Tag: Pro football

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Sports: Officiating, Part II

In the last blog, I wrote about the way officials are paid, trained and reviewed. This whole system needs to be improved if officiating is ever going to get better. Instant replay, which was supposed to correct bad calls has been nothing short of a disaster and needs to be revamped and re-defined. All the leagues need to do something, and then each league needs to do something more specific. All professional leagues need to do more performance reviews. The purpose of performance reviews is to improve the employee’s performance. Every corporation does this. A performance review is meant to give constructive criticism and praise to each employee, which should help each employee to do a better job. With all the video technology today, this should be a snap for professional sports to do. Apparently, the NBA is starting such a program and the other sport leagues should quickly follow. This should lead to weeding out the bad officials. If an official is not making any progress, then he should be demoted to a lower league if possible or dismissed from his job. No one should have the job security of professional officials. All officials should continue some kind of training for their craft a least a couple times of month. They need to be schooled on some of the tougher and more judgmental calls in their respective leagues. There is plenty of time to do this during the season in all the sports. Now let’s look at each individual sport.

Hockey needs to get rid of the philosophy of the so called make up call. The idea that penalties need to be pretty much equal during a game is just ridiculous. That mentality makes the game seem so weird. I know it has been going on forever but if the game ever wants to be taken seriously, it needs to end that, along with fighting. Pro football needs to get full time officials. If this means paying them even more, so be it. During the week the officials can review film, see where they made mistakes, and do practice scrimmages or attend other team’s practices to see plays and call penalties. There are more officials on the field in football, because it is difficult to see what is going on when there are 22 players running around trying to do mayhem on each other. They just need to be involved in the game full time. Baseball needs to set up a better review process, much like the NBA is starting to do. I think one of the excuses for Major League Umpires, about reviewing them, is that they have the longer schedule and season. They do get a day off, just like players. The review process can take place during the afternoon of a night game. These processes do not take lot of time if they are done frequently, around 2 times per month. I was going to mention the same thing concerning the NBA but that seems to be taking place as I am typing.

Then there is instant replay. An entire blog could be devoted to instant replay the way this has been botched by professional sports. It seemed like such a simple concept. Make sure we got the calls right. This should not have been a big deal. The first problem is the basic concept of replay got lost in the shuffle. It was meant to reverse obvious botched calls. It was not meant to change things that could not be seen with the naked eye. It was not meant to call a runner out at second because for .1 of a sec. he was 1 inch off the bag. It was not meant to re-spot a ball 3 inches one way or the other. It was not meant to change a fumble call when a runner lost the ball while is knee was 1 inch from the ground. You get the picture. There are a lot of ego trips going on here. We need to get back to the simple reason replay was introduced to the game. There would be two things that can help this. One, end the process that coaches and managers can challenge a call. First of all, in football the coaches are wrong about 60% of the time and on the baseball side about 50% of the time. That means the game is stopped unnecessarily over 50% of the time. All replay calls should be initiated by the replay official. If a call is wrong, it is wrong. Here is a big tip for all replay officials about what makes a call wrong. If you have to look at the replay more than twice, then the call is not wrong. The NFL is already doing this for a lot of plays. All turnovers, touchdowns, and plays with less than 2 minutes to go in the half or game can only be reviewed and initiated by the replay official. Baseball is particularly bad when it comes to managers initiating plays to review. It takes forever and slows down an already slow game. Secondly you need to have better communication between the replay official and the on field official. One solution for football, would be to have the replay official in a booth, right on the field. If he thought a play should be reviewed, then a light could go on that would be seen on top of the roof. Between electronic communication and the light, the ref should know right away if the play needs a review. The other thing in football is why does the on-field official have to look at the replay. Just another thing that slows down the game. Let the replay official make the call, tell the ref and let the game continue. One final thing about replay. The practice of the putting the replay up on the video screen at the stadium or arena should stop. Those screens are not that clear. All it does is to incite the fans and add an unneeded stressor on the replay official’s call. Replay should be part of the game, but it needs to get back to basics and be run much more smoothly, so the monster it has become can be vanquished.

Now see, that wasn’t hard was it. If these changes are made to way officials are handled and the way instant replay is done, then there will be less bad calls and the game will move along at the pace that it should. What sports needs to do, is to make sure that the official’s incompetence does not determine who wins a big game and a championship. It would be nice to see that just luck and team incompetence are the true keys to winning a championship. I do not expect to see this in my lifetime.

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Sports: Wild and Crazy

Well, I thought my next sports blog would be about the horrible officiating that is going on in sports today, and what are some of the solutions. However, it has been a wild and crazy week in sports, both on and off the field. In baseball, the Texas Rangers and Detroit Tigers have become major players in the free agent market, while the Yankees and Dodgers just sit on their hands. Two major college football programs had their football coaches leave within just a few days of each other. The college football playoffs came into focus this week with the committee possibly having a rough session this Sunday. Who cares what they say tonight? Pro football is showing what mediocrity is all about. Finally, at 12 midnight tonight baseball may have a lockout. A lot of head shaking things, going on right now, in the world of sports.

Let’s take a look at baseball first, since they may have the first work stoppage since 1994. The free agent market is in a frenzy, since it is very possible all signings and deals, will be frozen, if there is a lockout. The free agent activity is not surprising, but what is surprising, is who, and who is not participating. The Yankees and Dodgers, the two richest teams out there, are laying low at this point, and have not had any significant signings. They may be thinking, that a new agreement may be more harmful to them than other teams, so they are taking a wait see attitude, until the new agreement is made. It may not be made tonight, but it will be made. There is no sense going through all the issues, but it will be interesting to see how many changes there will really be. The possibilities include, expanded playoffs, lowering the luxury tax, establishing a minimal payroll, eligibility for free agency, universal DH, and where extra money is being distributed, among other things. Obviously, not all teams were thinking like the Dodgers and the Yankees. The Mets were heavy into free agent signings, but that was not surprising. However, the Texas Rangers signed Corey Seager and Marcus Semien for over 500 million dollars, and the Detroit Tigers signed Javier Baez for 6 years and 145 million. Wow! Wonder how that is going to turn out? Meanwhile, if there is a lockout, there are lots of free agents, that are going to have to wait for their big pay day. Even though I think there probably will be a lock out, I do not think it will be a long one. It should be over by the first of the year. Baseball is as financially sound as it has ever been, and it would be hard to believe that either side would take the risk of a long labor dispute. You never know though, each side has a general dislike of one another, and you don’t know how petty these men can be. A strike by millionaires is always interesting.

In the last few days both Oklahoma and Notre Dame fired their head coaches. That’s what Notre Dame and Oklahoma wish they could say. They have said that many times in the past. No, this time the head coaches left on their own. There is no question, Brian Kelly leaving Notre Dame for LSU is the bigger shocker of the two. Let’s face it, nobody leaves Notre Dame, unless they are quitting coaching. I am sure the real reason will never be known, but up to a point, it has to do something with the pressure of being the head coach of Notre Dame. Not that there is not pressure in any big-time college head coaching job, but Notre Dame is definitely unique. No matter how you slice it, even though Kelly is making more money, the LSU job is a less prestigious job. Lincoln Riley leaving Oklahoma is not quite as shocking, and you would say his move is at least unilateral. He is taking over a program with lots of problems, and not a great track record over the last 5 years. Maybe the move to the SEC has him thinking, that Oklahoma will not do all that well, but the move is not until 2025. For whatever reason, two major college football powers lost their head coaches, and they could do nothing about it. What’s even worse for Notre Dame, is they could make the College Football Playoffs without their current head coach. This Sunday the decision will be made by the buffoons of the committee to pick the final four teams for the College Football Playoff. This committee has always been fortunate in the past. When the 4th pick has been controversial, the 4th pick has gone on to win the National Title. The conference Championship games have usually gone as predicted. Wouldn’t it be nice to see total chaos this coming weekend, and to see the committee really have to make some hard decisions, to come up with the four teams. All I can say is, I will really be rooting for the underdog this weekend, and can’t wait for Sunday. This would be a great scenario. Georgia, Iowa, Utah, Houston, and Baylor all win. Do you think that would move up expanded playoffs? Who’s in?

Then there is the NFL. Could it be any worse? Let me count the ways. In the NFC there are only 6 teams above .500. In the AFC no team has won more than 8 games. This past weekend there were 15 games and in 5 of them no team scored more than 21 points. The king of parody Pete Rozelle must be smiling down from above on this NFL season. In this case, parody can be synonymous with mediocrity. The NFL has always been this way to some degree. There have been teams make the playoffs with below .500 records or just at .500. But this year the league is turning it into an art form. Every team can beat any other team every week with the exciting score of 17 to 15. Well almost every team, there is the Detroit Lions, who lost another yawner 16-14 on Thanksgiving Day. Pro football has deteriorated into a comedy of errors. False start and holding is the most used words on any Pro Football telecast. That’s the hard part of football, everybody has to be on the same page. It is truly a team sport. It seems to rarely happen in Pro ball any more. Players run one way, the quarterback thinks he is stopping. When a team scores it is because of blown coverage. Thank God, or nobody would be scoring at all. The funny thing is, I don’t see any solution to this problem of boring football. It seems like it is just too ingrained in the sport. The players are mediocre, the officials are mediocre, and the coaches are mediocre. The best thing the NFL could do is go on strike. The only good thing I see in this, the NFL could be a cure for insomnia. A draft, salary cap, and a schedule based on the previous season record, the perfect socialistic league, SFL. No wonder they are thinking of playing more games in Europe.

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Sports: The Division Playoffs

I watched all four division playoff games this weekend, for the first time, in about 20 years. This is what a pandemic can do to you. Normally, I would watch parts of a particular game, or the ending, if it looked like it might be close. Professional football is not what it use to be, and the game is really not all that exciting. We are down to the final four, with the Green Bay Packers hosting the Tampa Bay Bucs, and the Buffalo Bills, taking on the defending champs, Kansas City Chiefs, in Kansas City. I am going to give a brief synopsis of each game, because that is all they deserve, and then just some random thoughts, as it relates to the Steelers, and TV coverage in general. The first game of the weekend was Green Bay beating the L. A. Rams. By far, the most impressive unit of the weekend, was the Green Bay offense. But even as impressive as the Packers were, the Rams were still in the game trailing 25-18, going into the 4th quarter. The Packers got a great break on a fumble, that went right back to Aaron Rodgers, and then a few plays later, hit a 58 yard bomb, to wrap up the game. Then came Buffalo and Baltimore, or should I say, Bufoonalo and Butchimore. Between dropped balls, missed field goals, penalties, and general ineptitude, this game was laughable. The only good sequence of plays for both teams, came at the start of the second half, with Buffalo driving down, and scoring a touchdown, and then Baltimore doing the same thing, until they got inside the 10 yard line. That is when Buffalo intercepted a horrible pass from Lamar Jackson and returned it 101 yards for a touchdown and for this game, an overwhelming lead of 17 to 3. The next day started with Cleveland playing Kansas City. Even though Kansas City won by only 5 points, 22-17, and Kansas City lost their quarterback to a concussion, you never really thought the Chiefs were going to lose. Another game that featured a lot of dropped balls, and that ill-advised attempted stretch across the goal by the Cleveland receiver, which resulted in a touchback and Kansas City’s ball on the 20 yard line. There were some gutsy fourth down calls, but other than that another sleeper. Then, New Orleans decided to gift wrap a game for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Three turnovers all leading to touchdowns for the Buccaneers, with one touchdown drive being 3 yards. Another game where there were many mistakes, by both teams. Buffalo and Tampa Bay, will have to elevate their games, if they want to be competitive next week.

There were 5 quarterbacks over the age of 35, in the playoffs. Going from the youngest to the oldest, they were Aaron Rodgers 37, Ben Roethlisberger 38, Phillip Rivers 39, Drew Brees 42, and Tom Brady 43. There is no question that Ben plays like he is the oldest. My suggestion would be to shed the weight, and get back to playing the game. Both Brees and Brady made successful quarterback sneaks. Aaron Rodgers looks very mobile in the pocket and at times will pick up good gains running the football . Brees seems to have lost some arm strength but seems to move pretty well. Brady looks the same as ever. Ben, you need to recapture that zest to play the game. It was ironic to see so many 4th down chances taken in the Cleveland-Kansas City game, after Pittsburgh punted the ball away last week. The Browns went for it on 4th down, with more time on the clock, and deeper in their own territory. It’s called going after the win, Mike Tomlin. The coverage of the games was not too bad, but it did have it’s humorous moments. Tony Romo saying there is no way they are going to snap the ball, when the Chiefs snapped the ball and won the game. Troy Aikman still does not like any officiating calls and is always quick to point it out. But my favorite “analysis” was during the Green Bay game. There were two plays that were exactly the same thing but because the result was different there was a different analysis for each play. Aaron Rodgers was under pressure from the L.A. defense, scrambled around, threw slightly behind the receiver, the ball went off his hands for an incompletion and the L. A. defense was giving so much credit for “disrupting the play”. Then later in the game the exact same scenario happen. This time Rodgers scrambled, again threw the ball slightly behind the receiver, but this time the receiver caught the ball. The defense got no credit and it was all Rodgers. There is no question that dropped balls are pretty much ignored by the announcers of the game. They do mention them, of course, during the play itself, but the significance of them is quickly forgotten. I think that they want people to forget about some of the poor quality of play in the NFL. All networks are too busy trying to show replays and many times do not get back to the action until right when the ball is snapped and sometimes just after. This can be very annoying. Not quite as annoying as conducting interviews, while the game is going on. That has cut down, thanks to Covid. Next week will be the Championship Games, and it’s a good bet we won’t see any, that will be considered a classic.