NHL Playoffs: Round 2 - Here We Go Again

My apologies for the "ghost post" yesterday.  I hit the Publish button instead of the Save.  The Michigan finale will be the next post (probably tomorrow).

After the first round of the playoffs, the regional sports networks no longer carry the games.  National coverage takes over and is led by NBC and it's affiliates.

The Nobody But Crosby flagship station...

 The Nothing Besmirches Crosby's Sublime Nobility network....

And the Capitals Never Beat Crosby network...

Doc Emerick and the boys are great announcers, but let's be real.  We know who they like.  Whether it's their own preference, or coaching by the NHL...

I had written another rant condemning them to one-sided coverage of the series.  I must admit, it wasn't nearly as badly biased as I expected, at least, during the game.  Well, until Squidney scored twice.  Then the "unbelievables" and "amazings" started flying around.  I didn't watch the analysts between periods.  I'm guessing they couldn't stop gushing about 87's godlike abilities.

 
The Caps are not only fighting the players on the other side, they must combat the fact that the Pens are the most promoted team in the league over all others, and that usually, Pitt gets all the bounces, deflections, bad penalties, and dumb luck in their favor.

That pretty much continued....

Both teams played very well.  The Pens got some (or all, as usual) lucky breaks early in the second.  The Caps caught up by the third period.  Then a breakaway gave Pitt the lead again.  At this point, the refs stripes turned yellow and they called a slashing penalty on what is generally considered fishing for a rebound.  The Caps allowed only two shots on the kill, but then only had a couple minutes to try for the tie.  Even a seven car pileup in front of the net couldn't provide an opportunity for a score.

Hopefully, the Caps will be able to keep up the pressure for the rest of the series.  It seemed like a much more even matchup this time.

Which means Caps don't have much of a chance.....

Brady is the Greatest because NFL Media Dept. says so!

FOX Sports memo to all broadcast staff:

   In order to assure compliance with NFL league policies and negotiated agreements between the NFL and FOX Sports, please be sure to emphasize these points while presenting the Super Bowl game:

     1. Worship, Glorify, Analyze, and tie all success by the New England Patriots back to Tom Brady.  The predominant message of all broadcasts is to be the marketing of the superiority and star power of Mr. Brady.  No more than thirty seconds should elapse between either mentions of his name, or his image on the screen.

     2. Briefly mention the Atlanta Falcons at some point to dispel favoritism.

     3. To provide some slight variety, also mention repeatedly the accomplishments of other Patriot players in the preceding playoff wins.

Joe Buck sure earned his paycheck on that one....

As far as the actual game, the sickening feeling I have after watching it didn't come from most of the normal causes.  Though the more I watch football, the more often I get this feeling.
This time, it wasn't that the Patriots seemed to have an unfair advantage.  The officials really did a great job "letting them play" and still keeping order on the field.  There were no game-changing penalties to swing the game in New England's favor, nor were there any ticky-tack calls on Atlanta defensive players for disturbing the aura of Tom Brady.

The Falcons just simply made mistakes, lost the momentum of the game and let the Patriots keep chipping away at the lead.  And then a pass was deflected in the air and three Falcon players could not prevent the NE receiver from catching the ball that should have just fallen to the ground.  At that point, I should have known the outcome would be what it was.

Most of what left me so disgusted was listening to Joe Buck, (and even the normally unbiased Troy Aikman to a lesser degree) go on and on and on, hammering away the whole game (or at least the second half that I saw) about how amazingly awesome Tom Brady is.  They never even tried to discuss anything else.  Atlanta is leading by 25 points, but all they can talk about is how this is so unexpected, so unusual from the Patriots, and they're just waiting for them to turn it all around at any moment, but it's not happening fast enough.  At one point, Buck praised Tom for using "his best fastball" on a pass to the running back in the flat that lost three yards - because it could have been a catastrophic turnover.  Lord knows any other non-demigod quarterback would have messed it up and lost the game.  Thank God Brady was there to SAVE THE DAY!  Ugh....

Of course, now that New England won again, the unrestrained Brady worship will saturate all the sports talk media for the rest of his career.  It was bad enough that half of all broadcasters were drinking the Kool-Aid on this guy, but now they'll be throwing it on the crowd in buckets and force-feeding it to the rest of us until he gives his Hall of Fame speech, which they will probably allow the year after he stops playing in a special exemption because he's just so exceptionally great.  They might even persuade Belichik to introduce him in his trademark deadpan style.  (Though I think the reason Bill talks like that is that he's bitter about Brady getting all the credit even though 60% of the team's success is really due to his system.)

I feel bad for Dan Quinn, Matt Ryan, and the Falcons.  I doubt the NFL front office does, though.  They're happy because the game result was the optimum marketing outcome for them.  The Hype Machine's poster boy came out on top again. 

The Dallas Standard

*Sigh*.

I hate to be "that guy" again, but it's getting ridiculous.  I don't post enough about football to show that I'm really not a total conspiracy theorist and hater.  It just comes across that way.

The last week or so, it seems like there have been a few things that make ya go "Hmm..."

Dallas played on Week 11 Sunday at 1:00 vs. the Ravens.  Washington played the Sunday night game at 8:30. 
The next week they faced off on Thanksgiving in Dallas.  Was the seven hour difference an advantage to Dallas?  Not sure.
The next game Dallas had wasn't until the next Thursday, (last night).  They had the whole seven days off.  The Vikings played the previous Sunday.  Dallas gets the extra rest again.  Advantage?  Maybe, maybe not.

I was actually surprised that there were no egregious calls during the Thanksgiving game that influenced the outcome.  Washington was competitive, and the game was played well by both teams.

Minnesota was not so lucky last night.

At around 6:45 to go in the first quarter, Zeke Elliott fumbles.  He clearly loses the ball, then falls on it and has it in his hands.  Anthony Barr of the Vikings jumps down and pulls it away.  Quite often during the average fumble, there is a pileup and the ball passes to a few different players until they get sorted out.  The last guy with the ball generally wins.  In this case, Elliott acknowledged he lost the ball and the offense started moving off the field.  But then the officials decided it needed to be reviewed.  After going under the hood, they decided that "the ball was recoverd by a Dallas player and then taken away by a Minnesota player."  Dallas ball.

Then, with ten and a half minutes left in the fourth quarter,  Dallas punts.  Adam Theilen of the Vikes catches the punt and runs a little ways to the side and is tackled.  Dallas players came off the tackle with the ball.  Dallas challenges the play.  It is determined that Theilen fumbled just before hitting the ground.  As he rolls over, the ball is loose, and then he gets it in both hands before a Dallas player pulls it away.  It is again ruled Dallas ball.  The next play is a Dez Bryant touchdown.

So in both cases, there was a legitimate fumble, recovery by the same player, and then an opposing player with "simultaneous possession" pulls the ball away.  Both times, Dallas gets the ball.  But they weren't the ball carrier to begin with in the second instance.  If the Vikings take the ball away, according to the refs, it's Dallas ball.  But if Dallas takes it away, the refs say they get to keep it.

I say they can't have it both ways.   Glaring double standard.

Are we going to start a debate about "what is a fumble recovery?" now, like there is for "what is a catch?"

Or is it just that Jerrah's team is on another nationally featured game, so they get all the breaks?

Like I said, I'm really trying NOT to be that guy....

The Second Coming of #12 is imminent

 
Watch out all you heathens!  The Savior of Sports is coming back!

We'll all be saved from the sacrilege of small market teams!  No more will you have to tolerate the mediocrity of semi-star quarterbacks!  The Light of the Sports World has returned!

Tom Brady, the most worshipped player in the NFL is set to debut for the 2016 season this week.  He returns from a suspension that many call unfair and unwarranted.  The "Brady Revenge Tour" begins on Sunday, where he will avenge his humiliation and take his rightful place upon the highest throne in the entire league.

Bleah.  Makes me sick....

All the sportscasters are raving about how wonderful it is that they get their favorite guy back.  And how it's so unjustified that he got suspended in the first place.  He's just the poster boy for high character and the greatest player since Joe Montana, Johnny Unitas, and Otto Graham combined.

Anyone that knows me well enough to hear my opinions of sports and football knows that I can't stand the guy.  I think he's an accurate passer that makes good decisions.  And that's about it.  Put him on Cleveland or San Francisco this year and see how much of a demigod he really is.  Bill Belechick's system and team culture are the real secret to his success by far.

Look what's happened this year.  Brady is out four weeks, so backup Jimmy Garoppolo (31 total NFL passes until that game - only four all last year) comes in and wins the first game, and is on his way to a second victory before going out with a shoulder injury early in Week 2.  Then third round draft pick Jacoby Brissett comes in and finishes that game and shuts out the Texans the next week.  During that game, he gets a thumb sprain and the whole thing falls apart against Buffalo Week 4.

So they went 3-1 with the backup and the third string QB in action.

What does that say?  It's a limited sample size, but to me it points to the fact that BRADY'S NOT THAT SPECIAL.  If those other guys can guide the team to wins, what's the big difference?  They win by more points?

But the real reason there's so much excitement is that all the sportscasters get their idol back.  They gush over this guy so much, I'm surprised there aren't puddles in the broadcast booth.  Anything he does is praised like he's the only one who's ever done it, like throw screen passes and flat patterns to make first downs.  OMG he's such an amazing godlike figure on the field, that they have to show him on camera every few minutes even when he's irrelevant to what's going on on the field.  They will mention his name in other games when analyzing the most minute details of a quaterback's throwing motion or decision on second and seven to choose the Y receiver on the curl route.

The predictions are that he'll come back his first week and throw five touchdowns or more.  Well, they're playing Cleveland, so it is actually a possibility this week.  But the whole concept of "Revenge Tour" is ludicrous, because what does he really have to be upset about?  To me, he didn't get punished for masterminding a conspiracy to deflate footballs so his opponent would lose a playoff game.  He got rigthfully suspended for not cooperating in a federal investigation.  He destroyed a cell phone that was requested as evidence.  I don't care if there's nothing on it besides Gisele's duckface portraits, it was evidence.  Oh, is he too good of a character guy to be suspected of wrongdoing?  Just ask Bridget Moynahan.  While she is incredibly gracious when asked about her ex, (who got with Gisele at the same time Moynahan found out she was pregnant with his son), it is reported that she makes people agree not to mention his name around her, be they family or co-workers.  He wasn't even with her when she delivered the kid.  Now Gisele spouts off about how good they are at parenting and consider the son to be "theirs" to a degree.  Brady doesn't say much.  And he shouldn't.

Anyway.  rest assured that all the media will be saturating the channels with talk about this so-called saviour returning to action this Sunday.  He'll be the headline story in what would otherwise be a low rated game since it's such a mismatch.

But that's the trend these days.  Hype the obnoxious players, especially when they're in the large markets.  You see the same overexposure to guys like Odell Beckham when he goes so out of control that he is punching at the head of Josh Norman last year, or recently almost injures himself with the kicker's net (that never gets old!), or Dez Bryant, who runs out on the field while his defense is playing to protest a referee's call, but somehow doesn't get a penalty himself.  They get more screen time for their rants, celebrations, and selfish antics than they do for their great plays on the football field.  The NFL penalizes taunting and excessive celebrations (sometimes too much), but the networks still see fit to put these guys on screen and glorify them.  Their rants and "look at me" moments are replayed before the commercial breaks.

Brady gets the same treatment when he's seen screaming at other players on the sidelines, or demanding a flag on the defensive player for brushing his helmet with their hand while attempting to block a pass.  You won't hear a negative word said against him, though.  It's all justified when Brady's involved.  Heck, they invented a rule because of him.  I won't even get into the Tuck Rule....

I'm going to try to ignore all the Brady talk.  I refuse to be brainwashed into their religion.  Hold fast to your faith in your hometown teams, my friends.  Don't be fooled by the Commentating Clergy, the Reverends of the Replay, the Holy Orders of the Halftime Show.  Don't worship this Deity of First Downs, this Savior of the Screen Pass.  Keep holy the deserving gods of the gridiron like Walter Payton, Reggie White, Deacon Jones, and Jim Brown.  Go forth and fellowship in the name of your favorite franchise!  Amen!