Tuesday, September 25, 2012

I'm at a loss for words...

Not really... I have many words I'd like to use, but we do try and keep this a "family-ready" sort of site.

Sunday's NFL games and the officiating that went with them brought to new heights the questions and concerns about what the replacement officials are doing to football in general.  Then came the Monday Night Game...

I am an unabashed Packer fan, I admit.  I cannot deny that I want to see them win.  However, Seattle's QB Russell Wilson has no bigger fan then me, either.  I was delighted that these two teams, one with the absolute WORST defense in football only last year and the other routinely ignored and ridiculed for being "sub-par" in light of the rest of the NFC West division (mainly SF and AZ), put up what I'd have to say was the best defensive game I've seen in many years.

It was a great game, hardly diminished by the bad (and I mean BAD) officiating all through the effort... right until the last 8 seconds of the game.

Now, I know you are ALL going to assume that I am sore because Green Bay lost.  You are wrong.  I am sore because the integrity of the game of football was tarnished, severely.  What happened on that last desperation play not only took a win from the Packers, but it diminished and belittled the effort of the entire Seattle Seahawk's organization, who put forth one of the most monumental efforts in decades.  They not only stopped Aaron Rodgers from scoring a touchdown (no easy task there), they sacked him 9 times in the game (officially, that is... I'm really only counting 8) with a four-man rush!  For as long as they keep records, those players will have this game, which should be one celebrated as a real, lasting achievement, be over-shadowed by the end-of-game call (multiple calls, actually) that spoiled an otherwise epic effort.

League Commissioner Roger Goodell has made it his mission to make the NFL the unquestionable pinnacle of athletic excellence, and anything or anyone that puts that mission at risk, be it bounties or PEDs or criminal activity by the players outside the game, is attacked by him like it was the Black Plague returned... yet he seems content to stand by and watch the game's integrity, and the subsequent efforts of all the players and coaches within the game, be systematically destroyed by the inept and incompetent officiating during the games... of which, each Team only has 16 a year, so each and every one counts for far more than the average fan can imagine.  19% of this year's games have already slipped by, and the bad officiating has effected nearly all of them... none more so than the two teams last night.

Yes, my Packers got robbed last night... but so did Russell Wilson and the Seahawks.  That is a crying shame, and that shame rests squarely on the shoulders of the man who has promised to keep football "pure"... Roger Goodell.  Shame on you, Mr. Goodell.

2 comments:

F. Ryan said...

I saw it. The most astonishing part(s) to me were, 1) the visual imagery of two refs, standing side by side, rendering two opposite calls simultaneously in that end zone. And 2) the instant replay guys are NOT on strike, they're under a different collective bargaining agreement. If every touchdown is automatically reviewed, & that call is not/cannot be reversed, then what is the point of instant review?

Bad, bad stuff. And if you break down the difference of where the two sides are at, it comes out to be $100,000 per team, per game. They pay their back up Guards more than that.

F. Ryan said...

Btw, several days ago I responded to your Reaganomics/Romney questions in the comment section (of the last post on the topic).