By Peter Christian

thecallouts@gmail.com

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The Call-Outs took a sabbatical last week for reasons that will be explained in just a few moments  so we will have a couple call-outs that would have been taken care of last week had it not been for call-out #4. Since this one might get lengthy, lets get rolling with the finger pointing.

This (and Last) week I enjoyed: Sidney Rice owning the Detroit Lions, this awesome video, Mad Men, Brandon Jennings going off, Dwyane Wade’s dunk over Anderson Varejao, Zack Greinke getting the Cy Young, Minnesota Twins new uniforms, LeBron proposing that the NBA retire #23

THE ENTIRE SPORTS MEDIA WORLD!!!!

OK, so Bill Belichick decided against a punt on 4th and 2 from inside his own 30 yard line with the game on the line and suddenly everyone loses their frickin’ mind? Come on people, just because it wasn’t the conventional route or the safe route (so to speak) doesn’t mean it was a huge controversial decision that we need to spend 48 hours dissecting on sports talk radio and on Sportscenter and on countless blogs. What’s worse is that nearly EVERYONE is focusing on the wrong damn issue(s). The controversy shouldn’t be based on the fact that Belichick made a gutsy, no – BALLSY (that one’s for you David Kay) decision to let HIS team decide the fate of a premier match-up against a conference rival rather than putting the game in the other future Hall of Fame QB’s hands. The controversy SHOULD be based on the fact that a) The official on top of the play had his head so far up his own ass he could see his esophagus (more on this guy in a minute)  and b) the only fault levied on Belichick’s shoulders should be his mismanagement of his timeouts.

Yet, almost immediately after the play everyone with a video camera, microphone, computer , typewriter, pen and quill decided that the decision to go for it was the most important topic to debate. Moreover, those same pundits and blowhards brought up all the wrong points.

Here is what everyone needs to realize: 1st – Going for the first down on 4th down regardless of where the ball is on the field is not a new concept. In fact it’s been tested and a punt on 4th down no matter where you are on the field is NOT always the best choice, this was one of those circumstances (read this article and google “David Romer”).  2nd – This was not a situation of Belichick having no faith in his defense. He actually had to have more faith in his defense in order to make the decision. Sure, he thought his offense would have no problem getting the 2 yards necessary (and he was right) but in the event that they didn’t he trusted his defense on a short field to stop Peyton from scoring. Remember, the Patriots were still leading at that point. He gambled that a) his offense could get the yards, b) he wouldn’t get hosed by a guy who is paid to make the correct call in a high pressure situation and c) in the event that a) or b) didn’t work out, his defense would be able to keep the Colts out of the end zone. Belichick was right on the 1st part of the gamble (the most important part because it was the part he had the most control over) and wrong on the other 2. I’d also like to go on record and say that I’m not a huge fan of Belichick, but in this case, I’m totally in his corner. If you aren’t, you’re wrong.

Tom Stabile

I’ve watched the 4th down play in question a million times (give or take) and every time I find myself hating that Head Linesman (Tom Stabile) more and more for being an effing idiot and emphasizing the point that I’ve made at least a thousand times that football officials are completely clueless when it comes to determining the spot of the ball AND they could care less if they get it wrong by an inch or a yard and a half.

I know that Kevin Faulk bobbled the ball when Brady’s pass initially hit his hands, but he secured the ball on the first bobble while still having enough for the first down before getting thrown backwards to the turf. I know that Stabile didn’t have a very good view of exactly when Faulk definitely secured the ball because of how Faulk’s body was turned and where Stabile was positioned. However, and this is a sticking point, as a paid official in the National Football League I do not want to see you guess. There are six other guys wearing stripes on the field who you can confer with to get the right decision. I hate with a capital H that these morons on the field rely on instant replay to confirm or deny what they think happened when all could be solved if the guy calls the other 6 over to say, “Hey guys, I saw he juggled the ball to start but I’m not sure when he secured the ball. If he secured it immediately the spot is here if he continued to bobble it, the spot is here, what did you see?”

If anything that would build suspense around the play as the crowd and both sidelines await the decision. These referees seem to think that they are each out on an island to make the decision. It doesn’t need to be a situation where the referee has to go and duck under a hood and watch 24 angles of the same play to make the determination. Instead, the fans, the players and the teams of the NFL are subject to an outcome which can be completely reliant on an official’s guess of what might have happened on the other side of a 200 pound man wearing heavy padding simply because said official has too much pride to ask for help? And people wonder why I hate NFL officials.

Deer

I know there are people in the world that think the concept of hunting in the year 2009 is stupid (my wife is one of them) but I’m not going to start that debate here. So if you want to start, just stop. I enjoy hunting. I especially enjoy deer hunting. However, I do not enjoy taking time away from work, driving hundreds of miles away from my home, getting up hours before dawn and sitting in a cold (sometimes rainy) forest for ten hours at a time to not see one damn deer. I don’t pretend to be some super intense outdoorsman who tracks the movement of animals, but in a portion of forest (about 160 acres) where each of the other 10 members of my party see deer (some as many as 6) I expect to at least SEE something. Instead those big animals that yield such tasty meat eluded me like I had a super strain of the plague. I’m not even asking to have the opportunity to shoot a deer. I just love the rush of seeing a deer in the woods. So you would think after a total of 4 days sitting quietly in the woods, not making a sound or doing anything that would cause a deer to steer completely away from me I would have one deer walk/run into my line of sight even to just intensify my appetite for the pursuit next year, but no. Not one. I know I sound like a whiny bitch right now but I don’t care. I hate you deer.

Computers

I don’t intend to make this a completely personal bitching and moaning session of the Call-Outs but bear with me. In the past two weeks I’ve had both my home and work PC’s crap out on me leaving me with little ability to get work done, get any writing done (especially the Call-Outs) and severely limiting my time of just surfing the internet for cool stuff. I was relegated for nearly 10 days to only utilizing my iPhone for internet use, fantasy football/basketball/hockey updates, and regular boredom cures while I waited for one or both of the computers to get diagnosed/fixed. It was like Hell, but about 33 times worse and without the heat. I’m OK now though.

MLB Managers and Coaches

This is for the boneheads and nitwits who vote for the players to win the Gold Glove awards in their specific leagues. This year there were more than a handful of guys who got the defensive trophy with less than stellar statistical backing. Leading the list is the infallible Derek Jeter. I’m a very anti-Jeter guy to begin with but him getting a Gold Glove for his mediocre play at short stop is a complete travesty. He is the most overrated defensive player in the history of the game. There.  I said it. And I meant it. The statement is complete and total hyperbole, I know, but I will defend it until I die. The problem is that announcers and baseball guys fawn over Jeter when he makes the most pedestrian of plays. Think back to the post season. Jeter was praised up and down for being so “heads up” when Twins players made terrible baserunning mistakes to make outs. Yet, it was Jeter’s ability to make the play that made it amazing, not the unbridled stupidity of Nick Punto. Then there were the snubs of great defensive players such as Albert Pujols and Chase Utley in the National League. Mark Teixeira got a Gold Glove for having extra range that no other AL first basemen has, yet Pujols is punished for it in the NL? And Chase Utley is widely considered to be a great hitting second baseman but he gets overlooked for a guy that spent time hurt and definitely didn’t have the same defensive ability he has in the past (Orlando Hudson). I’m OK with the fact that the award isn’t given based on the science, but at least make sure the award isn’t just handed over to the guy who won it last year or two years ago simply because the guys who vote have no basis or perspective to judge who is better than everyone else. Seriously, watch a game from a dugout and you tell me that you have a better view of deciding what defensive plays are good and great than someone who watches hundreds of games per month on television. If you think you can, you’re crazy.

Honorable Mentions: Jeff Triplette and co., NCAA (Dez Bryant rulings), Tim Ryan, Whoever came up with the nickname “PT Cruiser” for Pierre Thomas, USC Trojans, Elizabeth Lambert (Soccer player at New Mexico State)

If you have a nomination for a call-out, please send them to thecallouts@gmail.com

Possibly Related Posts:

• The Call Outs: MLB Umpires and Beyond
• The Call-Outs
• The Call-Outs 5-12-10
• The Call Outs
• The Call-Outs 2-12

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