So the Bombers win. Fun game to watch and Keith Stokes' third-quarter TD was one of the most fun plays I've watched in a long long time. Just the sheer "this shouldn't still be going on but it is" of the play mixed with the increasing "how is he going to keep going" and then the capped off with the "drag the whole damn team with you" feeling made it fantastic.
Charles Roberts running in from 21 yards out with 40 seconds left to play was straight out of Madden. This doesn't happen in real life, professional sports. A team is getting boot stomped across the field, the game is over, the winning team is running out the clock and then, because of the other team's ineptness, one of the plays goes for a major. I mean it, right out of Madden. Only I would have called that play and I would have been looking to add insult to injury.
A couple of other notes...
• Was I the only one that was just a bit creeped out by Terrell Owens' press conference in his front yard. Ironically I wasn't disturbed by the fact TO would do such a narcissistic thing, but more that every media outlet in Philly was there while he worked out and were counting his sit-ups while asking him about his situation with the Eagles. I'm wondering if any of the reporters asked him out after.
• One more note on TO. Have to love Brad Childress, the Eagles OC, for his response to Owens flipping out on Childress because he would greet him by saying "hey Terrell". Childress' quote was akin to "if saying something like 'how's it going' is a bad thing I'm on the wrong planet because I must have done that about 200,000 to 300,000 times since I've been here.'
• This guy had an unfortunate day.
• Just for the heck of it: Ron Ockimy.
• The CFL refs (yes, we know, we know) are awful. But on the weekly "Here's the Call They Blew This Week" section, the Ticats fumble around midfield that was blown dead a millisecond after the ball hit the turf. The justice came, though, the Cats missed a FG, Stokes returned it to midfield and the Bombers scored a TD. Next, Stokes' plunge in the fourth quarter towards the goaline. It was debatable if he actually got into the endzone, that's how close it was, but then the refs go and spot it at the two-yard line, just a random spot. Idiots.
• Two things happening this month that I will be planning my life around: Kanye West's new album is dropping at the end of the month and 40-Year-Old Virgin is due out as well.
Monday, August 15, 2005
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4 comments:
Ballspotting
Can CFL refs/linesmen/umpires be so incompetant? That's obviously not a fair comment since they usually get most of their calls correct. Problem is, they screw up some fairly blatant, no-brainer type calls, most notably ball placements. Case in point (and part of the "Here's the call they blew this week"), Jason Armstead makes a catch by the sidelines on man coverage. He does a couple of hip shakes, fakes left then right and has his defender grab one leg. It looks like he isn't going anywhere but since there's no one with 20 yards, he literally drags this guy a further 4-5 yards before the rest of the defensive team pile on. The linesmen, however, rule him down at the original point of being wrapped around his leg. In this case 3 yards short of the first down! He was clearly not down and if he would have shorn himself from his captor, could have made a pretty big play. But no. Play was dead. Unreal. There can't be an "in the grasp" rule can there? Ho hum, another game with generally efficient officiating ... with the standard knucklehead call(s). I'm not suggesting I could do better than these guys. They obviously have training and experience. But that's my point. They SHOULDN'T be messing up calls and ball spots like that.
Suggestion: A 'top ten' list of blown CFL calls. I'll suggest the 1996 Grey Cup: Doug Flutie's "fumble" that was ruled dead. That was one mighty quick whistle. What the heck, though. It only cost Edmonton the Grey Cup.
JG are you honestly suggesting that refs in the CFL get it right most of the time? They don't. Your example is just one of a ton each week, small and large, that affect games and make our league look two-bit.
Adding to your top ten, how about Anthony Calvillo's fumble at the goalline of the East Final in 2003 that wasn't ruled a fumble. It only cost the Argos (even though I hate them) a spot in the Grey Cup. Meh.
Sean Millington's phantom touchdown at Winnipeg Stadium a few years back wouldn't be among the most significant but it was one of my more irate moments seeing as how a guy who had no business making the call came in and signalled on something he could not have possibly sesen and nullified a three-down stand on the goaline for the Blue.
Well, I wouldn't go so far as to say they get "most" calls wrong. No league, professional or not, would not stand for that. What I'm suggesting is that, generally speaking, the bulk of the calls made are fine (holding, offside/procedure, illegal blocks, etc). Some are missed and some are subjective (roughing the passer to one referee is another's "he couldn't get out of the way"). What I would agree is that the number of questionable calls (or non-calls) is unacceptably high. But to say "most"? I don't know. Your rhetoric may be overtaking your reason. One area where it IS unacceptable is the Millington example you gave. I saw at least two touchdowns last year (no, I don't watch as many games as I should) where "breaking the plane of the goal line" included half a helmet, with the ball tucked securely in the player's chest ... which was around the 1 yard line. Now that is frustrating. And what IS the training for officials? Surely this can't be their full-time jobs?
It's not their full-time jobs and the training is relatively non-existent. The CFL relies on a ref's experience as a junior or CIS referee to be his 'training'. My feeling is that there's no culpability for a ref. In the NFL you're evaluated constantly and, because there's many others waiting to take your place, messing up mean's your job. In the CFL Dave Yule and Jake Ireland can continue to be referred to as competent veterans when you couldn't nearly put them in the same regard as, say, the NFL's Ed Hochule or Johnny Greer.
What percentage of calls, whether it's ball spotting, catches, fumbles, penalties, whatever, do we believe are NOT being done properly? I'm going upwards of 60-65 per cent in any given game.
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