Thanks NFL. Thanks ESPN. Thanks ex players who lost to Pats in big games. Thanks Felger and Mazz. This was the worst sports week I’ve had in a long time. I was completely discombobulated in my Zumba class. When the instructor went left, I went right. I just couldn’t concentrate. I kept thinking of deflated footballs. I kept thinking of the fun we could be having this week anticipating a great Super Bowl. But nooo, the Pats again are victims of their success. With too many victories, too many AFC championship games, too many trips to the Super Bowl, comes scrutiny given to no other teams. Were the Colts investigated for tanking the season to draft Andrew Luck? Were they investigated for piping in noise when other teams are on offense? Would that be considered a “competitive advantage”?
Was Aaron Rodgers investigated for over inflating footballs to his liking? He admitted it! Phil Simms reported it on national television! But no investigation. No criticism. Why? Because he inflated footballs BEFORE the refs checked them? If an illegal ball gets past the refs, so be it. Apparently it’s okay to cheat if you do it before the refs check the balls. With all the nefarious characters playing in the league, coaching, owning teams, the media is all over the Pats for deflated footballs!!!? What?!! Didn’t the Pats outscore the Colts 28 to nothing in the second half of the game with footballs okayed by the refs? The NFL should have immediately fined the Pats $25,000 and moved on to the Big Game. No big story. Move on. Nothing to see here. ESPN should have moved on to their usual big stories like Bret Favre’s next comeback or Peyton Manning’s regular season greatness. And worst of all, local sports guys like Felger and Mazz really annoyed me. Don’t get me wrong, I usually enjoy Felger and Mazz. They’re the best. But after the Pats demolished the Colts on Sunday, I expected a fun week listening to their game analysis. But Monday they talked 4 hours about deflated footballs. Tuesday the same. Wednesday again. By Thursday I gave up. Speaking for Pats fans , and I am, their show was not only aggravating and frustrating, but worst of all, boooring. So, only one thing to do. And I urge ALL Pats fans to also do it. I’m going on “radio silence” until the Super Bowl. I’m not going to listen to any local or national sports news. Fuckem. I’ll be ready on Super Sunday night at 640pm. Let’s hope the Pats are ready too. Let’s hope the Pats are as pissed off as we are. Let’s hope Bill channels the anger that he displayed at his last press conference. Make a great game plan Bill. Show the Pats Braveheart exhorting his fellow Scots: Would they rather die in their beds many years from now or kick the shit out of the Seahawks with properly inflated footballs?!!!?

Pats Ravens. Whew. Torture. Pats had to beat a tough, well coached team AND the refs. What a brutally called game. How do you overturn a big third down catch by Amendola without conclusive evidence? You can’t. Or you shouldn’t. But after video review, the refs did. When the announcers think it was a catch and think the call should stand, then at worst, the video is inconclusive. The call on the field should stand.

Then fans and tv viewers were subjected to the Revis pass interference call on Steve Smith. Pass interference should only be called when it’s obvious, when everyone in the stadium sees it. Like Browner’s penalty. Now that was pass interference. When it’s obvious to the millions of TV viewers, call it. But when you have controversy about the call, when it’s not obvious, when you have to review the play in slow motion and say “see that incidental contact?”, then it’s a bad call. When a respected analyst like Chris Collinsworth has to support the call by saying that Revis was forcing Smith out of bounds (WHAT!!!), or possibly “arm barring” him, then DON’T CALL IT for God’s sake.

Then we come to Gronk. First drive of the second half. Big third down pass to Gronk. Apparently, when it comes to Gronk, it’s okay to tackle him while the ball is in the air. No pass interference. Move on. Nothing to see here. Refs blow another call, or should I say non-call.

Finally, the holding call on Revis, again on Steve Smith. Yeah I could see it. We all saw it. I suppose you could call that. But you can’t call EVERY hold on or near the line of scrimmage, especially one that had nothing to do with the play. By that time, Flacco was running for his life, getting strip sacked. A spactacular play by Jamie Collins, who recovered on the Ravens’ 3 yard line. The place went nuts. But negated by the despicable yellow flag. I hate when a spectacular play is negated by a ticky tack penalty. Don’t you?
Every time that happens I think of the great college player, Raghib “Rocket” Ismail. Notre Dame was competing for the national championship, trailing late in the game against Colorado, when the Rocket fields a punt and takes off. Last chance for the Irish to win the national championship. Seventy spectacular yards later he’s in the end zone. There’s no other play as electric as a punt return for a touchdown. Add the clutch circumstances, and it was a play you’ll remember forever. ESPN would mention it in it’s top ten college plays of all time. But, “whoa nelly”, hold on, yellow flag. Ticky tack illegal block. Instead of a great memory, obscurity.
That’s how I feel about the Collins strip sack and recovery. Spectacular play relegated to obscurity because of the insidious yellow flag.

Postscript#1. Watching Broncos/Colts. Winner plays us next week for the Super Bowl. Colts punt returner hit hard, hits ground, fumbles. Should be down by contact. Naturally, ref calls it a fumble, good for the home team. Play reviewed. CBS Network goes to their ref “expert”, nitwit Mike Carey. Of course he supports the refs call on the field. And of course, both the call on the field, and “expert ” Mike Carey, are wrong. Don’t even bother listening to the CBS analyst, Phil Simms. He rarely says anything profound, and absolutely NEVER contradicts the refs. Do these guys really get paid for this?
Postscript#2
Dez Bryant spectacular catch reversed. Did he make a football move trying to extend to the end zone? Were his fingers under the ball as he hit the ground? I don’t think you can answer those questions CONCLUSIVELY, a requirement to overturn a call on the field. When he bobbled ball it never hit the ground. God forbid refs acquiesce to a spectacular play. They, the league, has to always be right. Flunky announcers have to support calls. Nitwit ref experts hired by Networks have to corroborate calls. The result is that we’ll forget the spectacular play by Dez, just like we forgot the play by the Rocket, because, well, they never happened. Did they?