Well, first off, congrats to HALFTAG!!!
It must have given him mixed feelings, rooting against the Packers... And he probably didn't want to win it like this, but he won it fair and square.
Halftag has to give me half his winnings, because he's a new guy. didn't I explain that before?? I guess I should have. Sorry, my bad.
(Kidding...)
Just saw this story:
LAS VEGAS (AP) -- A Las Vegas casino took an unusual step Wednesday and offered refunds to gamblers who lost money when the Seattle Seahawks beat the Green Bay Packers on a controversial touchdown at the end of Monday night's game.
Derek Stevens, owner The D Las Vegas, seized on the attention being paid to the much-derided decision by replacement officials handling the NFL game and became the only casino in Las Vegas to offer refunds.
"I know exactly how it would feel if I was laying the number and I saw what happened," Stevens said. He declared himself "disgusted" with the ruling and said he just couldn't accept the outcome.
I'm back. You may be more familiar with Fitzgerald's Casino in Las Vegas. Which is now "The D", undergoing remodeling by the new owners.
Cheerleader Update:
The Eagles, and especially Mike Vick, are turning the ball over a lot. The Eagles cheerleaders will be well rested.
Andy Reid gave Vick the dreaded vote of confidence Monday, declaring that "Michael Vick is our quarterback." Expect to see Nick Foles in a couple of weeks...
Well, I've been reading your emails... Thanks for those, by the way. How will I defend the Refs this week, and the like....
If you re-read the last post, you will see that I was not defending these replacement referees. No. I was merely pointing out that the "real" Officials were never perfect either. Raider fans haven't forgotten about the Tuck Rule call... those were "real" officials... Look, I love Tom Brady, it's no secret... But that call was wrong.
But it didn't close the game, either. Adam Vinatieri still had to make a long field goal through a driving snowstorm... The linemen on that play claimed you could not see the goal posts at all, he was just kicking blindly into a blizzard...
Now, Patriot Fans and Packer fans have some legitimate beefs, after last weekend. Tru Dat. No argument. And if anything, I'm particularly disturbed by how they're getting worse each passing week. That's troubling... these officials are not good. I never said they were.
This Packer game is particularly aggregious, since it literally decided the game. What are the odds that the only people in the nation who watched the replay and didn't see what happened were actually the officials in the game?? It's quite unbelievable.
Actually, some football theorists have debated for years, under what circumstances it might be appropriate for the league to overturn the result of a game.
(And why were they doing that, pray tell?? Because the regular officials screw up all the time!!! That's my point!)
This Packer game actually fits the bill for the most lucid of cases. Time expiring, last play of the game, action taking place on a scoring play, the score actually deciding the game one way or another. Literally the last play of the game. In that case, it would probably be appropriate, given the video evidence, for the league to overturn the call and declare the Packers the winners.
Not that they're going to, clearly they won't, but, it does represent the "theoretical" perfect scenario in which one might expect the league to overturn the result, to protect the integrity of the sport as a whole.... It rarely happens like that. It's an interesting "pure" example of a game that deserved to be overturned.
Really, Aaron Rodgers is right. I heard him tonight on Sportscenter, he said it's time to look in the mirror and see what went wrong, and that the offiense had to play better. If I told you we would fly out to Seattle and score 12 points, you wouldn't like our chances to win, would you?? No, I wouldn't either. 2 field goals, a 4th quarter TD, and a missed 2-point try. Not exactly what we expect from the reigning MZVP of the National Football League. 8 sacks??? Not what I would expect from a professional Offensive Line.
Your joy with the real officials will evaporate completely, however, at the first phantom PI call on Charles Woodson... Just sayin'. It will turn totally to hate after someone hits Aaron Rodgers on a helmet-to-helmet job, and not only will the defender not be ejected, as he should be, they won't even throw the flag. Prepare yourselves...
I'm not sure we shouldn't be wondering if the fix was in. These officials are basically "temps", they know they're only there until a deal is made with the union... They're already being criticised for bad calls... So, someone offers some cash, and all you have to do is make a few more bad calls, in a sea of bad calls??? That's easy money. This gig is going to end soon anyway, and you'll be back to calling games in low-level colleges, if at all. It's the perfect storm. You take the cash. Who's going to know?? There's bad calls all over the place... What's a few more???
I'm not saying, I'm just saying....
Another brutal slate of games. Chicago at Dallas. Should I start taking prozac now, or just wait and drink heavily during the game??? These decisions.... Minnesota at Detroit... Is Matthew Stafford gonna play?? Sorry, his name was legally changed to Matthew Stafford When Healthy, my mistake.
I saw The Great Cam Newton play over the weekend. Let me get this straight, Tim Tebow needs to be shot, to make sure he never throws a pass again in the NFL, but Cam Newton is a "rising star" in this league??? Cam Newton sucked. Plain and simple. And clearly he's been taking body language and leadership lessons from Jay Cutler. Wow. So Newton is a great player, and Tebow has no business on an NFL roster.... Oookaaaayyyy....
San Francisco at the Revis-less Jets... Hmmm. West Coast teams traveling east for a road game.... Hmmm...
Good luck! A deal is apparently imminent with the "real" Refs... so we'll see soon enough just how "cleaned up" these games become.
