Hey, I have not taken MCG's side when he complained so much about the officials. However I will take his side in saying that what he said about officials in past years is not so different from what I am reading from a number of Skybox posters right now. I didn't buy his complaints then and I am not buying the frequent ones I'm hearing here now. But his were just as valid as hearing the officials are against Notre Dame, Tennessee or that they favor Florida and Alabama. The officials are not perfect but we forget they are part time people who have other real careers. Unless we change that then we will not get perfection.
No Bill, you're wrong! I have not complained a single time about calls against my team. I have seen other games where I had no dog in the fight where I questioned calls. That is an unbiased observation. Yelling that the Gators get screwed because more penalties were called against them than the opposition and basing that opinion on that one issue, at best is BIASED!
Tom, I'll stick with what I said, I didn't buy MCG's complaints in prior years and I'm not buying the complaints this year. I didn't point out anyone but observed things I've read here. The complaints now are no more valid than the ones MCG has posted about in the past. I didn't agree with him then or with what I am reading now. I do see many calls I don't understand, but it is not systematic to favor one team or another. What I do agree with is that we should have NCAA officials not conference officials. But I am not buying that officials of one conference intentionally screw visiting teams. Maybe on a subconscious level but not on a intentional level. There is also a issue of competence.
Bill, Answer this one question: Is there a difference between seeing a call overturned where every angle proves it should not have been, and saying you were screwed because 10 penalties were called against you and only 6 were called against the opposition? Is there a difference in those two situations?
Of course there is Tom. However that is not what I am addressing but I am addressing the approach that your team came out on the short end of the calls, like Kiffin insinuated at his press conference after the Alabama game. The call in the LSU - Alabama game of a pass not being an interception was a bad call and the pictures seem to confirm that. However the whole Florida/Alabama is getting favored is another issue. That is the one I am not buying. As far as the non interception that's a whole different ballgame and needs to be dealt with, as a matter of competence. I've heard a lot of complaints this week similar to what MCG has said in the past. I didn't buy his and I don't buy much of what I've heard recently.
Then there is a difference in how MCG views and verbalizes the situation and how I see things. You and I will have to agree to disagree on this issue. I will continue to point out video evidence and he will still point up and say the sky is falling 'cause we got 4 more penalties than the opposition. The biggest difference is this (since you brought up the Kiffin/Bama issue): The situation with Cody throwing off his helmet... I stated that it was a situation that should NOT be called (even when I mistakenly thought it could have helped Tennessee. It could not have because Bama recovered.). I simply warned: "One day, he will cost Bama a game if he is not reined in. How loud do you think that Dave would have been screaming and calling for the referee's job if that was happening to the Gators? History shows that there would have been three pages of rhetoric and whining. It is my opinion that the team should play well enough to overcome these issues. If you do, and a call goes against you, then you might have a legitimate gripe. If you don't, then don't blame it on the officials. But when there is video evidence that the call was blown, fix it in replay. If replay does not fix it, then there is an issue that needs to be explained.
Tom, quit making this about you, I don't have any problem with what you have said. Kiffin said more than one thing, he talked about the Cody helmet but he also talked about not trying to get closer because the calls seemed to be going Alabama's way. He even said that Florida and Alabama were still unbeaten. But my post was not about Kiffin either but the general tone toward officials. So we will, as you say, just have to agree to disagree.
I haven't brought that debate up in a while but there are so many subjective calls in football like pass interference and offensive holding for example that if one team gets that call 4 or 5 times to the other teams none or one I do question the fairness of that and the accuracy. I just want games where the playing field and the rules are enforced the same for both teams and sometimes it just doesn't seem to fall that way.
Tom, you and I have always differed on this aspect of officiating. For you a hold is hold and somehow you don't see the subjectivity factor in how a hold is called. I say if a ref can miss the in/out aspect of an LSU interception of Alabama he can surely call holding inconsistently. The only thing about that is there is no replay official to overturn the blundering/bias although we know now that these replay guys don't always get it right either. Certainly I understand that not every official is out to call more penalties on one team than the other but I do contend that in some games there is inconsistent application of the rules for whatever reason. The late Tenn TD drive vs. Fla. this year was absolutely facilitated by a celebration penalty on UF because the drive was stopped on 3rd down with a nice sack of Crompton. I wouldn't have had as much of problem with it except that a few minutes later the Tenn defender was even more guilty of a "celebration" and he wasn't called for it. I just say let's call it the same way each time without such inconsistency. And if you don't think a celebration call is subjective then there is no hope that you and I can ever communicate effectively. I will say though that Florida this season has been on the positive side of penalty imbalances and I can't really explain it. Same players.....same coaches but we'll take it.
MCG, So it's ok for the refs to conspire to fix the game as long as they are conspiring in Florida's favor? Never mind, I know the answer already. All this time and you were never really mad that the refs were crooked, you were just mad that they weren't crooked in your favor.
KP, I know MCG edited his post so I am not sure exactly what he said. However when reading what is there now I sure don't see where he said it's ok for referee's to ever be crooked. What I read there now is that a few calls may have gone our way now and that he'd rather have that than when he felt they were going against us. The whole referee thing is ridiculous. There may be a way to have a better system but it would cost a bundle to have full time referee's and under the NCAA instead of conferences. This year it seems to be in to claim that Florida and Alabama are getting calls to get them to the championship game undefeated. Do you buy that? I sure don't.
Correct Bill. Somehow he overlooks how many times I have said that I only want the playing field and the rules applications to be even and consistent. Whether it be inconsistent calls by the refs or penalty avoidance by Fla if it has to be uneven I am glad it's Florida on the low side for a change. Again, what I would like to see the most though is competent refs calling a consistent game all the time.
"I will say though that Florida this season has been on the positive side of penalty imbalances and I can't really explain it. Same players.....same coaches but we'll take it." Sounds to me like the same imbalances (read injustices?) but now that they are in Florida's favor "we'll take it". It was a conspiracy against Florida when the calls were going against them but now they are "imbalances". I wonder if the same Alabama loving, Florida hating refs have had a change of heart. Maybe they just moved to Florida. :roll:
As I said Kp.....can't really explain it but I hope it continues. I still think the possibility exists for some anti-UF bias but it doesn't seem to showing up this year,,,,,so far. Where are those refs from that will do the SECCG? You know em?....Buddies of yours? :lol:
MCG, I don't know. It seems like since I moved back to Alabama I have less influence than I did when I lived in Maryland. Apparently your move has been the difference.
Meltdown Time <r>Pretty funny collections of comments from the internet. Done by a Bama fan.<br/> <br/> If the Gators lose a game this year our sites will probably be worse than that collection.<br/> <br/> <URL url="http://www.rollbamaroll.com/2009/11/17/1157830/its-meltdown-time"><s></s>It' Meltdown Time<e></e></URL></r>