The zebra who wants the flag picked up probably has a vested interest in the over.
I remember watching College Gameday, probably 10 or 15 years ago, when Lee Corso was on a good rant about how the refs can affect the momentum and hence the outcome of a game. He said on basically any given play a ref can throw the flag and say “Holding. offense, blah blah blah….” at any given point in a game and take a big play off the board or push a team back a bit and thus be a momentum killer for that team. I think that he was inferring that a holding call can be real subjective and a lot of the calls are in the “gray” area as far as interpretation goes. Corso also made the point that certain crews tended to be a bit more flag happy than others perhaps a bit unhappy with a bush call he observed.
However, if you stretch Corso’s logic a bit, it can also be construed that a ref can swing a game in favor of one team for many purposes such as ensuring a certain team wins for the sake of enhancing ratings in future regular season, conference title, bowl and playoff matchups or perhaps to even make certain bettors happy by covering a number….. Point shaving has happened in NCAA hoops, so why not on the grid-iron for either the NCAA or NFL?
Spectator sports should be considered “entertainment”. The gambling and such should be secondary. In the case of a subjective call, where the outcome (who wins) will be unaffected, let them play.
If sitting on the defense is a penalty, I wonder what standing on them should bring. On every short yardage play, my opponent was falling to a hands & knees position at the snap of the ball. Its next to impossible to move a man from that position; so I jumped up on his back (with large cleats). I guess the ref didn’t notice the screaming, as I didn’t get penalized, and he didn’t try it again.
As a former football official, I can tell you what we do say a) Well, if buddy hadn’t mugged the corner, the back would have been tackled for a loss, orb) Damn, if 86 hadn’t done something stupid, that would have counted. Coach is gonna flip when he sees the video.
We have compassion – but it just doesn’t factor into what we call.
All I have to say about football officiating is that the only people that get screwed harder than the professionals at a brothel on Saturday nights is the University of Kentucky football team when they’re playing one of the old 6 SEC powers. Lose by 3 when the refs blew a blatantly obvious face mask call, then flagged the coach for pointing out the missed call, then finished it off by not calling a blatant pass interference on the 4th down play that would have been well within FG range if they’d called the face mask and not screwed us further by penalizing the coach. Been that way for my entire 46-year-old life. SEC officiating is the worst anywhere.
Topcat05 Premium Member almost 3 years ago
Some good points and counterpoints.
TampaFanatic1 almost 3 years ago
The zebra who wants the flag picked up probably has a vested interest in the over.
I remember watching College Gameday, probably 10 or 15 years ago, when Lee Corso was on a good rant about how the refs can affect the momentum and hence the outcome of a game. He said on basically any given play a ref can throw the flag and say “Holding. offense, blah blah blah….” at any given point in a game and take a big play off the board or push a team back a bit and thus be a momentum killer for that team. I think that he was inferring that a holding call can be real subjective and a lot of the calls are in the “gray” area as far as interpretation goes. Corso also made the point that certain crews tended to be a bit more flag happy than others perhaps a bit unhappy with a bush call he observed.
However, if you stretch Corso’s logic a bit, it can also be construed that a ref can swing a game in favor of one team for many purposes such as ensuring a certain team wins for the sake of enhancing ratings in future regular season, conference title, bowl and playoff matchups or perhaps to even make certain bettors happy by covering a number….. Point shaving has happened in NCAA hoops, so why not on the grid-iron for either the NCAA or NFL?
Ellis97 almost 3 years ago
Nobody cares about the spirit of the game. All they care about is if the team they bet on wins.
Lotus almost 3 years ago
And candlesticks make a nice wedding present.
P51Strega almost 3 years ago
Spectator sports should be considered “entertainment”. The gambling and such should be secondary. In the case of a subjective call, where the outcome (who wins) will be unaffected, let them play.
RobinHood almost 3 years ago
As long as Sean Payton has a job in the NFL, let’s not talk about integrity.
Polsixe almost 3 years ago
Is that how the Jets scored twice in the 4th Q Thursday night?
Geophyzz almost 3 years ago
If sitting on the defense is a penalty, I wonder what standing on them should bring. On every short yardage play, my opponent was falling to a hands & knees position at the snap of the ball. Its next to impossible to move a man from that position; so I jumped up on his back (with large cleats). I guess the ref didn’t notice the screaming, as I didn’t get penalized, and he didn’t try it again.
vernfaulkner almost 3 years ago
As a former football official, I can tell you what we do say a) Well, if buddy hadn’t mugged the corner, the back would have been tackled for a loss, orb) Damn, if 86 hadn’t done something stupid, that would have counted. Coach is gonna flip when he sees the video.
We have compassion – but it just doesn’t factor into what we call.
Bocephus almost 3 years ago
Give the losers the score.
wjbillthompson almost 3 years ago
NFL integrity?? Now that is a joke.
AndrewSihler almost 3 years ago
This is very funny.
moondog42 Premium Member almost 3 years ago
Come on. The refs will just blow a different call later to keep things equal.
smartman almost 3 years ago
All I have to say about football officiating is that the only people that get screwed harder than the professionals at a brothel on Saturday nights is the University of Kentucky football team when they’re playing one of the old 6 SEC powers. Lose by 3 when the refs blew a blatantly obvious face mask call, then flagged the coach for pointing out the missed call, then finished it off by not calling a blatant pass interference on the 4th down play that would have been well within FG range if they’d called the face mask and not screwed us further by penalizing the coach. Been that way for my entire 46-year-old life. SEC officiating is the worst anywhere.
Sailor46 USN 65-95 almost 3 years ago
It’s all political commentary and money.
carlsonbob almost 3 years ago
The NFL officiating is moving much closer to the integrity of the NBA…which is only slightly better than the WWE.