To paraphrase the immortal Potter Stewart – no, he is not the running back for the Carolina Panthers – he is in fact, the Justice of the Supreme Court, who in a 1964 case involving hard-core pornography, said, in essence, I can’t definitively state what hard-core porn is, but “I know it when I see it”.
And just how does that relate to the NFL you might ask? The Calvin Johnson Rule (which we all could define if we Googled it but is it really worth the effort), is probably THE most ridiculous NFL rule of them all. As an aside, if you want to argue for the “tuck” rule being more so , I will disagree but I won’t protest toooo much.
I saw the Calvin Johnson catch last year. It was a touchdown! I know a touchdown when I see it. In fact, we all know a touchdown when we see it! Except for the referees (I know, they seemingly adhered to the absolute letter of the law, er rule) – the ruling on the field of a touchdown was reversed.
I saw the Calvin Johnson catch redux this year, except this year it was made by Jermaine Gresham when the Cincinnati Bengals played the Baltimore Ravens. That also was a touchdown as we know it. Again, the ruling on the field was reversed.
In the interest of full disclosure, I root for the Ravens and I was thrilled that the call on the field did not stand. And, the icing on that cake is that Marvin Lewis, head coach of the Bengals, is on the rules committee…the very same committee that refused to change the Calvin Johnson Rule after last year‘s uproar! Maybe he fell asleep in the meeting – I know I would if I had to debate the specific wording of an NFL rule. And yet, how sweet the irony of it all as it comes back to bite him in the butt.
Had the “touchdown” been allowed, the Bengals would have only needed a 20 yard field goal in the final seconds to send the game into overtime. That call changed the entire complexion of the game – as, unfortunately, many calls based on purely subjective interpretations of convoluted and arbitrary rules will do.
And speaking of calls that change the complexion of games, what’s up with flags thrown so late that the offense is almost huddling up for the next play; what’s up with an iffy infraction on the other side of the field that has absolutely no bearing on the play except that throwing the flag nullifies a touchdown; what’s up with a block to the side as the blocked player turns to avoid the hit, thus becoming a “Hmmm, should I call that as a block in the back, yeah, I guess so” – and what’s so bad about a block in the back anyway; what’s up with the horse collar tackle being illegal for safety purposes but the hair collar is legal (yet still as potentially dangerous as it’s city cousin); as a matter of fact, what’s up with having so many convoluted and arbitrary rules that can be, and are, called one way by one official and another way by the next official?
Yes, I’m a pre-parity old school-er. I say let‘em play! I love defensive games or games in which the defense is not playing with one hand behind it’s back – especially those outdoors on the frozen tundras. I loved it when a DB could be physical all the way downfield; I loved it when a QB could be HIT; I loved it when the defender’s team was not penalized because the guy with the ball DUCKED into the tackler’s helmet.
I used to be in favor of instant replay. Not anymore. With the technology being such that you can see a blade of grass between the hand and the ball, the spontaneity factor of the game is relegated to the Smithsonian. Decisions have become white shirt/red tie/navy suit board meeting situations. It depends on what the definition of “is” is. And, we have to watch the play over and over and over again while listening to Dan Dierdorf – can’t we just go back to basics; back to the simpler rules that made the game the game? C’mon man, can’t we just play football?
Do we need to start an Occupy Roger Goodell’s office movement?
Or is it just me?
