Sounds like the answer is probably at least THREE...
We get another clock-management "malfunction" by Dallas to help New York win the Sunday nighter -- with eleventy-zillion points and a thank-you for New York laying down to the Packers the week before.
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And then we get THIS GEM (thank you Brian Tuohy for pointing it out, I found the clip on YouTube):
Lions 34 - Vikings 28. 9 seconds left, first and goal at the 1.
Christian Ponder was benched, and his backup tries to pass, but the pocket breaks down, and he fumbles.
But if you take a look at the play (especially at :39-:42, on the replay), he's FACE-MASKED (and of the FIFTEEN YARD variety) when he fumbles. NO CALL, ball bounds around for enough time, game over, thanks for coming!
Yeah, I can make the quarterback fumble too if I can face-mask the guy to Hell and back!!
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And then Brian came up with something a bit more nefarious than even that, because it was pretty much hidden from all view. The instant-replay mechanism was not functional in the Packer-Raider game. (Note: Small statement at the end of the article.)
Now that, in and of itself, wasn't that much of a problem except for the one play.
But that one play might've cost the 49ers a key loss to the Cardinals (and all but given the Packers home-field advantage to help set up God's Super Bowl) when THEIR replay mechanism also was non-functional, according to Tuohy and this article from SI. This negated a fake field goal which well would've won the game for the 49ers.
You cannot tell me that they don't have fail-safes when required -- and then you can't tell me that the league doesn't oversee the replay mechanisms from a central location.
COME ON, NFL...
(Hat-tip to Brian Tuohy.)
(EDIT: Shows how much I follow the NFL that seriously. I didn't know that Ponder had been benched til I was following some podcasts this morning. Doesn't change the rig-job...)
I love your site. It's about time somebody talks about this nonsense masquerading as professional sports. I knew in my gut when it was 10-0 in that Bears game, that God's QB Tim Tebow was gonna take it to overtime. There's no mistake that Denver would be facing Green Bay in the SuperBowl or as you call it "GOD'S Bowl" and Denver is going to win. The newspapers and ESPN will go nuts. So much publicity is going to generate, and the ratings will skyrocket because that's all that matters. Anyways, again, great site and keep up the awesome work!
ReplyDeleteAhhh... Good to hear from someone reading the site. :)
ReplyDeleteThe thing is that I just had this bad feeling (probably right about in the same place in my gut you had in yours) once I saw that Tebow was lighting it up again, right on cue, that it was going to be about 13-10.
Of course ESPN and the papers are going to go nuts, because "NO ONE WILL SEE IT COMING!! GREATEST UPSET OF ALL TIME"
For reference, Bodog.com now has Denver at only 25-1 to win the Super Bowl. They've made it into the top ten teams at this point.
Vegasinsider.com still has them listed at 500-1, though.