishes? Sounds looney really. But, can the outcome of a game be manipulated when all the calls go against one team or the other....? Guess we all need to answer that for ourselves.

 

There were two plays that would have changed the actual SCORE of the game. One was the push-off call (entirely up to one's own perception), the other was the Ben R. touchdown.

 

The push-off was evident. I truly am confused as to why people are making such a big deal out of such an obvious call. He put his hand on Hope's chest/shoulder and extended his arm. That's pushing. End of story, no touchdown for you.

 

And Ben's touchdown, well, if it had been said that it DIDN'T break the plane (which it did), it would have been upheld THAT way. It was too close for a guy on the field to call, and that was the cause of the ref's apparent "indecision". Here, and only here, can you claim some small amount of "bias" because it was almost literally too close to call and the ref sided with Pittsburgh.

 

You know what's REALLY funny, though?

 

Remember when everyone was claiming that Porter's (?) "touchdown", the one where he only had one foot in bounds, was another instance of shoddy officiating? Funny that no one's bringing that up any more. Funny that no one on the national media scene is talking about that one. I tend to think that is going to be the progression here. As people actually SEE the plays they're talking about, they're going to drop the whole matter entirely.

 

Until then, sour grapes make for fine whine.

[JuliusSeizure]

I'm going to go slightly conspiracy theorist on you guys and say that for years I've noticed that in big games the media darling tends to get the upper hand in the officiating department.

 

The NFL always says that the notion is preposterous but, at one point, it can't be ignored.

That's one big reason why I stopped watching the NBA. Did you see the finals the year Jordan's Bulls (it was supposed to be his last series before retirement) played Utah? Jordan was running amok, while the Utah players were getting called for breathing too hard on the guys in red.

 

You can't tell me someone from the NBA / network didn't suggest to the refereeing crew that it would be best for business to let Michael retire a champion. Disgusting.

[Shield]

that's hilarious. someone at SI had a bad morning as a result, i would think.

 

 

if you want to accept the premise that the Super Bowl is capable of being rigged in some way, then that's your bag, i guess. it's too farfetched for me to consider seriously. if you want to discuss the possibility of practically any other sporting event, then i'm probably going to be on your side. but no the single largest sporting event in the US. it's too closely scrutinised by so many different sets of eyes to have any real chance of being tampered with. by anyone, be it Cosa Nostra, the ghost of Pete Rozelle, or the Ref's Union.

 

football games were never really targetted for point-shaving and fixing in the past, because any one person can't really have that large an effect on the outcome without making it completely obvious, and once you go to multiple people, the likelihood of it collapsing in your face increases exponentially. this is why basketball games are ripe for fixing. and why boxing is the single perfect sport for shady dealings. but football? there's 22 people with a hand in it, not including special teams, and if someone is playing so badly - on purpose or not - to make their team lose, the coach will pull him in a second.

 

there's no way anyone would go within a league of trying to massage the outcome. it's just too risky

 

Hey, two years ago, if you would have told me that CGC would set up an in-house pressing service so their top-tier clients could have books massaged to their full "potential", I would have thought you were nuts. Or that they would actually propose a label method for slabs that blurs the line between restoration and conservation so badly as to invoke immediate uprage from these boards. Or that their ability to detect micro-trimming would hinge almost entirely on the ability of the public to do the work for them....and on....and on....

 

As a Hawk fan, I've swallowed my bit of bad calls. The Testeverde Phantom TD in 1999 (the play that brought back replay). The refs failure to restart the clock in the Ravens game of 2003 that basically gave them 30+ precious seconds to drive the field as time expired. The Dallas MNF game of last year where the receiver catching the TD landed out of bounds, and the booth never bothered to review, though it was under a minute to go.

 

Even in the NFC Championship game, the non-call for blocking in the back on the Steve Smith punt return. The ref called it, the replays clearly indicated he was right, yet he decided to pick up the flag and let it stand.

 

All these calls have one thing in common: the NFL admitted their error and apologized. Ho hum, the Seahawks lost. Sorry guys, we'll try not to screw you next week. All teams go through it, I know. And the best teams overcome it.

 

But last night, I can't really get my brain around last night.

 

Was it rigged? Did the officials get together and pre-determine the winner in accordance to the NFLs wishes? Sounds looney really. But, can the outcome of a game be manipulated when all the calls go against one team or the other....? Guess we all need to answer that for ourselves.

 

There were two plays that would have changed the actual SCORE of the game. One was the push-off call (entirely up to one's own perception), the other was the Ben R. touchdown.

 

The push-off was evident. I truly am confused as to why people are making such a big deal out of such an obvious call. He put his hand on Hope's chest/shoulder and extended his arm. That's pushing. End of story, no touchdown for you.

 

And Ben's touchdown, well, if it had been said that it DIDN'T break the plane (which it did), it would have been upheld THAT way. It was too close for a guy on the field to call, and that was the cause of the ref's apparent "indecision". Here, and only here, can you claim some small amount of "bias" because it was almost literally too close to call and the ref sided with Pittsburgh.

 

You know what's REALLY funny, though?

 

Remember when everyone was claiming that Porter's (?) "touchdown", the one where he only had one foot in bounds, was another instance of shoddy officiating? Funny that no one's bringing that up any more. Funny that no one on the national media scene is talking about that one. I tend to think that is going to be the progression here. As people actually SEE the plays they're talking about, they're going to drop the whole matter entirely.

 

Until then, sour grapes make for fine whine.

 

 

How about Roethlisberger's time out call with 0 ticks (more like -2) on the clock? What about the "phantom hold" that even Hall of Fame bound John Madden said was a bad call? The latter would've seriously changed the outcome of the game. If you don't believe this, your head is too deeply stuck in the sand.