And, so far, no fine!
Doubt if there will be one, since the NFL knew the reversal was a national joke. They likely just want the whole thing to be forgotten.
Porter thus joins Raven coach Brian Billick as the only two NFL insiders who have exposed the NFL's favoritism to certain teams in certain situations. As far as I know, at least.
When Porter stated that "they" wanted Indy to win, he was referring to the league, not necessarily only to Morelli.
This does not mean to suggest that a memo from New York came down to Morelli to assist the Colts to Motor City. (Though 5 years ago Billick seemed to suggest just that, when he stated the league was planning to bad-call his team to defeat against the new Browns, to satisfy public and press demand that the grinch who hurt Cleveland, Art Modell, be thus punished. Didn't happen, Ravens won and no bad calls, which Billick likely forestalled by his startling pronoucement.)
It's a corporate mindset that was absorbed by Morelli, who with his farcical reversal was simply ass-kissing the league that signs his checks. But his reversal was so outrageous it backfired on the NFL. Old ref Jerry Markbreit was a far more clever League whore than poor Morelli. Jerry would pull the same shit, late in his career from the replay booth, but never quite as blatantly - or stupidly - as Morelli.
Yes, there were other bad calls in other games, but those were likly just errors. This one was political, no question about it. Only the top officials, I think, absorb the corrupt culture of the NFL.
Posters on this board who say any two of the other four teams would make an even better Super Bowl are simply talking like fans of the game. The SB isn't a game -- it's a great corporate flaunt. Ask the old lady next door if she ever heard of any of the Qbs who will play on Sunday. Then ask her if she ever heard of Peyton Manning. She probably also heard something of the Dungy family tragedy.
I know storylines, and I know that corporations all all kinds would pay big bucks (and many have) to highlight a heart warming, lovely storyline like Indy in what would have been the big Colt and Pony show in Detroit. It's even much juicier than the Kurt Warner Rams, which a Markbreit miscall helped into the SB. (Ironically, at Dungy's expense when he coached the Bucs) Everybody loves Manning, as Porter says. (Despite those stupid and annoying commercials?)
Yep, the league wants this embarassing incident in its past. Get Markbreit to train refs and replay officials to cheat properly, if in the future you want to assist another fab storyline team into the Big Corporate Festival at season's end.
I also suspect the the league read the riot act to Tom Benson, for hinting that he may desert a damaged city with a diminished fan base. Horrible press there would be on that one! Wouldn't surprise me if the league subsidizes that franchise, until New Orleans begins to get back on its feet.
If you routinely blackmail cities to build stadiums for billionaires, ya need all the sweet and juicy storylines you can buy, or cheat yourself into!
Doubt if there will be one, since the NFL knew the reversal was a national joke. They likely just want the whole thing to be forgotten.
Porter thus joins Raven coach Brian Billick as the only two NFL insiders who have exposed the NFL's favoritism to certain teams in certain situations. As far as I know, at least.
When Porter stated that "they" wanted Indy to win, he was referring to the league, not necessarily only to Morelli.
This does not mean to suggest that a memo from New York came down to Morelli to assist the Colts to Motor City. (Though 5 years ago Billick seemed to suggest just that, when he stated the league was planning to bad-call his team to defeat against the new Browns, to satisfy public and press demand that the grinch who hurt Cleveland, Art Modell, be thus punished. Didn't happen, Ravens won and no bad calls, which Billick likely forestalled by his startling pronoucement.)
It's a corporate mindset that was absorbed by Morelli, who with his farcical reversal was simply ass-kissing the league that signs his checks. But his reversal was so outrageous it backfired on the NFL. Old ref Jerry Markbreit was a far more clever League whore than poor Morelli. Jerry would pull the same shit, late in his career from the replay booth, but never quite as blatantly - or stupidly - as Morelli.
Yes, there were other bad calls in other games, but those were likly just errors. This one was political, no question about it. Only the top officials, I think, absorb the corrupt culture of the NFL.
Posters on this board who say any two of the other four teams would make an even better Super Bowl are simply talking like fans of the game. The SB isn't a game -- it's a great corporate flaunt. Ask the old lady next door if she ever heard of any of the Qbs who will play on Sunday. Then ask her if she ever heard of Peyton Manning. She probably also heard something of the Dungy family tragedy.
I know storylines, and I know that corporations all all kinds would pay big bucks (and many have) to highlight a heart warming, lovely storyline like Indy in what would have been the big Colt and Pony show in Detroit. It's even much juicier than the Kurt Warner Rams, which a Markbreit miscall helped into the SB. (Ironically, at Dungy's expense when he coached the Bucs) Everybody loves Manning, as Porter says. (Despite those stupid and annoying commercials?)
Yep, the league wants this embarassing incident in its past. Get Markbreit to train refs and replay officials to cheat properly, if in the future you want to assist another fab storyline team into the Big Corporate Festival at season's end.
I also suspect the the league read the riot act to Tom Benson, for hinting that he may desert a damaged city with a diminished fan base. Horrible press there would be on that one! Wouldn't surprise me if the league subsidizes that franchise, until New Orleans begins to get back on its feet.
If you routinely blackmail cities to build stadiums for billionaires, ya need all the sweet and juicy storylines you can buy, or cheat yourself into!
