View topic - THE MORE THINGS CHANGE, THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME...

[Crucible-steel-kid Profile]

This is a long post, but worth the reflection:

I've been lending a lot of thought to this lately, and it ties into a subject that has been getting much attention from Stiller Nation lately - namely the shitty job done by the ref corps. Here are a couple of recent links that recite the angst of those that disagree with botched calls:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=5633

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=5632

I don't recall which season it was, but the totally politically based call denied Pittsburgh a 5th Superbowl appearance by the Greatest Team to ever take the field. We were up against the Houston Oilers in a tight playoff game at 3 Rivers, and The Stillers did an onside kick in the waning minutes of the 4th Quarter. Of course the rules state that the ball has to travel 10 yards beyond the line of scrimmage before the kicking team may legitimately recover the ball.

The refs blew the call and ruled against Pittsburgh stating that the ball did not travel the required 10 yards before the recovery was made. I was watching the evening news on W.T.A.E. channel 4 when Myron Cope did a special report on that play. In the day when Beta Tapes were utilized in all major News Studios, Myron managed to slow the tape down, replay the action on disputed play, and stop the tape to CLEARLY INDICATE that the ball did in fact travel beyond the 10 yard line. In fact, it went 12 yards prior to being recovered.

The fact that we as a viewing audience could acknowledge this un-disputable fact has led me to believe that many officiating crews receive secret marching orders to specifically affect outcomes of games. The ref is standing right there looking at the football and the field marker numbers and he cannot see that it is beyond 10 yards? Are you kidding me?!?!?!?!?! Now granted, even if this call along with all of the other totally Fucked up calls made by "referees" had not taken place over the years, there is no wondering how those games might have turned out.

When are we going to get totally neutral refs that get their opinion out of the game, and focus on making the correct calls 99% of the time? Should we do some type of psychological profiling that indicates which squad which referee is loyal to? Just how do we start eliminating these types of situations that eventually diminish the quality of the product, namely the game? It's this type of bullshit that makes me wonder why I spend hours in front of the TV watching a fixed game...

Let us not forget the famous "POCKET PICTURE STUFFING INCIDENT" that Billy Boy Cowher did at the end of that game towards the end of his tenure. What did the Fucking League Do? "OH, YOU WERE RIGHT AND WE ARE SORRY...." Yeah, alot of fucking good that does to undo the damage.

[Pommah Profile]

Part-time refs aren't organized, as the players are. They then have to kowtow to the league. I'm sure each makes a pretty penny trading off their NFL-ref status. The league could clearly afford full-time refs, and it would improve their skills; but they would have less ability to bully them. The way it is now, they can push the refs in the direction they want them to go, and the individual refs are more than happy, because even though they don't make that much money, the league turns its head to the coin each can pull down on the side, trading on the status. Everybody's happy ('cept us fans).

I don't think they necessarily direct the refs to throw games, but let's face it, the refs can read the papers and feel the wind direction from the owners' groups.

The league has evidenced how it can manipulate things. Does anybody really believe the steroids/hormones are gone? Puhleeze, child. The league likes it. So the concussions and shit weren't that big a deal back when a "normal" lineman was like 240 pounds and your typical cornerback was 6' and 180 pounds. Now the refs have more of an arsenal to direct the game with "defenseless player" calls and non-calls. The league could eliminate steroids in a week if it wanted to. It doesn't.

And just look at how everybody rolled over on the Spygate evidence. It could have been absolutely clear or not whether the filming mattered; instead, we have to take the league's word for it that it didn't.

So I've expected for a long time that NFL refs were under sway. I think the NBA refs are as well. It's too easy in those leagues where the refs can insert themselves with "foul" calls and missed calls. There is too much economic value for the leagues NOT to do this. Sure, it's far better, raises the value of the league if you don't - but this just raises the value of each individual opportunity to cheat. Just ask any insider trader, you are on the up and up 99% of the time, that's what allows you to get away with the 1% when you aren't.

[Crucible-steel-kid Profile]

The league has evidenced how it can manipulate things. Does anybody really believe the steroids/hormones are gone? Puhleeze, child. The league likes it. So the concussions and shit weren't that big a deal back when a "normal" lineman was like 240 pounds and your typical cornerback was 6' and 180 pounds. Now the refs have more of an arsenal to direct the game with "defenseless player" calls and non-calls. The league could eliminate steroids in a week if it wanted to. It doesn't.

And just look at how everybody rolled over on the Spygate evidence. It could have been absolutely clear or not whether the filming mattered; instead, we have to take the league's word for it that it didn't.

So I've expected for a long time that NFL refs were under sway. I think the NBA refs are as well. It's too easy in those leagues where the refs can insert themselves with "foul" calls and missed calls. There is too much economic value for the leagues NOT to do this. Sure, it's far better, raises the value of the league if you don't - but this just raises the value of each individual opportunity to cheat. Just ask any insider trader, you are on the up and up 99% of the time, that's what allows you to get away with the 1% when you aren't.

I agree that the "spygate" deal should have gotten more criticism and investigation than what it got, may be a clear indicator to hide what was really going on.

I am a regular listener to Rush Limbaugh and he was commenting how many of the linemen are way over 300 pounds each. The punishment that their knees endure is unreal. I mean, look at some of the kids. Minors are developing in places that they shouldn't be developing at least late into their teens, and the food supply is blamed as the cause for this.

I was talking to a farmer about the growth hormones in the food supply and he said: "well, what are we going to do? If we don't maintain the rate of growth for the food supply in ratio to the population, people are going to simply have to eat less or starve!" Yet, I don't know what the answer is to the steroids problem is.

Still, when a player or a team is targeted for making a front office politically motivated statement it tarnishes the game for the worse. James Harrison is a textbook example of this.