El Stupido, The Next Part: The Fail Mary, and the official who almost died because of it...

I have no problems with any sports outlet (this one was ESPN's) doing a one-year retrospective of the Fail Mary.

What I DO have a problem with (and not necessarily because of ESPN!) was what they started with.

The clip about the incident centers on one of the replacement referees, and the death threats he got from Packer fans and Packer bettors after that debacle:

The first message:

"I hope you die in a fucking car crash.  I hope you die in...  [unintelligible]  I hope your wife fucking dies and all your pets die and, if you have any kids, I hope they die."

(Obviously not a reader of this blog -- I told people before last season began that the Packers were going to get fucked at some point in the equation!  And, yes, that game cost the Packers plenty -- a bye in the first round at least...)

The narrator says the situation best, in honor of Packer-fan and Packer-bettor falling to complete El Stupido levels:

"There are bad calls, and there are dangerous calls..."

Then, the second message, from a person who laid serious money on the game:

"I will never let this go...  FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS!!!  I promise I will get my money."

(Dude...  I know I get upset when I lose a few bucks, but that's usually because I feel more effort could be given.  Two Protips for El Stupido and the five large:  1) If you aren't taking into account league biases and the possibility that the referees have to get out of the building alive in some places like Seattle (replacement referees, no less!!!), you aren't paying attention at your bankroll's peril.  2)  That anyone felt the Packers merited being 3.5 point favorites in Seattle may have also needed a wake-up call.)

The video is actually a great picture of how this guy, Lance Easley, became not only an NFL replacement referee, but the center of probably the worst call in American sports since the Armando Galarraga perfect game...

Easley gives a great description of the abject confusion.  This is where the play simply should have been punted (quite literally) to the upstairs official, equivalent to the concept of the TMO (Television Match Official) in Rugby.

And then that moment:  Easley makes the call of touchdown, his partner in the end zone calls time out.

Now, as I've said, this is pretty much the moment you know the league is going to enforce a narrative (Seattle wins!!) -- however you slice it, whatever the motive actually is.  The key moment is that the instant that Easley calls the touchdown, the announcers for ESPN in the booth do as well, even though it is clear that there is abject and complete confusion (so much so, South Park lampooned the mess a few days later in their "Sarcasta-ball" episode...  "Aw, fuck it.  It's a fucking field goal!!") because the other referee materially called a touchback.

This, about 24 hours after Baltimore defeated New England with a field goal at the gun which was probably missed!!!

And here's the stupidest thing of all (other than the death threats):  THE GUY GOT A BOOK DEAL OUT OF THE DEBACLE!!

Although you do get one final payoff with the video:  He still believes the call he made on that fateful night in Seattle was the correct one...

*sigh*