Goodell is (still) an idiot

[Shake n Blake]

(02-13-2023, 01:26 AM)phil413 Wrote: Yeah I'm glad that Roger has to see and hear reality no matter if he doesn't want to look at it. 

I stepped away from post AFC championship loss convos because I was pretty over it but life goes on.  You always want to be one or two plays better that the other team so refs can't decide the game no matter accidentally or intentionally.  

It brought me back to a weird place that wasn't a high or low that you sit in, but a realization.  It was game 4 of the Lakers/Orlando NBA finals.  Magic Johnson was my guy growing up and I stayed with them.  The refs were letting Dwight Howard get away with so much that it was blatantly obvious the League wanted a tied series.  We try not to be biased as fans but we are more than we think....but this was so bad.  Derek Fisher had to keep hitting clutch 3's just to pull the game back from the league.  It put me in a spot that should have been a high (LA up 3-1) that just made me disgusted that I was that emotionally spent on a game and questioning the league almost to the level of being a little kid and finding out wrestling isn't real.  It helped that I was saved just a few months prior and Christ was all I needed, so sports mattered less, but I was still a huge fan of my teams through good and bad, and what it took for the Lakers to win that game just felt dirty.

When the Chiefs were given the mulligan things snowballed, it brought me back to that game.  Cincy was going to have to be 3 or 4 plays better than the Cheifs wrong or wrong but it had to happen to win that game.  They didn't get Fisher's clutch shots, but that just sets the bar for next year.  

The Bengals are going to have to slay teams, following their cold blooded QB's lead. I'm proud of them for the run they had following a SB loss.  Now, they're beyond a letdown.  They have to see that they have to be so much better so a ref doesn't have the option to be a facor.  Here's to a healthy line leading to record numbers on offense and a defense that continues to flourish, and beating teams handily on the way to a Super Bowl that refs can't alter. 

There's been many times where I questioned refs in the NBA, but the one that always stands out to me is the Kings vs Lakers series around 2002 (?). 

Sorry if that upsets you as a Lakers fan, but that series is pretty infamous and I watched it when it happened and couldn't believe what I was seeing.

I try to reserve hard complaints about refs for times they actually deserve it. 

Just as flags should only be thrown when there is a clear violation, I believe fans should only pull the "refs card" when it's clear they're either doing a very poor job or outright not calling the game evenly. 

Meaning they are calling late hit on Mahomes, but not roughing on Burrow. For example. Or when they make up rules as they go. 

My memory is (very) foggy, but I want to say there was a time the Steelers hit one of our guys late in a key game and the NFL "adjusted" the rule after the season, but it should have been a violation at the time. It was something along those lines. Not sure if anyone will remember what I'm talking about.