It’s a Bad Day When You Lose, 89-17

Yep, it’s a bad day in the NFL when you lose by a 72-point margin. Never happen you say? A lot of fans are homers. I contend this is the purist form of fan, those who are faithful to the teams where they live … or where they lived. There are a bunch of people in the San Francisco Bay Area who root for both the Forty-Niners and the clutsy Oakland Raiders.

Faithful fans stick with their teams through good and bad. No one was surprised when the Raiders had a 44-7 put up on them. They may be the worst team ever. But Niners fans were caught off guard by the 45-10 drubbing they took at the hands of the Atlanta Falcons.

Put them together and Bay Area fans lost by a combined 89-17. Now that’s a bad day.

Dallas Outlasts Philly, 41-37; Refs Flop Again

In an exciting shootout, Dallas shined on its final possession while Philly fizzled. In fact, Donovan McNabb, who had amazed throughout the entire game, failed on his last 2 series, causing fans to wonder again, Can DM do it in the clutch?

It was actually the next-to-last possession that cost the Eagles the game. With a 3-point lead and driving on Dallas, McNabb messed up a routine handoff to the incredible Brian Westbrook … and the ‘Boys recovered.

Still it was an exciting game, though, once again riddled with officiating errors. This time though, they really did even out. The errors cost both teams in different parts of the game. NFL officiating is pitiful. It must improve!

Pitiful Broncos Ride Ref Partiality to “Victory”

NFL officials found two creative ways to give the Denver Broncos the 15 points they needed to “win” over the San Diego Chargers. The Chargers had no way to win this game. If the Broncos had needed 7 more points, the refs would have found a third creative way to pad the score of the undeserving hometown pitiful Broncos.

Denver’s first seven points were handed to them in a first-ever manner of partiality. With 11:30 to go in the first quarter, Philip Rivers passed short to C.Chambers. Champ Bailey faked an interception/fumble recovery, which the complicitous refs gave him. Replay showed Chambers’ elbow clearly down before Bailey wrestled the ball loose. It was challenged by Norv Turner so the refs would have to get it right … right?

Wrong! The home team’s homeboys found a way to put the replay equipment on the fritz so the refs refused to make the correct call. Millions of people watching on TV could see it; refs said they couldn’t … and wouldn’t wait for it to be fixed. Seven points from the refs for Denver, as the horses scored.

Then, with the Chargers leading by 7 and less than a minute to go, Jay Cutler fumbled away the game as the Chargers recovered. It was right in front of ref Ed Hochuli so this couldn’t be fouled up, right? Wrong again. The head ump called it incomplete, even though the ball went flying backwards, and Cutler came forward with an empty hand. There is seriously no way any competent official could have blown this call. But he did … intentionally?

OK, so everything is going against the Chargers, but this time replay should help them, right? Wrong yet again. Though the replay was working and the call was reversed to a fumble, the whistle was blown before the San Diego recovery. Broncos score. The refs have now given them 13 points.

No Risk

Mike Shanahan stuns everyone by eschewing the one-point extra point to tie and going for two. “What courage!” you say. They made it; they win, 39-38. But there was no risk. I’m convinced that the refs were primed to call a penalty on the Chargers as many times as needed until Denver made a two-pointer.

This was a bad game for football. I’m no San Diego Charger fan, but any objective viewer has to admit, this was one of the greatest ever travesties against a team, and one of the most blatant instances of official incompetentence/favoritism in NFL history.

Chargers fans, your guys won that game. Broncos fans, hang your heads. Any team that has to win that way should be ashamed to put on the uniform.

NBA fans learned awhile back that NBA refs were betting on the games. Could this be what was happening today?

It’s one of two things: gross, repeated incompetence; or corruption.

This season, Mike Shanahan may be the new Bill Belichick.

Don’t Give the Evidence to Goodell!

Bill Belichick is talking … finally. And, while he’s apologizing, he’s also implying it wasn’t much of a big deal.

But what’s more important is what former Patriot employee Matt Walsh has to say. Walsh says he had evidence that the Patriots taped the St. Louis Rams’ walk-through before the 2002 Super Bowl.

Belichick recently minimized “Spygate,” saying, “I take responsibility for it. Even though I felt there was a gray area in the rule and I misinterpreted the rule….”

Here is the rule he misinterpreted. Tell me how someone who is consistently called a “genius” could misinterpret such a rule.

NFL Constitution & Bylaws Article 9:

Any use by any club at any time, from the start to the finish of any game in which such club is a participant, of any communications or information-gathering equipment, other than Polaroid-type cameras or field telephones, shall be prohibited, including without limitation videotape machines, telephone tapping, or bugging devices, or any other form of electronic devices that might aid a team during the playing of a game.

How on earth could someone who is not even a genius misinterpret that, much less a genius?

Meanwhile, Belichick is denying the Rams incident and Walsh is keeping the evidence until he has stronger assurances from the NFL.

Walsh! Don’t give the evidence to Roger Goodell! Remember what happened to the previous evidence? Heaven know has much incriminating evidence Goodell has already destroyed. Don’t give him any more.

Justice! Giants Take Down Cheatriots in Super Bowl

Cheatriots fall.

Giants destroy evil empire.

Roger Goodell puts up greatest act of his pitiful career, pretending to be happy that the Giants won.

Have been away from the blogosphere for a while. My last blog post (read below) lamented the Giants narrow loss to the Patriots in the regular season. I ended that post by saying this:

One’s only hope is to pray for a miracle … an upset in the playoffs. For that to happen, three things need to take place: Pats have a bad game, opponents have a great game, refs call the game fairly.

Those three things happened … as deep into the playoffs as you can get. After I wrote that post, one comment from a New England fan told me, and I quote, “GET OVER IT.”

I’m over it.

The 1972 Dolphins stand alone. It is justice that this cheating, condescending Patriot team and coach lost. And not surprising that Belichick was not courteous enough to be on the sidelines for the final play.

Now, Senator Arlen Specter and Congress, go after Roger Goodell.

Nothing he has said in defense of destroying evidence makes sense. He was quite simply, protecting the Patriots. Their spy-gate surely goes far beyond what we have heard. We’ll never know what Goodell destroyed. But, if justice is on a roll, other evidence will surface.

Congratulations to the New York Giants. They have saved the sports world … for now.

Dark Day for the NFL

When the New England Patriots came back in the fourth quarter last night to defeat the game New York Giants, it capped a dark day in the history of professional football. Yes, the Pats won, aided by the superstar syndrome—the refs finding things to call against the Pats’ opponents and clearly ignoring more egregious violations on behalf of the league’s pretty boys.
 
One penalty they ignored was a clear leg-whip block by Randy Moss that sprung a big play for Roger Goodell’s favorites. Moss is one of the reasons this is a dark day for the NFL. The egotistical one will play only for a winner, no matter how much he is paid. He did a royal job on the Oakland Raiders by taking their money, then refusing to put out. Moss is worse than T.O. He only plays when he feels like it. And he doesn’t have the courage or stamina of  T.O.
 
The Patriots made Moss a star, not vice versa. Maybe he just is not good enough to put up the stats for a lesser team. True superstars are.
 
Now all the young fans will idolize a bunch of narcissistic cheaters.
 
Too bad.
 
One’s only hope is to pray for a miracle … an upset in the playoffs. For that to happen, three things need to take place: Pats have a bad game, opponents have a great game, refs call the game fairly.

Refs Hand Game to Cowboys; Officiating Partial?

“The pass interference play that wasn’t.” —Bryant Gumbel 

No neutral viewer (which I was in this game) could go away from this game thinking both teams got an even shake. Call after call went against the Carolina Panthers, who would have upset Dallas without the apparent complicity of the officials. It was obvious the refs were calling marginal penalties against Carolina while ignoring egregious violations of the rules against the preferred ‘Boys, especially the obvious pass interference, run repeatedly on the NFL Network, that Gumbel and Collingsworth both agreed had to be a penalty and totally reversed the fortunes of the game. 

Even with all the refs did for them, Dallas could only muster a 20-13 victory.

They didn’t earn it. Dallas fans can’t be proud about this one. It was a shameful display by the officials and, for at least one game, put the Cowboys on the same moral low-ground as the New England Patriots. Appropriate, I guess, since the two teams may meet in the Super Bowl. Only something has changed, at least for me. Up till tonight I would have been rooting for Dallas in that game. After tonight’s preferential, shameful display, I’ll have a hard time watching that game, if indeed it does materialize. 

John Fox, you’ve got a right to be angry. The officiating system, in front of the whole world, let you down, and cast doubt upon the integrity of the system.

Cowboys fans, hang your heads.

Brian Westbrook, the NFL’s Most Unselfish Player

With the clock running down to the 2-minute warning in Dallas and the Philadelphia Eagles up 10-6 on the Cowboys, Brian Westbrook broke into the open for a certain touchdown. But he stopped at the one and fell to the ground, hurting his own stats but guaranteeing a win for his team.

The Cowboys were out of timeouts. If Westbrook scores, Dallas has 2 minutes to get 2 scores … a longshot but still a possibility. A quick score, a successful onsides kick, and another score and the Cowboys could actually win. Unlikely, but very possible.

By forgoing his own stats in favor of the team, Westbrook guaranteed a win for the Eagles. Three kneel-downs killed the clock. Westbrook puts himself a cut above the rest of the league, especially all those guys who care most about their own stats. Speaking of that, Terrell Owens had an ineffective game and again had the dropsies, dropping a key pass that could have been a leading TD. (Tony Romo was also ineffective; Jessica Simpson was not a good-luck charm.)

Sports and Ethics awards its first  Sports and Ethics Award of Merit to Brian Westbrook, the NFL’s most unselfish player.

Bobby Petrino Joins the Nick Sabin League

Bobby Petrino is not popular in Atlanta. After urging his embattled team to “play all four quarters” each game, Petrino skipped town after 13 games in his first season with the Falcons. Shades of Nick Sabin. When the going got tough, Petrino got going. The players, Atlanta fans, Georgia, and all NFL viewers are rightly upset with such a low-class display. We call upon players to display character. When head coaches show so little of it, we can only pity the players who have to play under them.

And wasn’t it tacky to hold that celebratory press conference where Petrino was heralded as the Second Coming of Arkansas football? Not only did he shaft the innocent Falcons, he also was shown partying on television right after he did it. ‘Tis pitiful for a human being to act that way.

Belichick, Patriots Prepare for Jets

Bill Belichick today, when asked how he would prepare for the next game, replied that it would be just like they have been preparing for their games. Since their next game is a divisional contest with the New York Jets, we have to wonder if that includes the use of illegal videotape, which they needed to use earlier in the season when they played their first game in order to sufficiently embarrass them. Since New England will be at home, it should be easier for them to find an alternate way to cheat.

James J. Braddock Wins Heavyweight Title

Underdog James J. Braddock, dubbed the Cinderella Man for his remarkable fairy-tale comeback, won a unanimous 15-round decision tonight against the overwhelming favorite, Heavyweight Boxing Champion Max Baer, to win the world heavyweight crown.

OK, so it didn’t really happen tonight. I just saw the movie Cinderella Man for the first time. Here was this overwhelming underdog, an honest family man, facing off against the arrogant, womanizing champion. The world wanted him to beat all odds and win. It defied reality but he did it. And this was not fiction; it really happened.

So I’m thinking, there’s a parallel here with the NFL this year. Braddock: All the massive underdog, honest teams. Baer: The dishonest, arrogant, womanizing Patriots. There is hope! If Braddock beat Baer, some decent group of guys could beat the villainous Pats.

Then Hollywood can make it into a movie.

Kill the Sidelines Timeout

Put the game back in the hands of the players. Kill the timeout from the sidelines. Coaches messing with kickers has caused a number of double kicks, which sometimes backfires, and is definitely not fair to kickers. Now, Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Rex Ryan has added a new twist, calling a sidelines timeout moments before Tom Brady was stuffed on a fourth-and-1 sneak, negating the play and robbing the Ravens of a deserved upset against the less-than-perfect Patriots. After two other fourth down reprieves, Brady threw a winning TD.

It was like the 1972 Summer Olympics Gold Medal basketball game, when the three Eastern Bloc judges kept giving the Soviets chance after final chance until they won. Here it was not corrupt judges; it seemed more to be Fate.

And a hare-brained coach. Who called timeout as his valiant players exerted their final majestic effort … successfully, but fruitlessly.

This game will be remembered for a long time. Maybe not as long as the ‘72 Olympics (the silver medals still sit unclaimed in a vault in Lusanne, Switzerland), but still a long time … for Ravens fans … and Patriots haters.

So, please. NFL, put the game back in the hands of the players. Kill the timeout from the sidelines.

Cowboys Win; T.O. Does Volleyball Impersonation

The Dallas Cowboys (11-1) defeated the Green Bay Packers (10-2), 37-27, last night in Texas, taking a huge advantage in the home-field-advantage race in the NFC. In a game televised only on NFL Network and thus leaving a lot of fans out in the cold and unable to see this marquee match-up, it was also disappointing that Brett Favre was injured early, meaning the NFC match of the season would not be decided by a head-to-head battle of the two QB stars.

But Aaron Rodgers surprised everyone. He actually performed better than Favre had before he left … and gave GB a real chance to win.

Terrell Owens had a great game but did another of his volleyball impersonations, clubbing a sure, short touchdown pass right to him with brick-like hands, and serving the ball gently into the arms of the Packers’ grateful Al Harris. (Shades of the time he did this as a member of the San Francisco 49ers, batting an easy catch to DB Mike Jones early in overtime with the Chicago Bears, which Jones promptly returned for a game-ending TD.)

T.O. also gave away another one that the incompetent refs covered for him on. Al Harris clearly stripped T.O. for an interception . Replay should have been able to reverse this. But we’re back to a blundering ref blowing a whistle at the wrong tim, saying “forward progress was stopped.” No way.

Will Favre return? The Pack may need him to lead them again on this same field in the playoffs.

Thanksgiving Football Games

Having just recently finished observing this honored custom of watching football on Thanksgiving, let’s reflect on these words that show not everyone in the house may have the same view of this tradition:

“Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are consumed in twelve minutes. Half-times take twelve minutes. This is not coincidence.” (Erma Bombeck)

Sean Taylor Murder Puts Football in Perspective

Sean Taylor, the young Pro Bowl safety for the Washington Redskins is dead, shot by an intruder in his Miami home. He died yesterday after being attacked the day before. The bullet, fired into his groin, severed an artery and he lost a massive amount of blood before medical care arrived.

This puts the NFL in perspective. Though football fans treat the NFL with life-and-death type intensity it is, after all, only a game. This one act of senseless violence transcends all of the NFL’s games. Sports will go on, and the public will eventually forget. But Sean Taylor’s friends and family will never forget. Let’s keep them in our prayers.

And let’s keep football in perspective. Life and eternity are far more important.

Dolphins Go Down (in the Muck)

In shameful unprecedented muck in Pittsburgh, the Miami Dolphins had their first crack at a victory—or a tie—this year. They played the Steelers straight up for more than 59 minutes, losing 3-0 in the closing seconds on a short field goal. Most viewers not from Pittsburgh were rooting for the hitherto hapless Dolphins. But, alas, they remained hapless and went down by a margin of three or less for the sixth time in their 0-11 streak. It was the lowest scoring game in Monday Night Football history.

I was hoping for a Miami miracle (maybe 2-0 on a safety), or better yet, a 5-quarter 0-0 tie.

Lewd Practices at Giants Stadium

It has become a halftime ritual at Jets games: drunken male fans harassing women and shouting for them to expose their breasts. Some women comply. When the men don’t get what they want, they boo, spit and throw beer bottles at the women.

Feminist author Naomi Wolf said, “This is a sign of the degradation of public morality in America. I don’t want my daughter to be exposed to this.”

The practice has been reported only at Jets games, not Giants games. Some fans have been kicked out, mostly females for indecent exposure. It is said the abusive male fans are hard to pinpoint.

I’ve been to my share of games where drunken fans interfered significantly with my enjoyment of the game. The Jets have to stop this now, before violence accompanies the sexual abuse. This kind of performance has no place anywhere, and people who purchased tickets have a right to enjoy the game without drunken perverts spoiling it.

Sports Soaps Top 5 of the Week

The U.S. sports scene has been providing a bumper crop of soap operas.

1. Barry Bonds: Finally indicted.
2. A-Rod: Mr. Not-October slinks back to New York.
3. O.J.: Is America ready for another trial?
4. Stephon Marbury: AWOL egoist pays.
5. Ricky Williams: Desperate Dolphins tap sober former-superstar.

Dishonorable Mention:

Joe Glenn/Kyle Whittingham: Coaches prove they can be less mature than the students they coach. [story]
Michael Vick: Continuing saga.
Belichick/Patriots: The coach fans love to hate.

Is the NFL Ready for Ricky Williams?

“NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has decided to reinstate Miami Dolphins running back Ricky Williams after a suspension that lasted 18 months because of Williams’ violation of the league’s substance abuse policy, sources told ESPN.”

Is the football world ready for this?

Will Williams have anything left in the tank?

The One Thing the Patriots Don’t Have

October 28 final score: New England Patriots 52 Washington Redskins 7.

Embarrassing? Yes. For both teams.

The ’Skins’ Randall Godfrey, after the close of the game, reportedly confronted Bill Belichick. “You need to show some respect for the game,” he said, referring to the Patriots obvious running up of the score. Here’s what he told NBCSports.com he said:

“I told him, ‘You need to show some respect for the game.’ You just don’t do that. I don’t care how bad it is. You’re up 35 points and you’re still throwing deep? That’s no respect….

“You look at all the great head coaches … I’m just disappointed,” he said. “You gotta show some class, show some respect. Joe Gibbs? We wouldn’t have done that. Bill Walsh? You wouldn’t see those types of guys doing that stuff. I’ve never seen nothing like that. Most teams, you get up like that you sit on the ball and try to run the time out. They’re up 30-some points and they’re throwing deep. That was blatant disrespect. I hope we can see them again, definitely. You don’t see Joe Gibbs doing that. You can’t even imagine that kind of stuff coming from him. Joe Gibbs. Bill Walsh. Bill Parcells. This isn’t like college going for power rankings. This is the pros you show some respect, show some class.”

I have to say Godfrey is out of line on most of this. Spare us your sour grapes when you’ve just been obliterated on the field. Losers don’t get to cross examine their conquerors.

But there was definitely some lack of respect shown by the Pats, like Wes Welker’s in-your-face playground-like spiking after scoring the TD that led to a 45-0 lead; and Matt Cassell celebrating by winding up and spiking for his touchdown in garbage time. (That’s like some NBA scrub doing a dance for getting a meaningless lay-in as time expires.)

Tom Jackson said the Pats were getting “frenzied” as they poured it on the hapless Redskins. “They want to pound people into submission,” said Steve Young (who once did a kneel down on the Niners’ opponents’ 1-yard line at the close of a game).

Even the Pats’ owners appeared uncomfortable with the run-up. They have felt embarrassed by video-gate; now their scrubs are doing dances late in a rout?

There is another reason we could expect Belichick to lay off.

”It’s risk/reward,” said Bill Cowher. “How long do you want your starters to play? You want to be careful. At some point, if this continues, someone is going to take a cheap shot. Is that worth subjecting your players to if it comes to that? The risk [Belichick] is taking is that guys could get hurt in those situations. That’s his decision as a coach, and he has a right to do it.”

Players and coaches should all react with the same class Joe Gibbs did, who took the high road. He said he had nothing against what the Pats did. And you can’t argue. They have every right to run up the score. It’s just that previous dynasties didn’t do it. But that’s up to Belichick. Belichick still looks cowed and sheepish at his press conferences. He gives curt, mumbled answers and gives every appearance of a shame-faced malefactor who can only talk on the field, not eye-to-eye.

The difference between Gibbs and Belichick? One word: class. Gibbs has it; Belichick doesn’t. I doubt he even knows what it is. The great coaches of the past had it; that’s why, though Bill B. will be on the same level as many of the great coaches of the past, he will never be in their class.

So the Patriots do indeed have almost everything. The one thing they don’t have is class.