The NFL Is Broken

I feel like there's a general rule with how I decide on topics for Confessions of a Sportscaster. There are the somewhat scheduled posts, either for the Death to the BCS Playoffs, Pigskin Pick 'Em contest, or Game Notes from North Central games. Then there's the unscheduled ones, where something happens and I feel compelled to write about it. It happened in September when the NFL couldn't figure out what the hell roughing the passer is. My most cited one is when Lance Easley and Golden Tate stole a win with their bullcrap (and make sure you see through The Ringer's lies; that play was not even remotely close to 50-50).

But Saints fans might be justified in thinking they got screwed over more than Green Bay did that fateful night in 2012. And Chiefs fans? They could serve as a catalyst for another rule change that's arguably just as important.

When "Roughing the Passer" Has Gone Too Far

Photo by Adam Wesley (USA TODAY Network)

I almost wrote something about this last week in the wake of the Packers getting another game stolen from them by poor officiating. Then it happened again this week, and now I can't hold back anymore.

To be clear, I've long been of the opinion that in most cases, officiating doesn't decide the outcome of games... with some exceptions, of course. And I'm not blaming the officiating for Green Bay's embarrassing loss to the Redskins yesterday. But I am blaming them for their farcical sense of justice. So in case you haven't seen the league's latest nonsense, the two forthcoming tweets sum it up pretty well.

Just to review … this was a penalty ... ~ JW (1/2) pic.twitter.com/1RQ5c7z0kA

— Wilde And Tausch (@WildeAndTausch) September 23, 2018

... but this was not. ~ JW pic.twitter.com/ESLvOtQkhY

— Wilde And Tausch (@WildeAndTausch) September 23, 2018

Like the complete and utter crap penalty on Clay Matthews' hit on Kirk Cousins the week before, I didn't see it in real time. But I was pissed as soon as I saw it. The Alex Smith flag I get more than I do the Cousins one; the Alex Smith takedown involved Matthews landing on Smith, and per the NFL's asinine new rule, it's the correct call. But it is a horrific rule. Combine that with a play on Rodgers that absolutely should have drawn a flag... and it's clear the NFL has no idea what it's doing.

I didn't play organized football, but when defensive players, other quarterbacks, and even former heads of NFL officiating think you've screwed this up, then you have 100 percent screwed this up. The conspiracy theorist inside my head wants the Packers to sue the league for deliberately targeting them with their nonsense, but the rational person in my head knows that's stupid. But I'm dumbfounded at this point. Short of teams refusing to take the field until this gets fixed, I don't know this problem gets resolved.

We talk about how the NFL is supposedly declining and arguably dying and the various causes that go into it. Cord cutting, people boycotting due to anthem protests, and now this nonsense... I'll let Pro Football Weekly's Hub Arkush take it home.

If the NFL continues to pretend last 2 Roughing calls on Clay Matthews aren't complete B.S., I'm just not sure how much longer people will keep watching? League is becoming a total joke and it's truly sad to watch.

— Hub Arkush (@Hub_Arkush) September 23, 2018

Bad Calls, Missed Opportunities, and Lawsuits

I haven't paid a ton of attention to high school football in years. Aurora Christian had a strong football program when I was in high school, and they made three state title games in the six years after I graduated, winning two of them. Logan has been on the roster of Aurora Central Catholic's football team for four years, and they made the playoffs three of his years. None of those trips resulted in deep runs, but it's not like ACC was a slouch by any stretch of the imagination. I also called some DVC football games during my tenure at WONC, including an overtime thriller between Naperville North and Neuqua Valley, as well as one of the classic Naperville North-Naperville Central battles that ended up coming down to a missed field goal as time expired that allowed Central to escape with a win.

I can appreciate good football, even at the high school level. But I've also been critical of the powers that be at many levels of the sport... okay, mainly at the NFL, and to a degree at the Cartel that allowed the BCS to carry out injustice for so long. But bad decisions can stretch down even to the prep level. And we saw that in action over the weekend.

A Tale of Four Officials

I touched on this briefly in my Game Notes from the Maryville game back in November. But in the wake of a contest in South Dakota from this past weekend, I need to revisit it. The time has come to tell a full story from the scorer's table. The following is a true story, but names and identities have been redacted from the story to protect the individuals involved.

So, come back with me to November 21st at Merner Fieldhouse in Naperville. The Cardinals are locked in a tight struggle with a ranked Maryville team, down 85-83 with under a minute to play. A stop gives the Cardinals a chance to tie or take the lead. Nearing 30 seconds left, the shot clock is winding down, and a Maryville player puts up a shot along the right baseline with about six seconds left on the shot clock. It hits back iron at about four seconds and bounces high in the air, ultimately being rebounded by another Maryville player. The shot clock had ticked down to two seconds before being reset, as is the rule for a shot that hits the rim. Then, inexplicably, we hear a whistle.

One official comes over to the table and is asking the shot clock operator why she reset the shot clock. She then proceeds to talk things over with her for a couple minutes, as I'm looking at some of the other people at the table in confusion. One guy and I are telling each other, "It hit the rim, it's supposed to be reset," before being told by the official to be quiet. So we turn back to each other quietly and continue to confirm to each other that yes, the shot did in fact hit the rim when the ref tells us again, "You guys, be quiet! I can hear you over here!" Apparently, the plain view of a couple people at the table seeing something that did not benefit the home team does not apply, and after about five total minutes of discussion, she comes over and tells us that basically, because the horn did not sound, there is no shot clock violation (never mind the fact that there wasn't one anyway because THE BALL HIT THE RIM) and Maryville gets the ball out of bounds. The Cardinals ultimately go on to lose 87-85, but not without some on-court drama and another stoppage by the same official checking with me and two other people at the table to see if we had any "definite knowledge" that the clock should read anything other than 0.5 seconds. Obviously, we didn't, and it's not a bad decision to come make sure with that little time left in a close game to make sure that everything is correct, but it's kind of crazy that the same official stopped the game again.

Now, this is an experienced official and someone who has worked North Central games before. However, this is a total failure to stop the game for five minutes over something that no one else saw, and when even the team that is hurt by her attempts to give our team the ball on a supposed shot clock violation knows that it would be the wrong call, you know you messed up. Fortunately, it didn't impact the outcome of a game. I wish the same could be said of that aforementioned game in South Dakota.

I had told this NCC-Maryville story to a coworker after it happened, and we've been joking about it on and off for the past month and a half. Over the weekend, he sent me a link to this Deadspin story about a D-II women's game between Winona State University and the University of Sioux Falls. A quick summary about what happened: Sioux Falls is down 58-56 with a few seconds left, but has the ball. They inbound it to Taylor Varsho, and she hits a go-ahead three with less than a second to play to give her team the lead. The clock operator fails to stop the clock in time (it should have been stopped at 0.4 seconds), and the buzzer sounds, leading to the team rushing the floor to celebrate. The officials get the players back to their benches quickly, and get together to discuss the play. Obviously, time needs to be put back on the clock, and from what I can tell, it was, but at the same time, the officials working the game called a technical foul on Sioux Falls for storming the court. Winona's shooter hit both free throws, and Sioux Falls went on to lose 60-59.

Needless to say, people were upset, and it made me happy to see that the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, which includes both schools, suspended the officials involved for four games as well as banning them from postseason action. They did not overturn the result of the game, which is smart because that opens up an entire other can of worms, but I have to hand it to the NSIC for making the officials accountable for their mistakes.

Now, maybe I'm making an apples and oranges comparison between these two stories. The NCC-Maryville story is the story of one official ignoring her partners and singlehandedly making a scene about nothing, while the latter is the result of three officials getting together, and after some possible tampering by Winona's coach, directly influencing the outcome of a game on a play that in no way deserves a technical foul. When the buzzer sounds, the natural reaction is to assume game over, but sometimes time gets put back on the clock following a presumed buzzer beater. Never have I seen a game where time gets put back on the clock and a celebrating team gets penalized for having a normal human reaction. It's a gross overstep and abuse of power, which I would argue the ref from my NCC-Maryville game had, only it didn't impact the game and wasn't quite as gross an overstep.

Look, officials have a hard job. I harp on bad calls in real time, but I recognize that an overwhelming majority of the time, it doesn't impact the outcome of the game. There are many times where I'm working a game, see a call go against the Cardinals, and I have to admit that the right call was made, or at a minimum, that I can see why they made the call they did. That said, I recognize that officials are all human and can and do make mistakes sometimes. You have to look past it as best as you can and, if the mistake impacts the outcome, file a complaint and hope the conference won't just sit on its hands.

When the one official in question returns to North Central at some point (and I believe she's scheduled to do at least one more yet this year), I'm going to do my best not to hold a ridiculous stoppage of play against her. After all, it's not like she directly cost us a game.

The Old, The Young, and The Gatekeepers

The NBA Playoffs are supposed to be a fun time when 16 basketball teams collide on a quest for immortality. To an extent, this is what we have so far. But at the same time, there have been some issues.

Everything is golden in the West. We had a pair of rusty teams playing on Sunday in the Spurs and Thunder, probably the two most complete teams left standing at this point. And despite their rust, they played a fantastic game that the Spurs were able to pull out 101-98. The greats find a way to pull those out. This is not a criticism of the Thunder, they are also a great team, but I think the Spurs are better. They have more depth and play basketball the right way. Plus even at his age, Tim Duncan is still a great player. And Gregg Popovich is Coach of the Year for a reason. I don't see the Thunder going away though; I don't think Durant and Westbrook will let their team go down without a fight.

Things seem a little murkier in the East. I watched much of the 2nd half of the Boston-Miami game last night. I'll get my gripes out of the way first, starting with the technicals. The only one I saw live was Rondo's, and that one was totally justified since he overreacted to getting tangled up with Shane Battier. Having seen the clip of the first half technicals (below), other than the Garnett delay of game, the officials should be ashamed of themselves.

There was also a play in the 4th where LeBron traveled leading up to a bank shot. I counted the steps; he took 3 before shooting off-balance. There were also occasions where both guys were whining and complaining about calls, Wade even getting closer to the official on his second foul (as opposed to Allen moving away). Of course, no whistles. Sham officiating.

Now, that being out of the way... Miami absolutely deserved to win last night. It was clear pretty much the whole second half. They played great team defense. They rebounded well. And most importantly, LeBron and Wade (despite the travel by LeBron and seemingly continued flops by Wade, plus the complaining by both) attacked the basket and looked impressive for the 4th straight game. LeBron is taking the step people thought he would in Cleveland, but never fully did. I personally don't think he can keep that pace up for anywhere between 7 and 13 more games, but if he can, the jokes will stop. As a Bulls fan and something of a basketball purist from having watched MJ play, I don't want LeBron to win a title. But if he raises his game and leads Miami to a title (not takes a major backseat to Wade), then I'll have nothing else to do but tip my cap to the most talented guy in the NBA for finally getting a ring. Until then, he still has a lot to prove, and has an incredibly tough road ahead of him.