Simul(taneous)cast
Listening: Caspian - Walking Season. New album that just came out. It's so good.
We all saw it. From every angle. Over and over again. And then again. From every angle. The Immaculate Interception. TouchBackDown. ReplacementGate. Whatever you think about it (and I’m pretty sure everyone but Golden Tate and Referee #26 feels the same way about it), this one play that capped off the craziest week in recent NFL history should be looked at from even more angles after the fact. Even before the Clueless in Seattle confusion on Monday night, the games on Sunday of Week 3 were a mess from start to finish, including the nationally televised Sunday night game between New England and Baltimore. If you watched the Red Zone channel on Sunday, it was one real-time debacle after another, bouncing back and forth from one referee team to another looking like deer in headlights. There were terrible injury non-calls, miscalculations on yardage for penalties that were called, extra timeouts given, plays blown dead when there was a live ball, plays called live when there was a dead ball, one guy was facing the wrong way, and even when the refs got the call right, they said it with little to no conviction that you weren’t even sure they understood what they were calling. Another guy tripped Kevin Ogletree with his hat. Yet, while the movie-plot storyline plays out, and the replacement scape-zebras take all the blame, and the NFL takes all the heat, and the players take all the shots to the helmet, and the fans take to social media, and the media takes arms, let’s take a step back and think about how this could all end. We witnessed it last night; about 15 minutes after the simultaneous double-catch.
Last night’s post-game on ESPN was the closest thing I’ve seen to must-see TV outside of HBO since probably the 2010 Olympic gold medal ice hockey game. Last night, the worldwide leader in sports absolutely POUNCED on their opportunity to boost ratings, boost page views and clicks, and maybe, just maybe, put an end to this whole social experiment of $3.3 million proportions gone embarrassingly wrong. I think we can all agree that if anyone or anything can create a stir in the sports world, push an agenda to the brink of suicidal thoughts, it’s ESPN, powered by their flagship show SportsCenter. It’s obvious that someone called down during the post-game hoopla and made sure that every personality on the station knew to hammer home the utter ridiculousness mixed with historical context of what had just occurred. The game ended at 11:45, I didn’t turn the TV off until 12:45 (I’m usually trying to go to sleep at 12); right after Rick Reilly gave his recount of what the Packer locker room was like after the game.
First were Mike Tirico and Jon Gruden, who I have made no secret about being a huge fan of. As soon as it happened, they (rightly) disagreed. Gruden was ready to jump out of the booth and attack somebody. Mike Tirico, always with a flair for the dramatic, stated that this is the craziest ending to a game that you will ever see. Next they went on to the dais: Stuart Scott hosting Trent Dilfer and Steve Young at their field-level pundit table. Now, I like Stuart Scott, and really like (and respect) Steve Young; Trent Dilfer I have less of an opinion on, if any. Stuart Scott was acting as though this was the biggest sports moment since Miracle on Ice. Young had a total meltdown. It was official. He kept it somewhat articulate, spoke as you’d expect a Hall of Fame player to, but it was a freak out if I’ve ever seen one.(1) And Trent Dilfer, bless his soul, said that the NFL was personally insulting him and his intelligence, and that he was downright offended. After that, it went back to Bristol, where Scott Van Pelt (who I also like) was speaking as though someone died, in a whisper as if he was reporting exclusively to Wisconsin. When it went back to Gruden and Tirico later on, Gruden still was less than satisfied; it left a bad taste in his mouth.(2) They had some sort of NFL rules guru with them, telling the audience everything they already knew about each and every rule that had an impact on the play. Then back to the field, where Rick Reilly dropped names and used his best metaphors (the NFL is to $750 Italian loafers as the replacement refs are to doo doo) describing the scene in the visiting team’s locker room who just lost a game that they won.
What was the result? ESPN saw SportsCenter get a 5.1 rating; the highest ever. On top of that, Facebook and Twitter might as well have exploded from all the NFL hate spewing from angry fingertips (including a state senator who tweeted the number to Roger Goodell’s office), 70,000 people called and left voicemails for the NFL, who were forced to release a disingenuous statement today pretty much saying the call on the field was wrong (no shit), but everything else was right. On top of that, the day after, the sidebar ticker on SportsCenter looked like this: NFL Ruling, Official Catch Rule, Catch Reactions, Locked Out Officials, and Clayton on the Catch. And of course, the current subject already in the lineup was the same thing. The only way this play would have been more talked about is if Tim Tebow threw the ball (or caught it, depending on where the Jets are lining him up these days). The NFL has become a tragedy; and this, my friends, is soft-core tragedy porn.
Let’s be clear, nothing about last night, this week, or this entire season thus far should be described as “right.” Right would be putting the actual professional NFL referees back to work so you don’t tarnish your image. Right would be getting guys in black and white who know the rules of the game so every team at least has the same chance of winning. Right would be keeping your players safe by assuring that games stay in control with referees player’s and coach’s respect; not to mention refs that will make the calls necessary to keep dangerous hits from happening more than they have to. For once, ESPN is pushing an agenda that somehow EVERYONE(3) can agree upon. Is it going to start a trend? Once they realize how powerful they’ve actually become,(4) are they just going to puff their chests until they can predict, or even, create the future of sports in this country? I’m not going to hold my breath when it comes to the NHL lockout, that’s for sure.
And yet, when it comes to the NFL referee lockout, I almost don’t want it to end. I find great hilarity in chaos. When the referees are fumbling over words, saying calls with question marks at the end of them, facing the wrong direction and running the wrong way, I can’t help myself but laugh hysterically. It’s comical to me, and the sadder it gets, the funnier it gets. What can I say? I like to be entertained; I love a good joke. And that’s exactly what the NFL is with these replacement referees.
UPDATE: Under 24 hours after this post was put up, the league and the officials met to iron out details for the lockout. 48 hours after, the regular NFL referees were on the field for the Thursday night Baltimore/Cleveland game.
Footnotes:
I actually agreed with everything he said; especially the part about it happening in slow-mo. That's exactly how I experienced it. I thought to myself "They're not both going to call something different. They can't." Then they did. This is what I find so funny.
I hope Jon Gruden stays in the booth for a long time. He's one hell of a broadcaster, and I feel like he is the voice of the masses; even if he is known as one of the meanest, hardest-working coach types to be a part of the game
Some links to most major sports outlets and their coverage: E.S.P.N., Yahoo, TSN, Grantland, Fox Sports, CBS Sports, NBC Sports, HuffPo Sports, Deadspin
I can't link to it, but somehow, every football fan should read the Rolling Stone article "More Show than Game" about how television changed football. Pretty relevant right about now.
