GOML – Antiquated NFL Replay Rules

I got on a roll with the other stuff that sucks this week. So, I’ll keep this short and to the point. Get the call right. Don’t put rules in place that prohibit you from getting the call right. The technology exists. Use it. All the time.

If both of a ball carriers arms and one of his knees hit the ground and you let him get up and run for an 81 yard touchdown, review it and get the call right, whether a coach threw a challenge flag or not (In fact, get rid of challenge flags, they are dumb). If a guy fumbles with over two minutes left, review it and get the call right, whether the other team is out of timeouts or not.

The idea that a coach has to challenge because the refs suck (good thing we got rid of those replacements, eh?) is ridiculous. Every play should be reviewed, as it is in the final two minutes and overtime. When the replay official sees that the refs missed one he can buzz down and the play can be reviewed. This way replay can be used to ensure that the correct call is made. Coaches can still burn timeouts when they want to give the replay a little bit longer to review something, as is done in college, but now they won’t have to build “What if the refs blow a call later” into their time management strategies (they clearly struggle with this enough on their own).

The idea of games being decided because refs miss calls and the technology to review these things is not allowed to be used sucks. This happening twice in one week is inexcusable. You have the technology. Use it. Get the call right.

This sucks too:

The NHL and NHLPA. I watched an NBA game last night. YOU DID THIS TO ME.

David Stern. The above mentioned game I watched was the San Antonio JV team vs. Danny Massaro’s heroes. The Spurs sent their stars home in an apparent attempt to just mail this one in, and the Commish was pissed. (Seriously, is it a job requirement to be universally hated if you are a sports commissioner? Can you name any profession that is less liked than Stern, Bettman, Selig, and Goodell? Even congressmen had to get elected at some point.) He promised substantial sanctions or whatever sanctimonious B.S. on a team that was leading through much of the 4^th quarter and only ended up losing by 5. Stern, like Selig, has made it clear that his only interests are on the bottom line, and the bottom line is helped most when star players are in big cities and prospering.

AOL. Are you kidding me? First, you publish this garbage about Colin Kaepernick’s tattoos. Then when you take heat for publishing an article dripping with racism, you simply add “David Whitley’s opinion is not reflective of the opinion of AOL, Inc.” to the bottom. Not only did somebody read that crap and decide it was worthy of publishing, but then they don’t even have the backbone to stand behind their writer. David Whitley is a dolt, and the fact that AOL is paying him to write this garbage while I’m wasting my talent on The CalfMuscle for free is a crying shame.

The NCAA. While a lot is being made of Wisconsin finishing 3^rd in the B1G Leaders Division and still ending up in the title game thanks to the ineligibility of the two teams ahead of them (Ohio State and Penn State), Nobody is talking about Georgia Tech being in the same situation. Because of North Carolina’s African American Studies Program and Miami learning from Ohio State’s mistake (take the bowl ban now, not when you’re 12-0), 6-6 Georgia Tech is set to get slaughtered by Florida State in the ACC championship game. That loss will cause Tech to slide below .500 and no longer be bowl eligible. Luckily for them, the NCAA has stepped in and granted them a waiver to remain eligible at 6-7 (before the game, that has to inspire confidence), in spite of the facts that there are already 70 bowl eligible teams (with the possibility of 2 more [Pitt and UConn]) for the 35 bowls AND there are guidelines in place for just this sort of thing. Because you know, the NCAA cares about student athletes, unless of course, they are from Central Michigan. Why do they even have guidelines? Why not just say “we make this shit up as we go along”?

The Pittsburgh Pirates. Listen, Russell Martin is probably worth about $8.5M/year, and 2 years is probably a good term for a 30 year old catcher. But when you are on a budget, and “a lot of really good baseball people in the industry” believe that you need to address pitching depth issues, throwing a Pirates record free agent contract at a catcher (even if he was Johnny-freaking-Bench) and non-tendering Jeff Karstens leaves me scratching my head (at least sign and trade, have you learned nothing from when you let Capps walk?). I’m not saying that re-upping Karstens would have solved the Bucs pitching issues. I’m not even saying that the $8.5M could have been better spent on a free agent pitcher necessarily. What I am saying is this management team does not seem to have any sort of plan to take the next step. It is just year after year of plugging holes with aging free agents and “waiting until next year” with no end in sight.

Jacksonville Jaguars Marketing Team. The Jag Rag?!? I wouldn’t think this is the way to lure Tim Tebow, but then again he must… no I can’t finish this joke.

Craig James. This guy is such a self-absorbed douche; I would have figured he’d be a lock for a career in politics. He tried; I was wrong. After receiving at an impressive 4% of votes, James’ campaign owes people money. Don’t worry though; the campaign did manage to pay James back $450,000 before any of its other creditors saw a dime. Scumbag.

NFL Adderall Addicts. I was planning to call this out, but John beat me to the punch. Good read.

White House Petitions about sports. Seriously, stop. Just stop. Barack Obama is not going to fire Jerry Jones. He is not going to end the NHL Lockout. Shit, he’s got enough on his plate trying to figure out this Financial Cliff thing. Enough already. Stop with the useless petitions, they annoy me.

The Big East. Any football/basketball program worthy of a big conference has either already left or is currently looking to leave, and the programs that have replaced them don’t inspire much any confidence. Seriously this conference is neither big nor is it east. In a land where the Big 10 has 14 teams and the Big 12 has 10 teams, the Big East is still the most inappropriately named Conference. Just start calling yourselves Conference USA and get it over with. Then you can hire Craig James to be your commissioner, he’s hated enough that it just might work. Get off my lawn.