Bobref

I don’t know. After all, we ducked Northern Illinois. 😉

Turning the page on 2024. Here’s what lies ahead:

They got it right. But I think we can both agree that it would have been “better” if they had both come in with the same spot. I’m certainly not saying a crew of highly-rated officials thrown together for the first time would do a poor job. They likely wouldn’t. I’m saying the game runs more smoothly with a crew that’s been working together. “Smoothly” means fewer causes for controversy that can damage the credibility of subsequent calls.

I think you saw a good example of that last weekend, when the two short wing officials had trouble with their forward progress spots. And, as far as “not doing as well,” I would add “in certain aspects of officiating the game.”

I go back to my offensive line analogy. Working with the same people week after week forms you into a unit — much more so than a collection of All-Stars who have never worked with one another before. I was fortunate enough to work with the same crew for 25 seasons. I was not tempted to look outside my area of responsibility, because I knew exactly where everyone else was going to be and what they were going to be looking at. That ability to focus on my responsibilities without having to concern myself with what someone else is doing made me a better official. Everyone uses the same mechanics, but that’s not like a choreography, where everyone is taking the same steps and making the same moves. That’s why the NFL assigns officials as crews during the regular season. If that weren’t better, every week you’d just pull officials’ names out of a hat, and assign the games that way.

Hard for me to believe that this discussion is even taking place. I tried a malpractice case once, defending a hospital against a claim that a patient fall resulting in a significant head injury went undocumented and was “covered up” by hospital personnel. At trial, I demonstrated to the jury just how many people would have to be involved in such a “cover up” without leaking the information to outsiders. It was almost 100 people. Think how much larger a conspiracy would be involved in making sure each of the officiating crews working a Chief’s game got the word that they were required to favor the Chiefs. Anyone who thinks that sort of conspiracy could exist — and be successfully covered up — is so lacking in critical thinking ability that I find it hard to believe they were not dropped on their heads at birth … repeatedly.

This is a never-ending debate within the officiating community. The contrary argument is that the current system incentivizes all official’s to do their best, without being “penalized” by another crew member’s deficiencies.

An officiating crew works together as a unit. Think about an offensive line. They might all be very good players. But they are at their best when they’ve got experience working together as a unit. A crew is the same way.

Comparing an umpire to a back judge is not the same as talking about two line of scrimmage officials who have equal responsibility for determining forward progress. They need to work cooperatively, while BJ and U have completely different responsibilities.

The NFL assigns officials to the playoffs in “mixed” crews, i.e., officials are assigned on their individual merit, not according to their crew’s rating. The officials on a playoff crew may not have worked with any other crew member all season. Utilizing cross-field mechanics to get a critical 4th down forward progress spot on a play like that is a lot more difficult than it looks on TV, and familiarity with your opposite number on the line of scrimmage helps a lot. Remember, those two line of scrimmage officials are each >25 yds. from the middle of the field. And at field level, they are looking through a lot of very large bodies trying to find the football. In the end, they talked it over, as they should, and the Referee went with the official they thought had the better view.

I confess to being endlessly fascinated by the tragic/comic soap opera that is the Dallas Cowboys. Having done nothing of any significance for 30 years, Jerry still maintains they are America’s Team … and the most recent valuation of the franchise seems to bear that out. A lot of my fascination consists of staring, open-mouthed in astonishment, at the latest display from the owner/GM/face of the franchise. How a guy can be so successful in business, and not be self-aware enough to realize he’s a major impediment to on-field success, continues to escape me. The alternative, of course, is that winning is subordinate to economic success in Jerry’s priorities.

Pretty simple. Calculate momentum using the formula p=mv, or momentum (p) is equal to mass (m) times velocity (v). Finally got to use my high school physics. 😅😂🤣

Which is why, in answer to the original question, I said the fact that he resigned rather than was terminated was a formidable, but not insurmountable, obstacle to legal action.

My brother, who is a big Buckeye fan, sent me this:

Conference championship games are this weekend, so it’s not too early to start talking about the big game. And we’ll start off with some really great news. The Indiana Football Officials Association’s own Kevin Brown is the replay official’s on the game. Way to go KB!

That’s 53 1/3 yds. 😂🤣😆

What impressed me most about Williams was that he played all 17 games. The most important ability is availability. And he did so while getting sacked 69 times, most in the league. He got knocked down another 41. That total of 110 was second in the league, behind only Joe Burrow … who had 90 more pass attempts than Williams. That’s how you show leadership in the locker room. You keep going out there even when your o-line is a sieve.

@gonzoron told me to remind you that “amount” is used for a quantity that can’t be counted individually. You meant “number.” See, you learned something today!

Quantity over quality. 😂🤣

This is the sound of me not being triggered. 🦗🦗🦗

How likely is it that Jack Swarbrick foresaw something like this? It’s looking now like he was playing chess while everyone else was playing checkers.

More than likely it would be a contingent fee.

If only it were that simple. And if they got a $5 million judgment against the school district, guess who ends up paying it?

Can’t break the bank against the school, even if you can win (which you can’t). Most you can recover against a governmental entity is $700K. Good luck suing a young girl and her parents.