Sponsored Content




Intermarkets' Privacy Policy
Support


Donate to Ace of Spades HQ!



Recent Entries
Absent Friends
Bandersnatch 2024
GnuBreed 2024
Captain Hate 2023
moon_over_vermont 2023
westminsterdogshow 2023
Ann Wilson(Empire1) 2022
Dave In Texas 2022
Jesse in D.C. 2022
OregonMuse 2022
redc1c4 2021
Tami 2021
Chavez the Hugo 2020
Ibguy 2020
Rickl 2019
Joffen 2014
AoSHQ Writers Group
A site for members of the Horde to post their stories seeking beta readers, editing help, brainstorming, and story ideas. Also to share links to potential publishing outlets, writing help sites, and videos posting tips to get published. Contact OrangeEnt for info:
maildrop62 at proton dot me
Cutting The Cord And Email Security
Moron Meet-Ups

NoVaMoMe 2024: 06/08/2024
Arlington, VA
Details to follow


Texas MoMe 2024: 10/18/2024-10/19/2024 Corsicana,TX
Contact Ben Had for info





















« NYT Reviews Obama Foreign Policy; Doesn't Find Many Successes | Main | Another Misrepresentation: There's Actually No Evidence At All Suggesting That Gitmo Detainee Released By Bush in 2007 Had Anything To Do With Benghazi Attack »
September 25, 2012

NFL: We Stand Behind Touchdown Call In Seattle/Green Bay Game
Paul Ryan: These Replacement Refs Remind Me Of Obama

Above the Post Update: Football fans don't like incompetence, except when it comes to something trivial like the presidency.


"And you know what, it reminds me of President Obama and the economy," he contended. "If you can’t get it right, it is time to get out. I half think these refs work part-time for the Obama administration in the Budget Office. They see the national debt clock staring them in the face. They see a debt crisis, and they just ignore and pretend it didn’t even happen. They are trying to pick the winners and losers, and they don’t even do that very well.”

...

Beyond the rules, which I'll discuss in a second, there's something else going on.

The replacement refs have been causing fans consternation since the season began. But this weekend, the situation became something like a national furor.

Events are conspiring to make the replacement refs look bad. For example, this game-ending "field goal" -- or was it? It sort of doesn't look like a field goal to me, but then I'm not sure what the rule is for kicking over the post.

But that's a close call-- I think it's a wrong call. But events have conspired to give the replacement refs a tough call in a game-determining situation.

Then came last night's call. Another hard call. Another hard call I think they got wrong -- but note again how these replacement refs are sort of having the whole range of difficult, game-ending calls thrown at them.

So suddenly the regular refs -- previously despised -- are super-popular. But are we really certain the regular refs would have gotten these two calls right?

Anyway, the NFL now knows it cannot continue with the replacement refs. Their bargaining technique -- locking out the regular refs, replacing them, in order to force a labor settlement they preferred -- is doomed. Within a week or two they'll make that official.

The Regular Refs now know they have the whip-hand. They know that popular outrcy is going to wind up giving them almost everything they want. Who knows, they might even make fresh demands (or more forcibly demand older ones they'd soft-pedaled).

The NFL knows this, too. So this is brave-face stuff for the negotiations. The NFL is pretending they're perfectly happy with the replacement refs and would like to see them continue officiating. So suck on that, Old Refs.

But it's not true. It's getting embarrassing and they know their situation is untenable. They cannot risk fan interest in the league over a small-beans dispute with the refs.

So they're going to bluster about how the refs are getting it all right, but this is just a bluff for the final negotiations.

Meanwhile, having checked the rules and the NFL's statement, I'm not sure the interception-ruled-a-touchdown was a clear-cut a call as I first thought. The rules say that a catch by a jumping player is not completed until he touches down to the ground; that being the case, that means the offensive player has that time open to him to establish a simultaneous catch.

Still seems wrong to me, but it's a little more defensible. I guess.

Less defensible are all the horrific errors we're not talking about -- leaving a K-ball on the field for the offense to use (they're slippery as hell, and not supposed to be used, except for kicking), counting off penalties from the wrong yard line, giving coaches extra time-outs and challenges just because they ask for them, etc.

If the NFL Really Wants to Hold Out... They must pass an emergency rule granting coaches more challenges, and actually give these dumbass Replacement Refs the power to call their own video replay reviews on a lot more calls, including calls not typically reviewable (all these ludicrous pass interferences, both not called (but which clearly happened) and called (but which clearly did not happen).

And then they have to hire retired pro refs to man the replay booths.

They have to suspend the old rule that the games will be officiated primarily from the field. No, given these problems, they're going to have to shift to much more replay.

The games will last four and a half hours, but at least they won't be random follies.



digg this
posted by Ace at 01:20 PM

| Access Comments




Recent Comments
ShainS -- Blood-Bath-and-Beyond angel investor [/b][/i][/s][/u] : "I bought a MAGA hat from the Trumpster, I was gett ..."

Tamaa the Drongo Bird: "THE WEATHER STARTED GETTING ROUGH,THE TIN ..."

The Grammar Nazi Who's Bad At Grammar: "Yeah, but ranked choice voting and excuse-free/100 ..."

Catch Thirty-Thr33: "291 Have I mentioned voting straight ticket R like ..."

chatgpt: "221 [i]So "people aren't buying the lies" is now c ..."

Tamaa the Drongo Bird: "Florida is Not New York or California the ..."

Piper: "Speaking of things Biden has done, I am off to get ..."

old chick: "Who is saying that? Posted by: Archimedes 194 ..."

Lady Who Always Has a Burning Question: "Oops. Sorry. You said "this fall". ..."

Braenyard: "281 I liked the part where the Black man asked her ..."

mrp: "240 Go tell MA. Posted by: Axeman at March 28, 20 ..."

Wyatt Earp : "Philly will still try to avoid this. As always. ..."

Recent Entries
Search


Polls! Polls! Polls!
Frequently Asked Questions
The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick
Top Top Tens
Greatest Hitjobs

The Ace of Spades HQ Sex-for-Money Skankathon
A D&D Guide to the Democratic Candidates
Margaret Cho: Just Not Funny
More Margaret Cho Abuse
Margaret Cho: Still Not Funny
Iraqi Prisoner Claims He Was Raped... By Woman
Wonkette Announces "Morning Zoo" Format
John Kerry's "Plan" Causes Surrender of Moqtada al-Sadr's Militia
World Muslim Leaders Apologize for Nick Berg's Beheading
Michael Moore Goes on Lunchtime Manhattan Death-Spree
Milestone: Oliver Willis Posts 400th "Fake News Article" Referencing Britney Spears
Liberal Economists Rue a "New Decade of Greed"
Artificial Insouciance: Maureen Dowd's Word Processor Revolts Against Her Numbing Imbecility
Intelligence Officials Eye Blogs for Tips
They Done Found Us Out, Cletus: Intrepid Internet Detective Figures Out Our Master Plan
Shock: Josh Marshall Almost Mentions Sarin Discovery in Iraq
Leather-Clad Biker Freaks Terrorize Australian Town
When Clinton Was President, Torture Was Cool
What Wonkette Means When She Explains What Tina Brown Means
Wonkette's Stand-Up Act
Wankette HQ Gay-Rumors Du Jour
Here's What's Bugging Me: Goose and Slider
My Own Micah Wright Style Confession of Dishonesty
Outraged "Conservatives" React to the FMA
An On-Line Impression of Dennis Miller Having Sex with a Kodiak Bear
The Story the Rightwing Media Refuses to Report!
Our Lunch with David "Glengarry Glen Ross" Mamet
The House of Love: Paul Krugman
A Michael Moore Mystery (TM)
The Dowd-O-Matic!
Liberal Consistency and Other Myths
Kepler's Laws of Liberal Media Bias
John Kerry-- The Splunge! Candidate
"Divisive" Politics & "Attacks on Patriotism" (very long)
The Donkey ("The Raven" parody)
Powered by
Movable Type 2.64