Bad Calls and NFL Ad Revenue

[Kaiser]

The conspiracists are not the forum’s best and brightest; that’s not a coincidence.

COW PLOP BURSTS INTO THE ROOM WAIVING HIS UNDERGRADUATE DEGREE!!!!

 

[Doomsday101]

I don't think they care either. They just want to get the calls right so they can be nominated to officiate playoff games.

true, I think people don't get how hard of a job they have. When they mess up I get mad just like anyone else but I do not think it is personal or intentionally playing favorites or trying to keep a game close. Refs will make mistakes just as player make mistakes.

 

[Doomsday101]

I agree 100% with your thoughts regarding the complexity of the rules and interpretations and with the impact on officials. I am more cynical with regard to bias and corruption. The amazing thing is that the NFL has avoided scandal as long as it has. Scandal will come one day. Adam always tries the fruit, and once in a while he gets caught naked.

If that day come about and someone with an ax to grind does a tell all then it will be very costly to the NFL as many fans such as myself will no longer bother watching it. What I don't get are those who think this is true, why are you watching a game that you believe to be fixed? I could not do it. Then again WWF seems to stay in business which shows me some will watch anything. lol

 

[Kaiser]

That's a reasonable position. But history isn't supportive, sadly. I am in the energy business and was acquainted, for instance, with a number of mid- to high-level Enron employees. Most were straight shooters. In some cases, if there was a conspiracy it was one of silence -- not dishonest silence as much as disbelieving or uncertain silence.

I just read the book "Bad Blood" about the Theranos scandal where a young entrepreneur and her boyfriend committed a massive fraud in the Clinical Diagnostics industry. They did the entire thing themselves, promoted sychophants, fired anyone who questioned them and most of the mid level people either turned a blind eye or suspected wrongdoing the entire time.

 

[CalPolyTechnique]

COW PLOP BURSTS INTO THE ROOM WAIVING HIS UNDERGRADUATE DEGREE!!!!

Lol, try graduate degree.

Meanwhile, the burger flipper is trumpeting around his rotary club membership as if equates to actually going to caltech like a fraud.

“Wuh, wuh....well i don’t attend there, but I walk the campus everyday!?!?”

What’s next? Did you serve in the military because you visited a war memorial?

 

[Bohuntr97]

true, I think people don't get how hard of a job they have. When they mess up I get mad just like anyone else but I do not think it is personal or intentionally playing favorites or trying to keep a game close. Refs will make mistakes just as player make mistakes.

Agreed. I posted above all the things refs have to go through just to keep their job. With the speed of today's game there's going to be a few calls missed.

 

[Shake_Tiller]

If that day come about and someone with an ax to grind does a tell all then it will be very costly to the NFL as many fans such as myself will no longer bother watching it. What I don't get are those who think this is true, why are you watching a game that you believe to be fixed? I could not do it. Then again WWF seems to stay in business which shows me some will watch anything. lol

I don't think games are "fixed." But we all know it has happened, to one degree or another, in other sports -- the NBA had its scandal, as did MLB. There have been college basketball point-shaving scandals. Boxing, of course. History tells us the NFL will have its own dark cloud. It's a matter of time.

I think what has happened to date is much more passive. I think officials bend to what they understand to be the will of the league. In some cases, we know this to be true. If not, why would it be publicly acknowledged that officials are given points of emphasis? Doesn't that bother you, on some level? Why should officials emphasize one call over another? Why shouldn't their charge be to make the calls they see? And if officials become used to responding to the league's points of emphasis, are we a step closer, at least, to a scenario in which they respond to what they perceive to be a league preference?

 

[Kaiser]

What’s next? Did you serve in the military because you visited a war memorial?

No, I served in Desert Storm and Bosnia because I have a DD214 to prove it. Great analogy, Cow Plop.

 

[Shake_Tiller]

I just read the book "Bad Blood" about the Theranos scandal where a young entrepreneur and her boyfriend committed a massive fraud in the Clinical Diagnostics industry. They did the entire thing themselves, promoted sychophants, fired anyone who questioned them and most of the mid level people either turned a blind eye or suspected wrongdoing the entire time.

One will never become wealthy betting on people to speak up when something is wrong.

 

[MarcusRock]

If that day come about and someone with an ax to grind does a tell all then it will be very costly to the NFL as many fans such as myself will no longer bother watching it. What I don't get are those who think this is true, why are you watching a game that you believe to be fixed? I could not do it. Then again WWF seems to stay in business which shows me some will watch anything. lol

Just look at "reality" TV. All of it is scripted and even when people know this they continue to watch because it makes them feel better to watch train wrecks. Others come to threads like this, lol.

 

[Cowboys22]

That is your view I don't buy it. Did they keep the Colts game close?

Which team needed the win that week to stay alive in the playoff hunt? The Colts. I don’t pretend to know whether this is league mandated or it’s simply that the refs are doing what they think is better for the league. There is no way for us fans to know. What I know is what I see and almost every meaningful game follows a pattern. Poor calls at key moments benefitting the team needing help to stay in the game. Sometimes the calls are totally indefensible like the delay call on Tank or the call against our longsnapper. DL do what Tank did all game every game since I started watching in the late 70’s but it was 4th and 1, the Tampa OL false started, and they didn’t want to kill their drive so they had to come up with something else. Our longsnapper moved the ball in the same fashion several times before and after that call so why did they call it? Something is going on. Simple bad officiating doesn’t explain the inexplicable calls going on league wide every single week. I’ve been watching long enough to know the officiating cannot be this bad consistently for this long without it being on purpose.

 

[Runwildboys]

Billions in revenue isn't a reason? You may want to talk to anyone in the Hedge Fund world where much bigger groups than this understand exactly what it takes to maximize revenue (and keep their job and get max perks) and shade things in a way that maximizes that revenue. And they don't have to hand out a set of instructions to do so.

And you think these officials are getting "billions in revenue"? Sure, the NFL could profit tremendously, if they could keep all the people who don't profit tremendously from spilling their guts, and profiting tremendously from interviews and book sales.

If the league were to do what you're suggesting, the team owners would certainly find out about it, if they weren't in on it already, and how many of them would be screaming that it's their turn to win a SB? You can bet Jerry Jones wouldn't sit idly by and watch the team he GMs and owns continue to fail, without letting something slip to the press, in one of his inebriated interviews, expressing just why his efforts are falling short.

 

[Bob-Lillys-War]

I do see refs changing and making games a lot closer than they should have been; but what can you do?

 

[Runwildboys]

No, we know it happened because millions of people died and we liberated the Concentration Camps during the invasion of Germany.

In fact, it was the opposite of people "speaking up". FDR largely ignored the reports of it and refused to prioritize Jews for immigration when the early reports were coming in. He was also lobbied to bomb the train stations carrying people to the Concentration Camps over bombing tactical targets as a moral responsibility. He didn't do that either.

Well how exactly did we find out about it, if nobody said anything?

 

[CATCH17]

Whether they are purposely or not purposely making these bad calls something must be done.

NFL officiating is beyond awful.

College refs are better.

 

[Doomsday101]

I don't think games are "fixed." But we all know it has happened, to one degree or another, in other sports -- the NBA had its scandal, as did MLB. There have been college basketball point-shaving scandals. Boxing, of course. History tells us the NFL will have its own dark cloud. It's a matter of time.

I think what has happened to date is much more passive. I think officials bend to what they understand to be the will of the league. In some cases, we know this to be true. If not, why would it be publicly acknowledged that officials are given points of emphasis? Doesn't that bother you, on some level? Why should officials emphasize one call over another? Why shouldn't their charge be to make the calls they see? And if officials become used to responding to the league's points of emphasis, are we a step closer, at least, to a scenario in which they respond to what they perceive to be a league preference?

if you are altering the game in my view that is a fix since it is no longer the players determining the outcome. As for the emphasis often it is player safety and this year a change into what is and what is not a catch. Kickoff rules changed but again because of what they feel is a safety measure. I don't agree with it but that is much different than claiming flags and calls are made for the sole reason of altering a game.

 

[Runwildboys]

I just read the book "Bad Blood" about the Theranos scandal where a young entrepreneur and her boyfriend committed a massive fraud in the Clinical Diagnostics industry. They did the entire thing themselves, promoted sychophants, fired anyone who questioned them and most of the mid level people either turned a blind eye or suspected wrongdoing the entire time.

And is this a true story?

 

[Bohuntr97]

I do see refs changing and making games a lot closer than they should have been; but what can you do?

The NFL wanted "parity". That's what we got.

 

[Doomsday101]

Which team needed the win that week to stay alive in the playoff hunt? The Colts. I don’t pretend to know whether this is league mandated or it’s simply that the refs are doing what they think is better for the league. There is no way for us fans to know. What I know is what I see and almost every meaningful game follows a pattern. Poor calls at key moments benefitting the team needing help to stay in the game. Sometimes the calls are totally indefensible like the delay call on Tank or the call against our longsnapper. DL do what Tank did all game every game since I started watching in the late 70’s but it was 4th and 1, the Tampa OL false started, and they didn’t want to kill their drive so they had to come up with something else. Our longsnapper moved the ball in the same fashion several times before and after that call so why did they call it? Something is going on. Simple bad officiating doesn’t explain the inexplicable calls going on league wide every single week. I’ve been watching long enough to know the officiating cannot be this bad consistently for this long without it being on purpose.

and I have been watching since 1965 and again if I felt as some do I would not watch it. Why watch a sport that is fake? If I felt as you do I would not bother watching it.

 

[Doomsday101]

Just look at "reality" TV. All of it is scripted and even when people know this they continue to watch because it makes them feel better to watch train wrecks. Others come to threads like this, lol.

some will watch anything, I don't watch so called reality TV so can't really comment on it.