.
Leslie Nielsen’s Frank Drebin tries his hand at the fine art.
The blame game is a very interesting one about the brew-ah-ha about the Replacements Referees. They are accused of being uneducated, un-trained, un-regulated and just plain inept. NFL Players and fans have had no qualms about standing up for the side of the so-called Professional Refs which have been standing on the sidelines and negotiating with the NFL to the point – they don’t want the NFL messing with them. Why might that be? What would the Refs refuse to give in on any Reforms? Could it be that the old Refs are Dumb like a Fox. They already have their relationships established with Las Vegas and On-Line Gaming Companies around the world. What might happen if they can control that action in the future?
The game in Seattle, which pitted the Seahawks against the dreaded Packers of Green Bay – was truly a very enjoyable and entertaining game. The Grand Underdog Seahawks with the newly minted Rookie Quarterback stood tall against the Hard Meanies of Green Bay. On the last play of the game with little hope of success the Football Gods or the Replacement Refs gave the game to Seattle. It was great for Pete Carroll fans everywhere. The Seattle Defense had been just about amazing stopping Aaron Rodgers the great MVP from Green Bay. Across the board, Seattle’s Defense was awesome!
The number of stupid penalties was also an amazing number….maybe 30 or more……it became all a blur. Defense one penalty….then Offense one penalty. Those penalties, many of them phantom – occupied most of the game. NFL players are pretty smart and were breaking the rules with impunity……guessing that the new Refs would miss over half of them – which they did. Did the Refs change the results of the game? Of course they did….but not just on the last play. The game was changed because this Ref or that …..”thought it was a penalty”…whether it was or not.
What might have happened if the so-called Professional Refs had been in control of the game. Our guess is – that the Seahawks would have beaten the point spread….but not have won the game. Why? Gambling and pay-offs to answer simply! Billions and billions are a stake on every NFL Game, especially those Monday, Sunday or Thursday Night games which draw the giant audiences. Can we stop NFL Gambling? Hardly, but what the NFL Owners and Roger Goodell want is just a chance to change the odds every now and then. The NFL Refs never want to give up “their control” over who wins and who loses….in a purely Entertainment sense of course! The NFL Owners and Roger Goodell may never have another opportunity to clean up their sport – for several more years unless they “hang tough” and not cave to the Professional Refs.
How about a NFL Season with an Asterisk? Everyone wants Pete Rose, Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds to place an Asterisk by each of their records because they cheated with Performance Enhancing Drugs. We have no problem with any of that. It is now about time to put a positive Asterisk on an NFL Season. Let this the be the NFL Season – that didn’t have the Professional Gamblers run the show….the entire year. Stay tough NFL Owners. Stay tough Roger Goodell.
The Dumb Ref’s? Go home and watch it on TV. Maybe your Little League Football Camp needs a Ref! Go for it! Maybe you can get the Professional Gamblers to bet on those games!
We have been around this track before, ‘Ships, but for the record: I think that your accusations that the NFL referrees are fixing games and profiting from doing so — which would be a felony — are irresponsible given that they are evidently based on mere supposition and long-past events. It’s like accusing Angela Merkel of wanting to take over the world militarily because of the actions of Hitler and his crew.
If you have actual evidence of wrongdoing, you should present it (and this is probably not the best place for that.) If you don’t, you shouldn’t make the accusation. (And … likewise the above.)
*Proving a false positive are you? These folks are Professional. They have been
doing this stuff for many many years. We suppose you doubt that several NBA Refs faked penalties to change the outcome of games? Sleep well, your National Guard
is on alert! That was the halcyon call in 1958…..Those were the days when the National Guard didn’t even have jeep parts ….. and everyone thought that we were safe from Soviets.
Dr. D., when every NFL Ref can be Audited by the League…….we will start to suggest that given an open checkbook……the Las Vegas Gambling Establishments, along with the greater Global Asian/Russian Consortiums are not going to sit by carelessly running a clean numbers racket.
We said it before: We cannot stop the corruption, but closing our eyes to the possibility is totally irresponsible to the society. It is sort of like Liar Loans, Credit Default Swaps and Specialty Investment Vehicles……they all sounded just fine til people started to take a look.
Off-shore Gambling Parlors have been featured on Real Sports, 60 Minutes and Inside Edition. These are not nice folks and with the Internet the numbers are terrifying. The Packers were favored by 75% of the betting public for this game in particular. The Prohibitive Favorite concept made this an easy call. The Seahawks were going to win or the Gamblers were going to have to pay up bigtime. Since we are Seahawks fans..
it worked out for us….even though we don’t gamble.
Stop living in your Unconscious Bubble of belief….where everything is wonderful – except for Money in Politics which you seem to take a stronger aversion to……by anyone.
I’m not closing my eyes to the possibility, I’m just no more accepting that they are fraudulent profiteers just because it’s possible than I would accept your accusing them of being rapists, Russian spies, or Republicans one nothing more than your saying that it’s “possible.”
*Dr. D., and Jerry Sandusky was just a nice old guy and a great Boy Scout leader.
Open your eyes dude……that’s all. We are not asking for Elliot Spitzer to issue indictments……UNTIL….we check to see that all NFL Officials have NO unseemly associations, no odd ball off shore bank accounts and no family or relatives who seem too rich while working at Wal-mart. Due Diligence. Is that asking so much? When you have bartender that steals…..you send in “a spotter”. You make sure every customer has a current service check…with what the customer has ordered. This is not Space Science…..only doing what is right. The same goes for the players, especially those that are Field Goal kickers, Special Teams and low wage Running backs and Defensive Backs. Missing a tackle here and there is hard to track down. What if those guys are paid big money for pivotal games – to do just that?
The Ref’s have had Godlike powers to control games. Instant Replay has slowed down the easy Game Changing Events…..buy even then – many “In the Booth Reviews” have been “iffy” as well. Show us a game and we will show you folks that are fiddling with the results.
I thought this was going to be about California Voters over the last 25 years!
But, now that I read it, I can say anyone who doesn’t believe that the Las vegas element has a role in officiating is naive. Last night alone $150,000,000 was played.
yeah thats 150 MILLION. I believe there are “FELON’S”” who have killed for a lot less.
*True….and the plethora of writings about this “confirm the ruling on the field!”
Gamblers: ONE…….Bettors: ZERO
*OK then, the NFL and the Ref’s concluded their negotiations and some key ingredients came out of everything. First off, the Thursday night game with Baltimore – Cleveland was back to business as usual. No giant “Ref Nightmare Calls”. Very little controversy and everyone was on their best behavior…Ref’s and Players. The Refs even sided on caution and penalized someone for a close helmet on helment hit.
The important parts of the agreements however are: 21 Added Officials…that were supposed to be added to the 121 current Professional Ref mix – that could have been used as replacements for bad behavior or poor officiating will be added as a “Training Pool” which can only be used in the event of an Injury or Illness….rather than as a “corrective action tool”.
The Pro Ref’s got to keep their Pensions…..The Pro Ref’s got their raises per game.
So why the sudden capitulations by the NFL? It was fairly obvious that having retired grand dads out there was causing too many “injuries on the field”. Without the Pro Refs the Fantasy Football Players were not having much fun anymore….considering
all the season and career ending injuries to prime time players. When these numbers come out….it will be shocking.
At any rate, it is now back to NFL “Vanilla Fudge Football”. The NFL Owners will still be watching the players and refs – for paid-off behavior; but this will be low key in all regards. The serious injuries to players should subside in the next three weeks.
So, sports fans…it’s back to “Business as Usual”…..after all – isn’t there an NBA Season due to start soon? And what about that NHL Lock-out?
*For those still paying attention to the Ref issue – the Smart Refs are back…..and already people are complaining again. Can’t please anyone now a days!