Fuck me in the ass! Someone commented. This isn't quite as great as having a mailbag, but I'll take it!
So, allow me to address the comment (which came following the Steelers recap post):
Joshua said...
Lucky win for the steelers. Where was the mention of the phantom tripping penalty and the "defensive delay of game" that has basically never been called before in the history of the world...
October 28, 2009 5:42 PM
Well, Joshua, you are right. I did not mention the "phantom" tripping call or the defensive delay of game penalty. Now, I agree, defensive delay of game is almost never called, but what do you want me to say? Just because Jared Allen was having flashbacks while in a three-point stance, doesn't mean that he can start screaming before the play starts.
But while we're at it, let's be fair, and mention the bullshit pass interference call on Heath Miller on what would have been a Santonio Holmes TD pass in the first quarter. It was a perfectly legal play, and it isn't even clear that it happened while the ball was in the air. Oh, and did I mention that it was on the other side of the fucking field? So, not only was it not a penalty, but it didn't even affect the play, unlike the alleged "phantom" trip, where the o-lineman dove and then rolled, kicking his legs out as James Harrison jumped over him... Hm, I have no idea how the ref could have though something untoward was occurring...
We lost a TD there. Would have been 7-0. Vikes would never have had the lead, and would have been driving with a chance to tie on a TD late in the game. Really changed the whole dynamic, and was the only thing that kept them in it.
But let me address the bigger picture here. Bullshit calls happen in every game to one team or another. I can point to lots of them through the years ("running into the kicker" on Joe Nedney in the 2002 AFC divisional playoffs, the bullshit incomplete pass call on Troy Polamalu in the 2005 AFC divisional playoffs, which even the NFL came out and said was wrong, holding on Hartwig in the end zone in the Super Bowl, pass interefernce on Troy in Week 1 against the Titans, 1 holding call a game on the tackle covering James Harrison, when the whole world can see that the tackle has him by one arm around his neck all game long...).
I really can go on for much, much longer than this. But I won't. Why? Because teams that lose dwell on bad calls. They blame bad calls for their misfortune, and want to believe that their team would be good enough to succeed if a call had just gone the other way. I've been down that road. I can distinctly remember comments from guys like Kordell Stewart about how "the best team lost today". Horseshit. The best team on a particular day wins the football game. That's how you can tell who is good and who is bad - by adding up how many times a particular team was the better team on a given day.
Bad calls happen every game. Stuff gets missed. It happens. Brett Favre still fumbled, because he was being careless with the football. I know, shocking. And he still threw that INT, because, well, he just likes to force that football in there sometimes. There's a reason that you don't throw the football at a group of 5 players. It's because if something goes wrong, you're fucked.
So, I would hope that all the readers of the blog would learn this from a guy who didn't see a championship until he was 22, and now has 3 from his hometown teams in the past 4 years: don't ever complain about the reffing. Ultimately, it all works out, and if they lose, it's your own team's fault, and not the refs. The Vikes should never have really been in it, and they were lucky that the refs helped them out so early, so that there would be a game to watch in the first place.
Something I forgot to mention, but that actually did deserve a few words is how sick Adrian Peterson is. That dude has some Jim Brown in him - he just wants to hurt people. I don't really want to see him again, I can tell you that.
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