Flags A' Flying

What a great weekend of football.  Unlike last week's snoozefests and pillow fights, this weekend's NFL games offered a little of everything.  A sixty point blowout in the October snow.  A 4th-quarter, 17 point comeback that came up a hair short because of a young kicker's last second miss.  Another winless team gets one in the dub column.  Goal-line stands.  3 first half kick returns for touchdowns in the same game. Absolute artistry from no less than 4 champion QBs.  Totally satsifying football.  Almost.

What was less than great about the games is the referees.  And this has been the case all season.  And last season.  And the one before that.  And so on.  Over the years, more and more television time has been given to these supervisors in stripes.   Remember the days when the game announcers told us what penalties were being called?  Well, now it feels like a peformance, an acting audition almost everytime a referee turns on his microphone and explains his case.  Are they getting paid by the flag?  I used to think the overabundance of commercials was solely to blame for the games taking forever.  Not so.  With the exception of a few games in recent memory, the officials are calling literally dozens of penalties per game.  It seems all a player has to do, after he's missed a catch or failed to reach the quarterback on the pass rush, is get up, gesture wildly and whine loudly to the refs that he was held or interfered with.  I guess the squeaky footballer gets the grease? 

Please don't think this is sour grapes- my team actually won a division game by 26 points yesterday.  So, I'm not some bitter fan who thinks the refs cost my guys a win.  At least not this week.  Anyways, as I was saying- the refs have been awful.  Probably the worst part is the total inconsistency of their calls.  I watched a kickoff return for a touchdown called back on a phantom holding penalty and a punt returner that was on his way to the end zone get slowed down by a punter who plainly and deliberately leg-whipped (tripped) him as he ran past.  No call.  Unforgivable.  Legs can get broken, careers can be ended with plays like that.

Pass interference is totally arbitrary.  As is holding.  Probably even moreso.  Just ask any lineman who's ever played the game.  Holding happens every play.  If that's true, then who decides when it should and shouldn't be called?  Some guy with a whistle?  And I'm all for protecting quarterbacks and defenseless receivers, but where does the league draw the line?  That's just it- that line would look something like the incoherent scribblings of a toddler.  Though the the NFL rule book is laboriously updated each year, what matters is not the rules that are written down, but how they are interpreted.  And even more- enforced.  Reminiscent of the old 'Jordan Rules' in the NBA- different rules apply to different players.  David Garrard doesn't get the same calls as Tom Brady.  What's illegal contact for Fred Bennett is just good coverage for Champ Bailey.  That's ridiculous.  These are all grown men playing the same game and what's good for the goose...  
 
Everyone remembers the Ed Hoculi deboculi that cost the Chargers a division win last year against the rival Broncos.  Inexcusable.  Yes, and I've said it myself, to err is human.  But maybe that's the problem.  Obviously, if a guy moves early, it's a false start.  Or if he's juggling a ball as he goes out of bounds, it's no catch.  But those plays are black and white.  Too much of the game is played in the gray areas.  Too much is left up to 'judgement calls'.  Which basically boils down to opinion.  The NFL replay system is supposed to help with this, but the system itself is fundamentally flawed.  When a challenge flag is thrown, the same refereees who are making missing the initial call are the same ones reviewing their own mistakes.  Without "indisputable evidence" to overturn the original call- it will stand. 
And since these refs' reputations and, in turn, their future earning potential are rated and reviewed by the league in the form of missed/overturned calls- what incentive do they have to overrule themselves?  None. It literally costs them money.  So, what matters not is the correct call- but the initial call that was made at the time.  Two wrongs may not make a right but, apparently, they could get you a raise.  And earn you a spot calling games in the postseason. 

Roger Goodell needs to take a page out of the NHL's rulebook on this one.  In hockey's highest league, questionable goals are monitored in the "war room" at the league office, in Toronto, by the head replay official, who has no vested interest in the game or call at hand.  That's the way the NFL should do it.  At least on the game-changing calls.  In a league where so much is on the line each week, it's surprising that so little has been done to fix the system.  Like the aforementioned Chargers-Broncos blunder, every game does matter.   And money and titles can be on the line.

Whatever the remedy, something needs to be done.  From bad spots to blown calls, personal fouls to phantom touchdowns, the refs need to stop injecting themselves into these contests.  Their presumptions should never decide a game.  Ultimately, what matters is what happens between the lines.  What thousands in the stands and millions at home see quite plainly.  Not what some zebra-clad, flag-tossing, attention-hound thinks he may have seen.

*Update*

It's not just the NFL...
What's worse? The NFL is not the only culprit. MLB is just as bad. One day after I called the NFL refs to task, the umps decided to join in the fun.  The officials in baseball may not be looking for camera time, but they act as if they're more vital to the game than the players themselves. 

In the 10-1 drubbing the Yanks just gave the Angels in game 4 of the ALCS last night- there were at least 3 AWFUL calls. Nick Swisher was clearly picked off at second base in the 4th inning and was called safe. Later in the inning, with Swisher now at third, he was then called out (make-up, anyone?) for leaving the base early on a sac-fly. He did not. And then this.  A writer for Yahoo.com is calling it the worst call of all time. Ever. Sad.  Thankfully, the score was so lopsided, that the baserunning bungles didn't change the outcome.  But that could've easily been a one-run game.  Especially in the playoffs.  There needs to be some real accountability.  Seriously.

Tags: nfl, ref, flag, call, whistle, blown, hoculi

True Football Fantasy

Am I there yet?  As the clock ticks toward the end of my work day, I anxiously await this evening's fantasy football draft.  It's the 2nd of 5 such events I'll be participating in by week's end.  Exciting times, no?

Ok, maybe it doesn't excite you quite like me- but on your draft day(s), I trust you'll know the feeling.  Though, I guess not EVERYbody on the planet has caught ff fever.  Not yet, at least.  So, for the nonbelievers, let me punctuate the process.  From the moment you join your league until the moment you- or, god forbid, some other fortunate soul- win the title, the perks are plentiful.  
 
The name game.  Naming your team sets the tone for the whole season.  Let your creative juices flow and see what happens.  Will you go with a play-on-words, or an inappropriate inside joke?  Perhaps both.  Will you keep it simple or try to use mind games?  Maybe all of the above.  Whatever your thinking, "Lombardi's Lobotomy" could be the team to beat this year.  Or is it "Stark Raven Mad"?  Maybe even "The Cutler Did It".
 
The armchair GM.  Every guy's dream and every girlfriend's nightmare is the chance to 'draft' the best-of-the-best.  Those can't-cut, first round, no-brainers and the late-round super sleepers round out your lineup and make you a fantasy football force to be reckoned with.  And what moves will you make during the season?  Who will get injured or flat out cut?  Which undrafted free agents will impress and earn a roster spot.  With fantasy football's fast rising popularity, even Detroit fans can watch meaningful football on Sundays.  Every game matters.  
 
Camaraderie.  Fantasy football offers us a chance to catch up with old friends.  For me, tonight's draft includes some of my closest college buddies (and some guy named Van Dam).  Throughout the season, we'll stay in touch better than we do the rest of the year.  We'll talk new jobs, old marriages, kids-to-be and, of course, a healthy amount of trash.  
 
Bragging rights.  Outthink, outduel and outperform your friends.  What's better than that?  Whatever league trophy and cash prize (hypothetically, of course) accompany your title are just cherries on top.  Win the dang thing and next season, you're the defending league champ.  So, as you prepare to draft your way to gridiron greatness, I'll paraphrase from a somewhere-south-of-classic football flick:  I wish I could say something classy and inspirational, but that's just not my style.  Pain heals, chicks dig scars... but fantasy football glory lasts forever.