The placebo effect is a fake treatment that can sometimes improve a patient's condition simply because the person has the expectation that it will be helpful. It's basically saying our feelings and views are all about perception, not necessarily reality. Now this may be a stretch of the definition, but I use it the inverse way as well. If someone expects something to be bad, then it will SEEM bad even if it is not. I use this to describe the “replacement refs” in the NFL. When I woke up this morning I found my Facebook timeline and Twitter feed flooded with complaints about the final play of the Green Bay and Seattle Monday Night Football game last night. Slumber took hold, so I missed the last play, but from what I understand both the wide receiver and cornerback came down with at least a hand on the ball. Many seemed to speculate that the cornerback had better hold of it and that the receiver pushed off, but in that sense, it’s a judgment call. The rule for a simultaneous catch is that the ball is given to the receiving team at the spot of the catch. Similar to the tie goes to the runner in baseball; the tie goes to the offense in this situation.
Since the play occurred in the end zone, if the referees deem it to be a simultaneous catch the correct call is a touchdown. Therefore it wasn’t the referee’s interpretation of the rule, but the perception of the play that is under duress. That my friend, is human error. This can happen to anyone, those with the “replacement” title or those with the “permanent” title. Any Green Bay fan wants to shoot me right now and probably any fan that thinks their team was wronged thus far would agree with the Cheeseheads. Yet you need to see where I am coming from. We know these are not the normal refs, so they are scrutinized and criticized worse than any refs were previously. Our reality TV induced short term attention spans seem to have forgotten that the media and the fans have spent the last few years complaining about the “permanent refs.” Am I the only person that remembers this? Am I the only person that remembers the debate on whether the NFL should make the refs full-time and forbid them to have another job? Like that would make their perception of what happens on the field any better. Other sports have not been immune to the recent firestorm of criticism, baseball umps have been heavily disparaged. Remember Galaraga & Santana’s non-No Hitters and Tex (pic to the right) from a month ago. Basketball referees were also a topic on ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption and First Take more than a few time last year. I have now come to my hypothesis; Refereeing has not gotten worse; replay has gotten much, much better. On every play we get at least 137 angles of a play, 136 of which a referee does not get to view in real time. This leads to the discrepancies. I know, I know, someone is going to say “but that play was reviewed and they still got it wrong.” Well, that goes back to the judgment call, that’s opinion, not fact (pass interference is not a not reviewable). Human error will happen no matter who is wearing the zebra shirts. Another quick tidbit about this. Would the outrage be as prevalent if the roles were reversed? If the beloved Green Bay Packers beat the red-headed stepchild of a franchise Seahawks on a seemingly botched call would the outrage be at this ridiculous level? Me thinks not.
Same topic, different angle. You want the NFL to settle with the permanent refs? Stop watching NFL, stop Facebooking about the NFL, stop Tweeting about the NFL. As long as you watch, as long as they give you something to talk about, why should they settle? Integrity of the game you say? Are you kidding me? This is the same league that fines players for hard hits, yet shows the replays over and over because violence sells. This is the same league that feigns to care about the safety of their players while simultaneously pushing for an 18 game schedule. This is the same league that ignores retired players' mental and physical health issues. This is the same league that told players to "shake it off" and called obvious concussions "stingers." All while us fans sat on our couches eating it up. Integrity you say?...Their integrity, along with our own integrity on this issue is long gone.
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