- A couple of popular soccer entities were smacked down to Earth Wednesday night in large victories for the English Premier League's near-best.
- Wrexham got an education of the difference between League Two and the top of the Premier League.
- And the MLS All-Stars got shown why no one should take their league seriously, as the Arsenal summer touring squad slapped them in the head...
- FIVE-NIL in both cases!!!
- The Women's World Cup begins today with matches involving hosts Australia and New Zealand.
- The Americans had a scare in Auckland, site of their first match vs. Vietnam.
- A gunman shot up downtown Auckland Thursday (Australia/NZ time) morning, killing three. The team and other Americans, including the Second Gentleman (the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris) have been in lockdown ever since.
- The 2023 Open Championship, the final golf major, begins in the UK Thursday morning their time.
- Some talk of the position of the Royal and Ancient, vis-a-vis Saudi funding, given what has happened over the last year and a half.
- Jordan Addison, first-round draft pick, less than ten days before training camp: His luxury SUV in Minnesota, clocked for A HUNDRED AND FORTY MILES AN HOUR in a 55 mile per hour zone.
- This requires a six-month license suspension in Minnesota as a civil penalty (and that penalty is for speeding over 100 MPH).
- If the Minnesota State Patrol rules he was doing so in a manner to damage property, he's in jail for 90 days.
- Only reason he's not gone is that he's the first-round draft pick.
Thursday, July 20, 2023
July 20, 2023 News and Notes
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Remember Brian Tuohy and the run-in he had with the Professional Football Researcher's association around 2012? Well, I was on that board that week, and one thread was about the Steelers and 1979 onside kicks.
ReplyDeleteThat year, they had a kick go ten yards, and Matt Bahr recovered it past the ten yard mark, but the officials said that he didn't.
I said something about how the league seemed to be favoring Philly around 1979-80 (that wasn't the only call they benefited from back then. Look at the WC game against the Bears in 79), and a poster named rhickok1109 said this:
Quote"Here's an idea for anyone who wants to be a real football historian instead of just another conspiracy theorist, on the same level as members of the Flat Earth Society.
Every year, several NFL officials retire. At a guess, it's about five a year, so there should be well over 100 former officials available for interviewing.
The NFL never announces why they retired; most probably retire voluntarily but some "retire" simply because the league chooses not to rehire them.
(Big hint: If an official "retires" after not being given any playoff assignments, it's very likely that the retirement was involuntary.)
Now interview as many of these former officials as you can, with a particular emphasis on those who were probably forced into retirement, since they're likely to be resentful toward the NFL and therefore more willing to be open about any questionable activities.
Ask each interviewee if a crew that he worked on was ever told to favor a specific team in a game. If you get an affirmative answer, dig for the details.
What game or games exactly?
What team was to be favored?
How and when were the instructions passed down? Did they come from the commissioner himself or from one of the commissioner's subordinates? Was the crew chief alone informed, with instructions to pass it on to other members of the crew or was each crew member informed individually? How was it done, by phone, letter, email? Does any physical evidence exist?
Armed with this information, get in touch with other officials who worked with your informant to see if you can get any corroboration.
Oh, by the way...if you can't find any evidence of such tampering, be sure to report that, too.Quote"
Why do you think the NFL tries to hire some of these officials into more shadow jobs (like those "Black Coats" people have been seeing -- or, for the higher-ups, places like Blandino and Pereira with the networks, etc.)?
ReplyDeleteGood point. As for Pereira, I think that he has had issues with Goodell over the years. Also, my friend said over a decade ago that he was on some platform talking about three of the ways the Pats were cheating (one way was filming the board in the other team's locker room. Another was having a guy on the sideline with a press pass filming. The third way was a camera up a flagpole).
DeleteOne of those issues, as you may recall, was Terry McAulay's attempt to forfeit the Bottlegate game to Jacksonville after the fans rioted. Pereira, as head of officiating, supported this decision.
DeletePaul Tagliabue shoved Pereira in an argument in reversing it.
Goodell then wanted McAulay suspended, for which Pereira refused and that got him shoved.
DeleteI don't know why you would not have the authority, as the game official, to call the game in a clear riot situation like what happened in Cleveland, by the way.
Oh, yeah. I have heard about that situation. And, I agree that the ref had to shut that down (maybe Tags was mad because ads weren't shown or something. I don't know).
Delete