Hall Monitoring the NFL

Remember when you were in middle school, and there were those kids who volunteered to be hall monitors? Yeah, those guys. Hall monitors were supposed to be substitutes for teachers when they weren't around. They were supposed to be given all the authority and control any adult would have in the school. They were supposed to keep order and control in the halls. "No gum-chewing." "No running." "Where's your hall pass?" The only problem with being a hall monitor was that when those teachers weren't around, the hall monitors' authority was reduced to nothing. No one respected a hall monitor if they didn't think a teacher was nearby.

What the hell am I talking about, right? I usually talk about sports. Well, I just made a long, drawn-out comparison of hall monitors to the replacement referees. See what I'm getting at now?

Honestly, these refs are doing the best they can under the circumstances given. Little knowledge of the pro game, unable to keep up with the speed, and above all, too much pressure from national scrutiny seem to be a few of the glaring problems. Aso, when the regular referees were out there, there was still plenty that went wrong, without this much backlash.

 But as valiant an effort as they've been giving, these replacement refs are truly hall monitors. Each week things seem to be more and more egregious. Here are 2 GIFs of what I believe to be the worst things to happen in week 3.

Darrius Heyward-Bay was hit helmet-to-helmet. In this particular instance, I don't think it was done maliciously. But for all the times that flags were thrown for hits that were not helmet-to-helmet, why was there not one thrown here. Heyward-Bay was out cold before he hit the ground. If player safety is at the forefront of everything the NFL is doing, what were they doing here?

via SB Nation

And this could be the worst of all. Bill Belichick, after a controversial field goal ends the game against the Ravens, he attempts to get an explanation from a ref who is running off the field. Which is fine. Except the part where he grabs the ref's arm. If the ref wants to stop and explain, that's all well and good. But if he doesn't, then the call he made was final and Belichick can take it up with the league office. Now, the league office will probably take it up with him.

via SB Nation

There have been numerous clock issues (outta class early). There have been far more on-field (playground) skirmishes between players, unable to be broken up by refs. And, while it's hard to document, I feel there have been far more player-influenced flags thrown in the past 3 weeks. By that I mean, it seems like there have been some situations in which a flag would not have been thrown, but a player whined (taddled), and it got thrown. As I said before, these sound like situations a hall monitor deals with. These are things that a normal ref (teachers) would have handled easily. Instead, these replacements are getting metaphorical swirlies every week. But as long as the owners are still making their money and swinging their egos in the faces of the regular refs, the game as a whole will suffer.

And Bill Belichick thinks that the league won't fine him for laying hands on the ref. Apparently someone thinks their above the rules. Those cocky jocks.

I apologize to the replacement refs. They're just doing what they can to help out. Without them, there'd be no football at all. But without the regular refs, I worry that at some point, this season will be deemed a farce because so many games have been negatively affected by poor hall monito...I mean, officiating.

UPDATE!!!!!

Did you see Monday Night? Of course you did. Did the refs see Monday Night? Well that remains to be seen. But this has to be it, right? This has to be the game where the owners and Roger say, "You know what, the integrity of the game is worth more than what the refs want, let's just do  it." At least you have to hope that's what they're saying, instead of "Boy these idiots will watch whatever we put on in any form. As long as we're getting gobs of cash from TV and ticket sales, let's just keep going with this. These refs put the 'fun' in dysfunctional." So, I'll simply leave you with this

via Darren Rovell's Twitpics (Don't know who made it first)

MLB Remaining Schedule/Playoff Notes

Just some things I found interesting while looking at the remaining schedules for the (some assumed) playoff teams. I'm not going to count games happening tonight, although they may affect standings. I'll just go from Monday on.

NL

CURRENT DIVISION LEADERS
Nationals- Brewers 1, Phillies 3, Cardinals 3, Phillies 3
Reds- Brewers 3, Pirates 3, Cardinals 3
Giants- Diamondbacks 3, Padres 3, Dodgers 3

CURRENT WILD CARDS
Braves- Marlins 3, Mets 3, Pirates 3
Cardinals- Astros 3, Nationals 3, Reds 3

STILL IN THE HUNT
Brewers- Nationals 1, Reds 3, Astros 3, Padres 3
Dodgers- Padres 3, Rockies 3, Giants 3
Diamondbacks- Rockies 1, Giants 3, Cubs 3, Rockies 3
Phillies- Nationals 3, Marlins 3, Nationals 3
Pirates- Mets 4, Reds 3, Braves 3
Padres- Dodgers 3, Giants 3, Brewers 3


AL

CURRENT DIVISION LEADERS
Rangers- Athletics 4, Angels 3, Athletics 3
Yankees- Twins 3, Blue Jays 4, Red Sox 3
White Sox- Indians 3, Rays 4, Indians 3

CURRENT WILD CARDS
Orioles- Blue Jays 4, Red Sox 3, Rays 3
Athletics- Rangers 4, Mariners 3, Rangers 3

STILL IN THE HUNT
Angels- Mariners 3, Rangers 3, Mariners 3
Rays- Red Sox 3, White Sox 4, Orioles 3
Tigers- Royals 4, Twins 3, Royals 3

Obviously, as the week goes on, some of these games that are currently meaningful for both teams will become less so, as teams are knocked out of contention. But especially in the National League, there are definitely more games that mean something to both teams than there are games that are only important to one.

Teams like the Nationals, Reds and Giants, depending on how they play, could affect who they meet up with in the post-season. Meanwhile, a team like the Padres, basically on the brink and only hanging on due to mathematics, could also have a big say in which teams make the playoffs and their seedings. Also, a team like Arizona, deemed out a few days ago, may sneak back in with 4 to go with the Rockies and 3 with the Cubs.

Meanwhile in the American League, the Rangers seem to have the most affect on how the playoffs may be shaped...Or more specifically, with 7 games between them, whether the Athletics make the playoffs or not. With seemingly light schedules for the White Sox and Tigers, its going to be a lot of scoreboard watching in Chicago and Detroit down the stretch. And the Rays-Orioles series to end the season could very well decide the Wild Card, and depending on the Yankees, the AL East as well.

Basically, if you're rooting for a team that's still in playoff contention, its going to be an interesting 10 days. A tip of the cap to the MLB scheduling committee for accidentally creating compelling match-ups with a week and a half to go in the season.

The Only Thing the BCS has Ever Gotten Right

That's not a typo. I said it. The BCS has done something right. One thing. That's all I'll give them credit for. And if you've read my tweets in the past, even giving them credit for one thing is amazing. The BCS is an old and blighted system created to make rich teams richer and keep small conferences out of the big-time loop.

You may think the one thing they did right is to create a 4-team playoff. And that does seem like the direction of a right idea. But I don't think they've quite made it yet. Because those four teams will mostly likely be the "entitled" teams. No, the one thing that I like about the BCS: they don't say a word til week 8.

The one thing that drives me crazy about college sports is that they are so dominated by their rankings. In professional sports, if you win your division or league or conference or whatever, you make the post-season. Plain and simple. But because there are so many schools involved in college football, the rankings become important. And I feel like a sport that is so dominated by rankings should have to give it a little more time before ranking the teams.

There are pre-season rankings. So based on the reputations of certain teams or players or coaches, some teams are expected to do well the next season. Before the first snap, some writers and some coaches tell everyone who they think will do well. It's the one part of the game I never understood. I know that not everyone can play the same schedule. I know that some teams, because of the scholarships and prestige, can attract a higher quality of player, thereby creating better teams. But I feel like there should be more time to figure that all out.

My case-in-point came last night in the opening weekend. Now, for the most part this weekend, the teams that were "supposed to" win, did win. But there was one big marquee match-up last night. That was number 2 Alabama taking on number 8 Michigan. Both have prestige. Both have dynamic players. Both are expected to do very well. But apparently, there's a big rift between being number 2 and number 8. Alabama was up 21-0 by the end of the first quarter, and won 41-14 by game's end.

Now, because of this one loss, some will begin to say, 'well, apparently Michigan isn't as good as we thought', and rank them much lower next week. Now is Michigan much worse than they thought? Perhaps. Or maybe Alabama is just that good this year. But the rest of the season, Michigan will have to fight to get back up high in the rankings because they will be knocked down.

The situation is even worse for a team to get knocked down by a team they weren't expected to be beaten by. No ranked teams lost this weekend. But if a lower ranked team were to lose to an unranked team, even if they were to win a majority of the rest of their games for the rest of the season, they may never appear on the top 25 again.

Conversely, a team like Florida State, currently ranked 7th, plays in a perennially weak ACC. Many assume them to win the ACC. Because of this, they will remain ranked high throughout the season, even though some other teams may play a tougher schedule. I'm not saying that Florida State is not susceptible to the upset.But if they lose once, because they are already ranked high, they are more likely to stay on the top 25 list, possibly over some teams that have an undefeated record but come from a less prestigious conference.

So while many times, the BCS screws up who deserves to play in what bowl when, the one thing I think that all rankings should adopt is the fact that the BCS doesn't rank anyone in any way until 8 weeks into the season. It could really change the way the new playoff system works out.