SPORTS

The 2005-2006 NFL playoffs were plagued by questionable (and sometimes downright confusing) officiating and further obscuring of the issue of possession. Here is a summary of our contributions.

The Playoffs are Broken laments the Chris Simms to Edell Shepherd touchdown pass in the first round game between the Washington Redskins and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that was ruled incomplete without adequate explanation from head referee Mike Carey. This play largely inspired both this blog and its title.

Winning Ways explores Joe Gibbs' playoff coaching record.

Pass Interference? Yes is one instance of congratulating the officiating. We give two pass interference calls in the second week of the playoffs our approval.

Replay considerations proposes computer modeling for instant replay in the context of the Champ Bailey interception return in the Denver Broncos win over the New England Patriots. Ben Watson pushed Bailey out of bounds and Bill Belichick challenged the spot of the ball thinking it may have gone out of bounds through the end zone, which would have resulted in a safety.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T questions the Steelers' complaints after the AFC Championship Game that no one gave them any respect. As the #6 seed in the AFC, they got what they deserved. Certainly they played well in their run to Super Bowl champions, but they also benefitted from some good luck. Carson Palmer went down on the second play from scrimmage in their first round win over the Cincinnati Bengals, then officiating handed them their Super Bowl victory.

More Pittsburgh good luck is the subject of What if? Specifically, it discusses a few plays that could have changed the AFC Championship Game in favor of the Broncos.

On Officiating argues for better officiating in general throughout sports, but has its roots in comments players made about officiating in the NFL playoffs.

Halftime thought experiment asks why replay should only be allowed to overturn the call on the field if the evidence is incontrovertible. The basis for the question is a play where the official, because he must make a call, has to guess. This seemed to happen on a Ben Roethlisberger "touchdown" run during the first half of the Super Bowl.

Asinine intervention enumerates the egregious officiating mishaps that marred the Super Bowl and stole from the Seattle Seahawks a chance at the franchise's first championship. There were only ten penalties called in the game, and at least three of them were totally unnecessary. Two of them were false starts during Pittsburgh's first possession. That means the entire officiating crew was employed for three hours of football for the purpose of five flags (those false starts required only a single line judge). And they messed it up and threw three extra ones. Not a very good performance.

Skating Through recounts the same officiating blunders from a slightly different perspective. The title is a reference to our signature article, What are we raving about? After these playoffs, football looked a lot more like figure skating.

No, I think it's a zebra refers to the beer commercial with horses playing football. It enumerates even more officiating mistakes and reacts to NFL spokesman Greg Aiello's Monday morning comments. He claimed the game was properly officiated, which everyone outside of Eastern Pennsylvania knows is tantamount to saying that professional wrestling isn't scripted.

Instant replay for the crowds is merely a link to an article about the SkyBox, a device that would give fans in the stadium better information than the referees have. As if the jumbotron wasn't enough.

Michelle Wie continued her impressive performance at LPGA events this weekend at the Fields Open in Hawaii. Michelle shot a solid 66 in the final round, just missing getting into overtime by a stroke. Wie finished 3rd, in front of some hefty competition including Creamer, Kerr, Gulbis, and Ochoa. Considering that Creamer is probably the hottest LPGA golfer for the last year, it's amazing that Wie continues to dominate her with a head-to-head record of 9-3-1! But more importantly, Wie also put that brat Morgan "The Pouting" Pressel in her place.

Pressel has been earning a reputation for being a loud-mouth, especially when it comes to the topic of Wie. After Pressel finished ahead of Wie at last year's U.S. Open, Pressel sounded off on Wie, "she's proven she can't win in pressure situations going into the final round...The biggest tournament in women's golf, she shoots 82...She falters at the end." Pressel continued her jealous-tinged shots at Wie after learning about the latter's endorsement contracts with Nike and Sony saying, "She's going to make something like $10 million? For what? For winning one tournament?!" The Wie-dissing surfaced most recently during a conference call for the Fields Open, when Pressel said that Wie should have to qualify for the U.S. Women's Open instead of getting an exemption.

Pressel is often compared to Dottie Pepper because of their similarly fiery personalities and body types. However, I don't recall that Dottie ever directed her animosity towards an individual for an extended period. Clearly Pressel has a lot of beef with Wie and there's no sign that she will let it go. To say that it's past tiring is an understatement.

Pressel had an opportunity to back up her words by beating Wie this weekend. She even got her wish to be paired with Wie in the final pressure-packed round. But ironically, it wasn't Wie that "falters at the end", it was Pressel. Wie spanked her soundly by 5 strokes. Just like any other spoiled little brat who doesn't get what they want, Pressel could only pout and cry about it...wah wah wah! Wie could have used this opportunity to take a shot at Morgan, but she took the high road saying, "She (Morgan) is a nice girl. She played good, kind of struggled a bit at the end, but she's a very talented player. I think she'll do really well this year."

Let this be a lesson to Morgan Pressel and the other brash and immature golf upstarts: just shut your trap and let your game do the talking. Oh, by the way Morgan, you are now down 1-3 head-to-head vs. Wie. Talking smack works a lot better when you have a winning record.

The subtitle of this blog is "fanatic sports ravings of the easily infuriated." Obviously, this is not a blog dedicated to the War in Iraq or concerns about global warming. It's about baseball, basketball, football, hockey (possibly), etc. However, what about figure skating, "extreme sports," car racing, and gymnastics? What is a sport?

After last night's Super Bowl XL, football is looking a lot more like gymnastics and figure skating than ever before.

Dictionary.com defines "sport" as:

1. a. Physical activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively.
   b. A particular form of this activity.
   
2. Any activity involving physical exertion and skill that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often undertaken competitively.

Perfect! Everyone clear now?

Wait ... what is "physical activity" or "physical exertion"? Chess requires you to move pieces around a board and hit the timer (physical activity), there are definitely rules, and chess is often competitive. Sport? No. High school and college cheer squads and drill teams often participate in competitions, with physical exertion and rules/customs. Sports? I wouldn't say so. The dictionary definitions are conveniently vague, and allow interpretation.

• Baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer, volleyball, tennis ... sports.
• Wrestling, while points are awarded, the referee is merely determining when points are scored, not scoring the match, so it's a sport.
• Judged competitions, which are due to subjectivity and bias (figure skating, front and center), are not sports, they are competitions. This isn't a knock, they are what they are. This includes figure skating, gymnastics, snowboard/skiing (best trick, super pipe, slopestyle), diving, skateboarding, etc.
• Golf is a sport, while bowling lacks the necessary amount of physical activity. However, golfing only qualifies if you walk the course and would be indisputable if the pros had to carry their own clubs.
• Horse racing is a sport for horses, not for the riders. Car racing probably falls short, especially drag racing.
• Boxing, kickboxing, and mixed martial arts present an interesting dilemna. When there is a knockout or tapout or referee stoppage, clearly, it's a sport. This is fine in MMA, because those fighters don't suffer the volume of punishment that boxers withstand, but not a good idea in boxing. What happens when the fights go to the scorecards? Judging enters the equation ... and often leads to the wrong person winning. I've seen numerous fights where it seemed obvious one boxer had dominated the fight, and the commentators agreed with me, but the fight went the other way.
• Poker (while prominent on ESPN) is not a sport. Neither darts nor pool are sports.

Obviously, this is not a comprehensive list of sports/not sports. It is neither a condemnation of the things that aren't sports nor an absolution of the sports. It's merely one person's opinion on what we're raving about.

What happened to football? It was originally included, with baseball, basketball, tennis, etc. as obviously a sport. Unfortunately, the increasingly poor (and one-sided) officiating makes football a lot more like figure skating than any red-blooded American would like. Jim Rome said today that because the Seahawks made mistakes, they shouldn't complain about the officiating because the players lost the game, the refs didn't take it from them. Sure, the players (Stevens dropped a number of balls, Brown missed two FG's, Boulware took a bad angle on the Parker TD run, etc.) could have performed better. However, nothing is ever perfect. Even in really good performances, there is room for improvement. (Phil Simms threw a few incompletions against the Broncos.) The Steelers didn't play a great game. If two skaters both fall on their triple Axels and have similar routines otherwise, is it fair for the judges to reward one with a much higher score? Nope, and it happens. That's why figure skating isn't a sport. The officiating, as much as the Seahawks, blew the game for Seattle, just like a corrupt judge in a figure skating competition.