By Peter Christian

thecallouts@gmail.com

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I love the NFL and I love MLB play-offs but they just provide too many Call-Out candidates. Like way too many. If I left some of these off the list I would be failing at my job as the internet’s premier Caller Outer of Sports and Pop Culture infractions and injustices. To remedy the problem, I will again be breaking this week’s column into two parts for your consumption convenience.

This week I enjoyed: 30 for 30 (all three have been great to this point), Vikings DBs (w/out Antoine Winfield), It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, Calling Play-by-Play for Hudson (WI) Raiders HS football

Manny Ramirez

Are we really surprised about anything Manny does at this point? The phrase “Manny being Manny” is so cliché that it just missed out on being mentioned in Paul M. Banks’ feature about the 11 Phrases that should NEVER be broadcast or published again but that still doesn’t explain Ramirez’ decision to hit the showers during the 9th inning of Game 4 of the NLCS against the Phillies. So while Manny was rinsing off his mango-melon body wash with a personalized loofa he missed his team collapse as Jimmy Rollins drove in 2 runs with a walk off double. Granted, Manny isn’t the first player to hit the clubhouse early after being replaced late in the game but he went above and beyond by stepping into the showers. Over and over Manny’s selfish behavior has been stuff of a GM nightmare and yet over and over he is given a free pass because he has a pretty swing. Yet somehow other players that are less talented but also less distracting are vilified for their anti-team behavior. I know Milton Bradley isn’t AS good as Manny, but yet he is made out to be one of the worst men to ever wear a baseball uniform while Manny’s actions get a sheepish smile and a shake of the head. I really want to believe that this is the beginning of the end for Manny and that his antics have finally started to wear thin, but then again, I’m pretty sure that if he explodes for a titanic April next season that once again all will be forgotten in Mannywood.

Week 7 NFL Officiating

I’m no stranger to pointing out how bad officials can be in the NFL… in fact it was the sole reason why I created an “Anti-Call of the Week” section to close out the column each week. I must say that for the most part the NFL officiating has been decent thus far through the 2009 season. That is, up until Week 7. There were two games in particular that were especially suspicious yesterday, one that directly affected the way in which the game ended and another which had a major implication on how the betting line was affected.

The first occurred during the 4th quarter of the Minnesota-Pittsburgh game. The Vikings were trailing by 3 and on 1st and goal they had scored an apparent touchdown to take the lead. However, a penalty flag and a call for “Tripping” in Vikings TE Jeff Dugan would negate the TD and give the Vikes first and goal from the 20. Replays showed that Dugan did not intentionally trip Steelers Linebacker James Harrison, nor did he make a kicking motion to initiate the flag. Dugan merely approached Harrison and then threw his shoulders at Harrison’s legs for a legal cut block. Harrison attempted to sidestep the block and did so directly into Dugan’s outstretched legs. Yet per usual, the Steelers got the benefit of even the slimmest of doubt from the officials and two plays later, Pittsburgh made good of their second chance by forcing a Brett Favre fumble, recovering it and returning it for a TD. If that TD play isn’t nullified, the Vikings have the lead and the game is put onto the Minnesota defense’s shoulders which to that point had played very well.

The second took place during the wild Saints-Dolphins game during the Dolphins final two drives. First was the call of an illegal forward pass against Greg Camarillo which was complete crap. Every viewer on TV could see that Camarillo was simply trying to stretch the ball to the sideline to stop the clock and the ball slipped out as he reached. If the ball wouldn’t have gone out of bounds and would have been recovered by the Saints the officials most definitely would have called it a fumble. The same goes for if a player was stretching forward for a first down or the end zone. It was a call that is terribly inconsistent with the “norm” call in that situation which was what first led me to pay attention a bit closer than I normally would have. Then a few minutes later, it was clear the Saints were going to win but the Dolphins were still trying to put one final TD on the board (which would have turned the game from a Saints cover to a push or a Dolphins cover with a two point conversion) and had a 1st and goal from the 8 with less than 10 seconds to play when Chad Henne rushed the Dolphins up to the line to spike the ball and stop the clock. Then the officials huddled (a flag was never thrown) and it was announced that a player on Miami never became set, therefore it was a penalty for illegal motion and with the 10 second run-off of the game clock, the game was over. No big deal because the game was already decided and it wouldn’t have changed the outcome of the game, but if I had money on the Dolphins to cover there (I didn’t) I would have been IRATE! I watched the play 3 or 4 more times and didn’t see any player that wasn’t set at the time of the snap. I’m not a guy to accuse people of conspiracy or of having a financial stake in the game (mostly these guys just suck at their job) but this situation was just a bit too fishy for my liking. I’m just saying.

Packers fans/Favre Bashers

I know there has been a serious backlash against Brett Favre for his giant ego and attention mongering but in the past 36 hours it has reached its boiling point. First it started with the reaction to the way in which the Vikings game ended against the Steelers. On Twitter, facebook and plenty of other internet forums many Packers fans and Favre bashers took it upon themselves to blame Favre for the Vikings loss. Comments like “Vintage Favre” and “The collapse begins” and many others of the same ilk were being made faster than the guy from the Micro Machines commercial talks (aka John Moschitta Jr. or Mr Testeverde from “Saved by the Bell”). While I can understand the fact that many Packers fans are bitter that Favre is now in purple and Favre bashers hate the amount of praise and attention the guy gets, they couldn’t be any farther from the truth. The Vikings loss had nothing to do with Favre’s abilities and his propensity to throw an ill-advised pass in a big moment was not the case in Sunday’s game. The first turnover was a)two plays after a TD pass was unjustly taken away from him by an official that needs to reacquaint himself with the definition of the tripping infraction and would have happened to any quarterback in that situation. With that play, Favre was where he should have been in the pocket and the ball was where it should have been. Brett Keisel simply made a good play to reach out and hit Favre’s arm as he was prepping to throw and the ball went backwards where only Steelers players could pick it up. Then the interception by Keyaron Fox was more a play of Steelers luck than anything else. The Vikings could line up that play 100 times and Chester Taylor would make that catch 95 times and the ball would drop to the ground 3 times. Chester has to make that catch. He knows it. The coaching staff knows it. The fans know it. Even the people jumping in front of moving vehicles and speeding bullets to stomp on Favre know it, they just ignore that fact to take pot shots at the guy. Favre isn’t the one who’s at fault for that game being a loss…

Brad Childress

… No, that distinction lies with Mr. Childress himself. Looking back over that game it is simply baffling as to why the Vikings head coach decided to pass the ball two-thirds of the time when they have Adrian Peterson, who just happens to be one of the best running backs the league has seen in the past 15 years AND a former 1,000 yard rusher as his back up. There are two instances that jump to mind where Childress should have been itching to pound the ball down the throat of the Steelers defense, but he instead chose to rely on the passing game. Both times it hurt the Vikings. First came in the third quarter when the Vikings had first and goal from the Pittsburgh one yard line and on both 2nd AND 3rd down, Childress called for Favre to throw, both unsuccessfully. If you have a great offensive line (which the Vikings claim to have) and the best running back alive (which they do) you put your faith in the running game and run right at their defense two out of three times. Instead, those 3 plays turned into a micro chasm of the entire game as they inexplicably passed 2 out 3 opportunities and ultimately came away with less than what they needed.

The same goes for the play that sealed the game. The Vikings offense (through the passing game) had put themselves in a position to tie the game and had an opportunity to burn some clock and win the game outright by utilizing the aforementioned best running back in the league but instead decided to continue with their cute inside passes to get quick easy yardage. I understand that the philosophy had been successful to that point but as a coach in the NFL, you have to stay ahead of the curve. You can’t wait for the curve to catch up to you before you change. Childress waited for the odds to catch up with him and on Favre’s 47th pass of the game, a bounce finally went the Steelers way and it cost the Vikings the game. The moral of the story: Brad Childress needs to get smarter. A lot smarter.

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• The Call Outs
• The Call-Outs 2-12

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