How else you can you explain the pathetic calls by the refs in the game tonight? Several questionable calls against the Giants, the play at the end of the 2nd quarter which was begging for review? I almost thought that they were going to rule "no possession" when it came time to figure out the distance on that play late in the 4th... Unfreakingbelievable- it couldn't have been more obvious...
The Only thing more obvious was that they wanted Peyton in the game against the Pats not SD. The NFL is all about ratings and Household name QB's are the most guaranteed way to get the casual fans to watch big games.
These conspiracy theories, while they make us feel better about the fact that our team blows and nearly every team in the league is better, really don't have much substance do they? Do we really all think the NFL tells the refs to favor a team?
I had to explain this to my stepfather last night...he's a businessman so it didn't take much convincing: The NFL is a business. The point of a business is to make money. Farve vs. Brady would make millions more than the all-northeast Super Bowl coming. What don't you understand about a bunch of businessmen protecting their investment? Yeah, my childhood dreams and innocence have been shattered by the cold hard reality of performance enhancing drugs and fixing games...but you'd be blind not to see it.
New York is HUGE market. I think they would do well with either the Pack or the Giants, frankly. I don't buy any of this conspiracy stuff. I just think the refs suck, and a lot of them are biased....but it's not an organizational thing, it's just dickhead referees.
why would the NFL want its smallest market team to beat out its largest market? If the super bowl was about ratings, isn't this what they would want?
Its just too much of a coincidence, The Chargers/Colts games was littered with bad/suspicious calls , and so was last nights Giants/Packers game. There would have been so many more story lines if the Packers had got there.
I posted something similar to this yesterday.. There is very often an officiating bias towards the "in" team (which almost always is the team that will draw the best ratings) To deny that it is there is ridiculous... However, we have no way to know whether this bias is arranged, or simply instinctive for the officials (much like the extra leeway Michael Jordan was given when he was in the NBA)... Either way though, it occurs, and it's happening more and more, and it sucks
All the talk about rigged NFL games eerily reminds me of the pre-Donague NBA days. Some of you guys may call us "crazy conspiracy theorists" but certain games just reek of being rigged. It's only a matter of time before someone gets busted in the NFL, and that's not going to really surprise most of us.
The thing is, the game was littered with bad calls that went against both teams. That's not a conspiracy. That's just lousy officiating.
First of all...New York is a baseball town, not a football town. Second...It has always been better for ratings when a larger region exists between the two teams. (NY vs. Boston) has much less nationwide appeal than (midwest vs. east) Finally...Brett Favre is America's QB (no small thanks to Something About Mary and three quarters of NFL announcers s'ing his d). Nobody likes Eli. The non-pat fans would have a much easier time getting behind Favre. Not to mention that most of the rest of the country hates NY. This year's bowl really comes down to two types of people: pat-lovers and pat-haters. I truly believe that Favre would be infinitely more marketable to the pat-haters than Elisha. Shit, he gets more airtime than Eli, even in NY! Think about it.
Except that the New York market is the ideal market for advertisers. I don't disagree about Favre, I'm just saying it was a win/win for the advertising....the networks ALWAYS want a high viewership in New York proper. People in New York buy more than people in, say, Green Bay. It is a better market to advertise to.
Yeah, but the rest of the country put together is a better market than just NYC. The subway series is the perfect example of a championship game's ratings tanking because of the relatively small region involved.
Agreed. The refs were just fucking dumb. That's all there is to it. Where's Ed Hochuli when you need him?
All I'm saying is that the ref's "questionable" calls went much more in the favor of the Pats than they did the Giants... How can they review that one play but not the one which was even more likely to be overturned at the end of the 2nd half. The officiating in this game didn't rise to Patriots levels, but it was certainly not on an even playing field, no pun intended.
No comment on Packers-Giants, I spent most of that game sitting in a parking lot with a TV thats antenna decided to die... but am I the only one who thought the Pats-Bolts game officiating was excellent?
