In an era when any play in a football game has at least four camera angles, bad officiating simply should not have a role in deciding games. A few weeks ago against Tampa Bay, Cincinnati got screwed on a phantom roughing the passer call on Robert Geathers, and today, on Cincinnati's last-chance drive against Baltimore, officials failed to call an obvious 4th down pass interference that would have kept the drive alive. Would Cincinnati have won today's game? Not necessarily, but they should be 5-3 (the Tampa game) and could be 6-2 if they'd had a shot on their last drive. The cameras were in the right place to see, but not the officials.
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A plea to sportswriters everywhere:
Stop using the phrase "perfect storm." Any time a couple of circumstances lead to an outcome, a sportswriter (or, in the case of Randy Cross, an announcer) will call it a "perfect storm." And each time they do, I get the sense that they're using it because they think it makes them sound smart. But now it's become a sports cliche. Go ahead, use Google to see how often ESPN's writers use it, or Sports Illustrated's, or the writers aggregated through Yahoo Sports.
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I love the Sports Gal
As I've mentioned elsewhere, Bill Simmons has long since lost his edge, but at least his football picks are worth reading for his wife's brief columns. She's funny, and unlike her hubby, she doesn't labor the jokes she makes, she just makes them and moves on. Also, she's out-picking him so far this NFL season. I'm rooting for her.
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2 comments:
I was trapped in a Moe's during that game Sunday and TH said, "That was a sucky call". I groaned and saw the dude throw the helmet. And I hate football.
--cw
The Refs suck for a reason, its called "point spreads". Watch the number of holding calls in game where you could swear someone is trying to make it close.
When Steve Spurrier (just officially reprimanded by the SEC for ripping crappfy officials) was asked about the refs he said "We've got freedom of speech in this country....except for saying anything about the referees" Love it.
Speaking of cliche's, how about "Takes it To The House!"
God, I hate that one.
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