<\/div>\nMake no mistake: if you bet on the Steelers Sunday, you got screwed. <\/span>You got hosed. <\/span>You got rogered but good. <\/span>There are early estimates that put $100 million on the Chargers\/Steelers game, and $66m of it was on the Steelers to win by at least five. <\/span>And they did. <\/span>They won by six, seven if Jeff Reed makes the extra point. <\/span>But you’re not gonna get paid. <\/span>Instead your bookie will say the final score is 11-10. <\/span>He saw it on Sportscenter. <\/span>First time in history a game ended with that score. <\/span>One problem: it’s not true. <\/span>It didn’t end when it was 11-10, it ended when Troy Polamalu scooped up a fumble and ran it into the end zone with no time left. <\/span>And a few minutes later, after a discussion—whose details we will never be privy to—took place on the field, the score line miraculously didn’t reflect what everyone saw happen.<\/span> The refs claimed that one of the Chargers’ last-ditch laterals was forward. <\/span>It wasn’t. <\/span>In fact, it was the 2nd<\/sup> touchdown the refs took away from the Steelers, in a game filled with questionable calls, all of which went against the Steelers. <\/span>A team that averaged 5 ½ penalties a game through the first 9 games, suddenly got 13 called against them at their own stadium. <\/span>A team that had 410 yards of offense and no turnovers struggled to score 3 FGs, in large part because of over 100 yards of penalties. <\/span>This game was fishy. <\/span>And that’s not acceptable.<\/span><\/p>\n So, I have a bold suggestion: <\/span>we should sue the NFL. <\/span>Not for our money back, although that would be nice. <\/span>Not for better games, because frankly we’ve been pretty lucky in that department. <\/span>No, we need to sue for accountability. <\/span>We need a Freedom of Information Act for the NFL. <\/span>We need to force Roger Goodell to take our demands seriously. <\/span>We need all officials to be recorded.<\/span><\/p>\n Make no mistake, I am not accusing the refs of being corrupt. <\/span>Of course, I’m not not <\/i><\/span>accusing them either. <\/span>There have been a lot of write-ups about this game, and most have flatly denied the idea of NFL refs fixing a game. <\/span>But, there are going to be a lot of Message Board comments nationwide, and most will be thoroughly convinced the refs screwed Steelers bettors to help out Vegas. <\/span>All I’m saying is: times are different. <\/span>It is now ATD: after Tim Donaghy. <\/span>Referees are no longer above reproach, and it’s time the NFL addressed that. <\/span>It is time that every discussion the refs have during the game should be reviewed and saved.<\/span><\/p>\n In the first quarter, the Chargers facing a second-and-long, Vincent Jackson went to the end zone, turned, and went the wrong way. <\/span>Flag. <\/span>Defensive Pass Interference. <\/span>The ball wasn’t even close to him, the definition of an uncatchable pass. <\/span>And the “Pass Interference” was a bump that had no effect on the play and no business drawing a flag. <\/span>Instead the call gives the Chargers a 1st<\/sup> and Goal at the 3, and LT scores the Chargers’ only touchdown on the very next play. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Later, the Steelers—on a first-and-ten in their own zone—get called for illegal formation because their tackle was too far back from the line. <\/span>To me, a Chargers fan, I couldn’t believe they made the call, especially since it negated a 16-yard completion. <\/span>Or there’s the illegal block in the third quarter that negated another Steelers first down. <\/span>Or the holding call in the fourth that took away a Steelers touchdown. <\/span>And of course the mother of all questionable calls, the “penalty” on the Chargers that took away the Steelers’ spread-covering touchdown. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n What did the refs say to each other? <\/span>Surely they had to acknowledge that either way the game was over. <\/span>Did anyone mention the point spread? <\/span>What rationale did they use for reviewing the play after the game was over? <\/span>Did anyone object to delaying the inevitable for no particular reason? <\/span>These are questions that no one but that officiating crew can answer, because there’s no record of the conversation. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Ed Hochuli’s mistake earlier this year was clearly an honest one; but he couldn’t undo the whistle. This crew? <\/span>They went out of their way to affect the score. <\/span>And someone needs to find out why. <\/span>So why not make every ref wear a mic? <\/span>It won’t be live to the crowd, it doesn’t have to be live to anyone in the stadium, or to anyone watching at home. <\/span>But shouldn’t someone at NFL headquarters have access to their conversation, just in case? <\/span>Why can I hear some coach cussing out a ref on NFL Films, but I can’t hear some honest discussion of a difficult call?<\/span><\/p>\n Did Tim Donaghy have any co-conspirators? <\/span>Did any ref ever come up to him and say, “Hey, you seem to be calling a lot of fouls tonight?” <\/span>What about last year’s Ravens\/Patriots game, when some Baltimore DBs claimed one official kept calling them “boy,” antagonizing them. <\/span>Publically the NFL has to back its refs, but privately, shouldn’t they be able to investigate more thoroughly than just asking politely? <\/span><\/p>\n A few years ago, Italian soccer’s top league had one of the worst match-fixing scandals imaginable. <\/span>Telephone records showed managers talking to each other, and finding “favorable” referees. <\/span>In soccer, 90% of calls are going to be made by the one ref on the field. <\/span>It is easy to see how one guy could affect the outcome of games with no accountability. <\/span>It took telephone records to crack the case because no discussion was ever going to happen on the field. <\/span>But American football has a natural advantage over that: each call is discussed. <\/span>There are 7 guys that are accountable to each other to make sure that everything is done correctly. <\/span>So, why not make sure that we know what those seven guys said? <\/span>Again, it doesn’t have to be public, at least not right away. <\/span>Put it in the private NFL Archives, to be released after it is reviewed. <\/span>Every official is individually graded and those ratings are kept secret; why not listen to their conversations while watching their calls? <\/span>I can’t think of any other way to make things transparent enough that fans know what’s going on.<\/span><\/p>\n The sports world has not been this fragile since 1919 and the Black Sox scandal. <\/span>There clearly is a precedent, motivation, and opportunity for corruption among officials. So when there is a game like the Steelers\/Chargers, Roger Goodell needs to be able to honestly say, “We’re going to get to the bottom of this. <\/span>We saw the video. <\/span>We heard the conversations. <\/span>Rest assured your game is safe.” <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n We as sports fans need more control over our game. <\/span>We pay the bills, so we need some say. <\/span>And if we have to sue the NFL to make sure the game is better, then so be it. <\/span>In fact, Steelers fans, since you’re a little shorter on cash then you expected to be, here’s some free advice: do what San Diego fans did. <\/span>Call the law firm Ed Hochuli works at. <\/span>Ask him to represent us. <\/span>I think we have a case.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Something suspicious is going on with NFL refs this year–in his weekly column, Ryan Thies has a proposal for how to get to the bottom of things.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-5295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5295\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5295"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=5295"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=5295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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