What else is new?!

If there's one thing I've learned this football season (college or NFL), it's that referees are bad at their job. Luckily I'm not a coach in the SEC or I'd be getting fined right now! For what? It's been proven time and time again this season that the officiating crews out there might as well be a random bunch of people who may or may not know anything about football. Do understand that I've played competitive sports at a high level for most of my life and I'm use to having to do my own officiating. I've been a line judge for volleyball and tennis tournaments and it can be pretty tough. It's one thing to be a amateur official that just has to do it to reduce costs and be a professional who gets paid to make calls.

On the other hand, their job is tough. In football, one referee is responsible for keeping up with several different jobs. For example, if there's a perfectly thrown ball to the corner of the endzone and a receiver is jumping to make the catch and having to come down with two feet in bounds, it's a lot to have to make sure the ball is in possession, he comes down with both toes in bounds, and hangs on to the ball while two grown men are fighting in the air. I understand how fast something like this happens and how it can be very difficult to be accurate on a call of this nature. HOWEVER, when these calls do get botched, it can have an incredible impact on the game. We've been fortunate in the recent years to have video reviews implemented into our officiating, but calls can and have been missed. I understand that some things are considered non-reviewable" due to the pace of the game, but is it a ridiculous expectation to have a designated official just watching video replays? With the camera technology we have these days, you can slow something down as slow as you want it, have a clearer than real life picture, and make an extremely accurate call as you can get many different angles and pause the video to analyze several different factors.

Feet in bounds? Check. Possession of the ball? Check. Breaking the plain of the endzone? Check. Looks like a touchdown, call it a touchdown.

Why does the review have to be indisputable evidence? You're getting much more information than the ref watching the action at full speed, don't you think you can make a better call? Hell, why do we even need refs down on the field? We've seen them get in the way several times and all they do is get mad that they're too slow to get out of the way. Give them a couple monitors, seem them up in the booth. HAVE A CAMERA THEY CONTROL AND ARE SPECIALLY TRAINED TO OPERATE AND LET THEM WATCH THE PLAYS THE WAY THEY NEED TO! Far too often this season (as you've seen in the video), teams have gotten bailed out by officials. I think it's time that this changed. That and a playoff system (but that's another post)!

Edit:
Chad Ochocinco fined for a little humor
Jay Cutler and Tommie Harris fined after the Arizona game
Fines issued after the Falcons-Redskins "melee"

Read those articles. They're not very long, I promise. Now, can anyone tell me why a player who punched another player in the face is fined much less than someone who uses their words like a grown man? Isn't that what we've learned over the years? Perhaps thI'm not sure why they're coming down so hard on people who critize refs or even have a little fun with them (the fact that excessive celebration penalties are given out like fruit cake during Christmas is yet another debate), but it's so annoying to see. Remember when TO would call his mom to tell her about his touchdown, or pull out a sharpie to autograph a football after a great play? Those were the good ol days. Yes, I guess it's a little showboatsmanship, but that's what makes it so fun to watch! Back to the Falcons game, Mike Smith was protecting his QB (what any good coach would do), and simply ended a potential problem before it began, yet he was the most heavily fined. Perhaps the NFL is promoting more "entertainment" in the form of physical altercations. So far, all evidence is pointing that way, right Tom Cable?


These players are the best at what they do, and if they do something that's even great by their standards, why not let them have a little fun? I'll leave you with a quote from the NFL:

"Enjoying the moment in the endzone a little because you made a sweet catch? NOT ON MY WATCH!" says the NFL. "We in no way, shape or form, condone or promote fun in our league. Take it or leave it. If players want to have fun, they're in the wrong business."

Got Money? Here's a World Series Trophy!

Fact: The three guys above, combined, make more money than four different teams' entire rosters make (AND THESE AREN'T EVEN THE TOP PAID PLAYERS ON THE YANKEES!)

Yes, I'm a Braves fan, and yes, I do hate the Yankees. With all that aside, I don't understand how the fact that the Yankees payroll is almost $80 million more than the next highest paid team doesn't come up more often. They're more than double that of their World Series opponents!

For years, you see the Yankees chase the hot players, offering them insane contracts to come and play for them. In the past, it's always seemed like New York is the place that good players come to die, so I guess a congratulations is in order for them. THEY ACTUALLY DID SOMETHING WORTH WHILE!

Yeah, yeah, they've won 27 WS now, but they've been gobbling up talent from other teams so often, it's not even that fun to watch. It's kinda like the Dream Team in the NBA playing a rag-tag bunch of guys that are trying to make a name for themselves, but more often than not, the Dream Team is put to shame. Eventually, they'll all click and it'll be too much for anyone to handle, but it's not as often as you would expect. Shouldn't that be more of a big deal? I fully expect the Yankees to go pick up Utley after what he did to them in game 5. Maybe not because they want to use him, but just so he can't play against them again. That's a pretty good strategy if you ask me.

So go enjoy your World Series that you worked so hard for. All that hard work making players better and developing that raw talent into refined skill, you've earned it! Oh wait, you just let another team do that and jump on the hot tamale train. Well, you won! And that's what really matters! Right?

Great Job Brees!

Great job on your PERFECT game on Monday night Drew! The Saints mania continued last night on Sportscenter. The "recap" of the game was shown with not a little Saints bias, there were literally ZERO Falcons highlights in the reel. They didn't show Grimes ridiculous jump to pick off Brees, they didn't show the huge hit DeCou had on Brees causing a fumble for a Falcon touchdown, no Turner runs, no White catches, nothing. Now don't get me wrong, the Saints had some highlights, but they weren't the only show in town! Give me a break ESPN. I expected to get an actual summary of the game, instead I got nothing but Saints highlights. Again, do people not realize they actually play against other teams?

SAINTS!

Did anyone watch the Falcons game last night? What a great game. However, what wasn't so great was the announcers incredible bias of the Saints. Do you think they even noticed the Saints had an opponent?

This morning, I was talking with a coworker about the apparent Saints fever that's sweeping the nation. We decided that there should be a Saints vs Saints game held in the Super Dome and should be nationally televised! Doesn't that sound like the best idea ever?! I know Jon Gruden would be giddy with excitement!

Continuing on with this style of thinking (I tend to get carried away with ridiculous ideas such as this), I typed out a fake email from Google after I typed Drew Brees' name into their website:

From: DrewBreesfansupport@google.com
Sent: Tuesday, November 03, 2009 9:35 PM
To: Matthew Joines
Cc: The Saints
Subject: SAINTS RULE!

Fellow Drew Brees fan,

Thank you for your interest into Drew Brees and the Saints. We see that you looked at his Wikipedia page recently, but please understand that website can be full of false information. The following is the truth about Drew:

Drew Brees is actually from the great state of New Orleans Saints and was born right in the Super Dome (The home of the New Orleans Saints!)! Brees played middle school, high school, and college football for the New Orleans Saints and is the MVP of the Saints for 31 years! He’s currently the best quarterback in the NNOSFL (National New Orleans Saints Football League) according to everyone! He’s thrown infinity touchdowns in his tenure as a Saint and negative infinity interceptions (The “interception” that those terrible refs called last night was later reviewed by league officials (Drew Brees) and determined to be an act of sorcery and against the rules).

Brees was in a sportscenter commercial that is agreed by everyone that has ever seen it (and some that haven’t) to be the greatest commercial ever created and a deal is being worked out for a channel that will exclusively play the ad in a loop. Drew Brees is currently in talks with becoming the spokesman for all consumer products.

In the football game against the Falcons last night, Drew Brees threw 25 complete passes. Though the stat line says he threw 33 passes total, these were only dillusions that non-Saints fans aren’t prepared to handle and only appear to be passes. Noncoincidentally, 25 cancer patients at the game last night were cured of their illness. Katrina was just a pass that Drew Brees threw out into the ocean during a cruise for a fan to see his perfect throwing motion. Brees knew that this would occur, but also knew the city would be rebuilt better and more to his liking.

If you’re interested in hearing more about Drew Brees, simply type any word into our search engine! We’ve recoded our software for maximum efficiency for all the influx of Drew Brees searches. Have a Saints Day!

Sincerely Saints,

Google (SAINTS)

9 Drew Brees Way, Suite 9

New Orleans, SAINTS 9

Phone: 1-800-NEWORLEANSSAINTS

Cell: 1-800-DREWBREESISTHEBESTNEWORLEANSSAINTANDFOOTBALLPLAYERFORTHATMATTERPERIOD

Fax: 9

The Current "Situation" at UGA

As many of you know, UGA is in an interesting spot with its football team. For the first time in what seems like a lifetime, UGA is at 4-4 and the upcoming schedule isn't looking too favorable.

I've heard many critics of the coaching staff and many supporters of the coaching staff. I can agree with both sides, but when it comes to the issue of "being a real dawg fan," this has nothing to do with criticism.

Far too many times have I seen people fall back to the ol "you're not a true fan!" defense of the coaches. I have to disagree fully here. I understand the loyalty that you have to the coaches that put in so much effort, but if the job's not getting done, what else can we do? Like it or not, college football is a business and there are expectations to fulfill and jobs that have to be done. Like any other job in the world, if you're not producing, you're under scrutiny.

Of course, the players have to execute, but it's the coaches jobs to put these players not only in the best situation for them to succeed, but to demand that they succeed. If a player is making dumb mistakes, be it penalties, blown coverages, not knowing the playbook, that player should be benched or cut PERIOD. I can understand the respect that certain players have earned by being a hard worker, but you should not be allowed a starting role by just being "committed." Yes, give these guys playing time, heck let them start a few games, but when they begin to show holes in their talent, they HAVE to be pulled.

I'm trying not to use any specific examples of players because I don't think that's fair. I also think it has applied to so many cases, that it would be a waste to try to point out every instance. Any dawg fan knows a time or two where this has happened and I'm ready for it to be a little more cutthroat around the field.

I appreciate all comments and thanks for reading.

My introduction

I'm a former student from the great University of Georgia and I LOVE college football. I'm a die hard Bulldog football fan and I always will be. A passion of mine is discussing hot topics and being able to do research to not only better those I'm discussing with, but to also better myself. Keep in mind, while I like to be controversial, I don't like to take debates to the point that people become bitter and rude.

The biggest qualm I have with the internet is people being able to "act tough" behind a virtual profile. This is commonly referred to being an "e-thug." While I understand what it's like to be very passionate about something, you're only destroying your credibility.

I'm making this blog to try to create a open forum of discussion about topics I'm interested in (football is my current hot topic). If you're interested in what I have to say or if you think you can better my understand on certain issues, all MATURE comments are appreciated.