NFL Gets 2 "Story Line" Teams Into Champ Games - Bad News For Chi,SD?

sd2 · Jan 14, 2007

Assuming San Diego holds on to their slim lead and ends up in the conference championship next week vs Indy.

New Orleans, a great story line team is already in. Despite the Bears shitty (but wnning, ultimately) performance today, the Saints may need a bit of officiating help. The kind that the Steeelers got last year in the POs.

NFL wants thieir big game to be more than a mere sporting event; they fancy it should be a great global morality play. And resurgent New Orleans is made to order - a city fighting back from destruction, a team that has risen from the depths of mediocrity.

So far, it seems the NFL has pretty much kept hands off (tho some are disputing the movement call on Philly late in the divisional game).

The Colts would be the second Story Line team. NFL flacks can still exploit the Dungy family tragedy from last year, and there is always the ubiquitous Peyton, a huge favorite of the distaff side. Much like Elway was a decade ago.

It is possible that the big stink raised last PO season over the atrocious and obviously biased calls - first for the Colts and then for the Steelers - that assisted the Story Line teams, has convinced the NFL to henceforward keep hands off .

But I wouldn't count on it, and it should factor into everyone handicapping, at least to some small extent.

BarneyFife · Jan 14, 2007

So Dungy's tragedy is a great story this year, but not last year???????

And the NFL fixes the teams in the Super Bowl??????? With so much to lose if it got out???????

sd2 · Jan 14, 2007

This was all discussed last week, the thread opened by poster whormoan.

It's not a "fix," it's an agenda. Did you watch the games last year? They failed to ease the Colts in with atrocious calls, but did get Pittsburgh the SB win. Mike Holmgren later said the Steelers got the benefit of biased officiating, and drew a fine as a result.

Brian Billick of the Ravens, about 5 years ago, charged the NFL with planning to engineer a win for his opponent, to actualize the finish of a morality play (the new Browns vs the bad old Modell Browns, now Ravens).

A "fix" suggests the players are in on it. They aren't. They don't have to be if the league has an "agenda.'

But you have to remember that the SB is watched by millions wolrdwide, folks (most of them) who wouldn't know a pooch kick from the Dawg Pound. They need a Bigger Story to rivet their interest.

The bogus calls to assist a SL team have only occured in the playoffs, and only in recent years. As I said, it was so egregiouos last playoff season that maybe the NFL has learned its lesson and will call the games truly.

But maybe not.

BarneyFife · Jan 14, 2007

So they are going to risk their billion dollar empire that no one will rat on them?????? Not one official will tape a conversation and rat????? If they were outed the NFL would end. Why not just let them play straight and let the great game make them billions...or is that too easy?

Why didn't the Giants or Jets win it all following 9-11?

Marino only made it to one Super Bowl???? He wasn't a good enough story?

These theories of leagues "arranging" outcomes is baseless. Yes, last year's Super Bowl had some terrible calls. But can't it just be plain mistakes???

sd2 · Jan 14, 2007

BarneyFife said:
So they are going to risk their billion dollar empire that no one will rat on them?????? Not one official will tape a conversation and rat????? If they were outed the NFL would end. Why not just let them play straight and let the great game make them billions...or is that too easy?

Why didn't the Giants or Jets win it all following 9-11?

Marino only made it to one Super Bowl???? He wasn't a good enough story?

These theories of leagues "arranging" outcomes is baseless. Yes, last year's Super Bowl had some terrible calls. But can't it just be plain mistakes???

The team still has to be good enough to get into the Playoffs. It's more subtle than just taking a team (like a NY team after 9/11 and making bad calls all season long) and getting them to the postseason.

But once they're there, the NFL has helped the Favored team along with biased officiating. It may be more a corportate culture than specific instructions.

And, as I stated in the other thread, who's to rat them out? The NFL press corps, both local and national, does NOT have an adversary relation with the NFL. They wash each others hand. For instance, I've never heard of a beat writer for any NFL team take a stand against the NFL's continued attempts to get corporate welfare at a city's expense (by trying to get the citizen's money to build a football stadium for mega-millionaire owners.)

When a great story line team gets into the conference championship game or wins the Super Bowl, the kept press then has these big, slobbering stories to write,or to relate on the tube. It started weeks ago with the Saints, and will only get worse as the game approaches. And if NO beats
Chi, watch out if you're diabetic, the sugar and spice will be too much to take.

Next will be the movie.

BarneyFife · Jan 14, 2007

Ridiculous.

Any beat writer would jump at a chance at hitting the journalistic lottery with the story you and some others imply.

Also, I've read many columnists and beat writers rip public financing of stadiums....and a few who have supported some too.

If the Saints win, it would continue to be a great story; but if the Bears win they would garner huge ratings too. Why try to set up anything when sports are better than fiction?

I know some games, especially college games, are fixed by the players themselves. I also believe some games could be fixed for gambling purposes by officials. I believe these fixed games are rare.

But I have a very difficult time believing that the major leagues arrange winners for better stories. Way too much to lose for them. Now some smaller leagues looking for a niche....maybe in total desperation. But not the NFL, MLB, NHL, or NBA.

whormoan · Jan 14, 2007

BarneyFife said:
Ridiculous.

Any beat writer would jump at a chance at hitting the journalistic lottery with the story you and some others imply.

Also, I've read many columnists and beat writers rip public financing of stadiums....and a few who have supported some too.

If the Saints win, it would continue to be a great story; but if the Bears win they would garner huge ratings too. Why try to set up anything when sports are better than fiction?

I know some games, especially college games, are fixed by the players themselves. I also believe some games could be fixed for gambling purposes by officials. I believe these fixed games are rare.

But I have a very difficult time believing that the major leagues arrange winners for better stories. Way too much to lose for them. Now some smaller leagues looking for a niche....maybe in total desperation. But not the NFL, MLB, NHL, or NBA.

Than you didn't watch last yr's Superbowl or NBA Finals. I think someone just breathed on Dwayne Wade and he is heading to the line again

Dr.Knowitall · Jan 14, 2007

The N.F.L. already is trying to fix Super Bowls and have been doing it for years now. Not exactly, but they do give the Teams they don't like harder schedules to make it harder to get into the Super Bowl and nobody complains about it?

Why should any team get an easier schedule? And why are they helping certain teams and hurting others? The Bears win their division and still get an easy schedule. The Patriots and Dolphins have the hardest schedules year after year.

The year after the Patriots won the 2nd super Bowl in a row an all-star couldn't make the playoffs the following year with the schedule the N.F.L. gave them. Heck the Arizona Cardinals will never play this many good teams in 2 years worth of schedules.

This is the same thing as calling the game to favor 1 team or the other. The League obviously can do what ever it wants to help certain teams get into the Super Bowl and it looks like nobody cares.

Dr.Knowitall · Jan 14, 2007

Using the schedule to keep the impression that the league is balanced to me is cheating. But again it's the N.F.L. league and they can do what ever they want to keep it entertaining! And that's what cheating with the schedules does. It gives the impression that there are no great teams and no really bad teams.

Through cheating!

GreenDoberman · Jan 14, 2007

Don't forget the bogus Bert Emanuel non-catch that aided "The Fastest Show of Turf". They admitted they were wrong and changed the rule....after the season.
That one still burns me.

BarneyFife · Jan 14, 2007

whormoan said:
Than you didn't watch last yr's Superbowl or NBA Finals. I think someone just breathed on Dwayne Wade and he is heading to the line again

So poor officiating is always a fix of some kind? Never just human errors in an impossible job. I coached high school basketball for 15 years and hated refs. Then I was approached to ref a charity game. The calls that I thought were so easy before, all of a sudden were very difficult. Several times I made terrible calls and I knew it and other times I thought I made good calls, but was proven otherwise on the tape. Officiating, even for the experienced and professional, is incredibly difficult. And unless you've got video evidence that you are a great official and how easy it is, I have to think you are whining about lost wagers or just to whine.

Dr.Knowitall · Jan 14, 2007

The 2 teams that get the easy schedules just might meet this year in the Super Bowl. The Colts and the Bears. Both get gravy schedules and had the best shots to have the best records.

This year they both hosts the championship games. The N.F.L. couldn't be any happier for sure! You know this is what they wanted last year, but got it this year.

BarneyFife · Jan 14, 2007

Dr. Know it all said:
Using the schedule to keep the impression that the league is balanced to me is cheating. But again it's the N.F.L. league and they can do what ever they want to keep it entertaining! And that's what cheating with the schedules does. It gives the impression that there are no great teams and no really bad teams.

Through cheating!

The schedule in the NFL is preset by formula!!! It is not set in a backroom.

The teams each will play next season is already set for 2007. It was set based on the final standings after the regular season ended.

Dr.Knowitall · Jan 14, 2007

BarneyFife said:
So poor officiating is always a fix of some kind? Never just human errors in an impossible job. I coached high school basketball for 15 years and hated refs. Then I was approached to ref a charity game. The calls that I thought were so easy before, all of a sudden were very difficult. Several times I made terrible calls and I knew it and other times I thought I made good calls, but was proven otherwise on the tape. Officiating, even for the experienced and professional, is incredibly difficult. And unless you've got video evidence that you are a great official and how easy it is, I have to think you are whining about lost wagers or just to whine.

You can't be serious? Wade got a foul called every time he took a shot and missed. It's not that hard to keep calling fouls if you are guessing and the refs did a good job helping Wade. They wanted him to win and it showed. But you're right because when Dallas would take shots the refs would miss the foul. Yea, I guess your right it is hard to call every foul.

Dr.Knowitall · Jan 14, 2007

BarneyFife said:
The schedule in the NFL is preset by formula!!! It is not set in a backroom.

The teams each will play next season is already set for 2007. It was set based on the final standings after the regular season ended.

Who cares where the schedule is made? It's cheating and the N.F.L. does it! Call it what you want, but to me it's cheating.

If baseball did it the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, would have losing records every other year because of all the games against each other and the other teams with winning records. That would be cheating!

Tampa Bay might make the playoffs because of the schedule they have playing the bad teams all year. Heck 1 of the bad teams would have a winning record because of the schedule!

Using the schedule to even out your teams is not on the "up and up" it's cheating the public!

BarneyFife · Jan 14, 2007

Dr. Know it all said:
You can't be serious? Wade got a foul called every time he took a shot and missed. It's not that hard to keep calling fouls if you are guessing and the refs did a good job helping Wade. They wanted him to win and it showed. But you're right because when Dallas would take shots the refs would miss the foul. Yea, I guess your right it is hard to call every foul.

I didn't watch the NBA Finals last year so I can't comment on them. But it must have been bad because many of you have cited it...

BarneyFife · Jan 14, 2007

Dr. Know it all said:
Who cares where the schedule is made? It's cheating and the N.F.L. does it! Call it what you want, but to me it's cheating.

If baseball did it the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, would have losing records every other year because of all the games against each other and the other teams with winning records. That would be cheating!

Tampa Bay might make the playoffs because of the schedule they have playing the bad teams all year. Heck 1 of the bad teams would have a winning record because of the schedule!

Using the schedule to even out your teams is not on the "up and up" it's cheating the public!

How is the NFL schedule cheating????? That is absurd. It is preset with the winner of a division playing the 1st and 4th place teams of the other divisions within their conference. IT IS PRESET BY FORMULA !!!!!

BarneyFife · Jan 14, 2007

http://www.nfl.com/schedules/tv/2007_opponents

Here is the NFL formula and 2007 opponents for each team based on this formula. Not some sordid fix.

sd2 · Jan 14, 2007

GreenDoberman said:
Don't forget the bogus Bert Emanuel non-catch that aided "The Fastest Show of Turf". They admitted they were wrong and changed the rule....after the season.
That one still burns me.

If memory serves, I think GD is referring to the time Tampa Bay (under Tony Dungy) was fucked out of getting into the Super Bowl by a call reversed in the booth by longtime NFL ref enforcer (for storyline bias) Jerry Markbreit.

The NFL definitely wanted the Rams in the SB that year - the great story was the rags to riches tale of Kurt Warner - and remember all those stories about Christian Kurt and his wonderul courtship of his wife, and becoming a daddy to her kids. (Sniff, sniff.)

To the intelligent football fan, the agenda of the NFL in the playoffs in recent years (it goes back at least to the late 90s, when soon to retire John Elway won the first of his two SB victories. Great story. Bad officiating - by guess who, yep good ol' Jerry.)

Two SB winning head coaches (Holmgren and Billick) have charged that the NFL have an agenda at times, so as to actualize a morality play. It's easy to do, as bad calls can always be palmed off as a mistake.

Does it ever happen in college ball? Yes, but rarely. A few years back, when old Lavell Edwards had his last game as coach of BYU, Utah got a royal screwing at the hands of the head ref who wanted to send a beloved HC out a winner. After the game, the Utah HC said he counln't undersstand why what clearly was a fumble was called otherwise.

I think it was Ron McBride who was Ute HC at the time. My reaction was, "c'mon Ron, you know damn well why you were hosed out of the win."

As another poster suggested, the NBA does the same thing. The superstars, the Jordans et al, are allowed a much greater leeway in breaking rules (or being on the receiving end of fouls) than the ordinary players. The biggest breaks go to those who sells tickets. Cripes, eveyone knows that!

Most of the games, most of the times, let me estimate 99.7%, are honestly officiated. And the honest mistakes are cut down by the replays.

But occasionally you get the scewed call for PR reasons. And a poll done a few years back indicate that around 2% of football officials bet on the games. That may be a factor in a miniscule amount of games

Overall, tho, the games are honestly contested. If I believed otherwise I'd be outta here. But there is zero doubt that the NFL has on occasion used biased officiating to effect a desired result, one that feeds their image as a power of global importance, that transcends a mere game.

In their occasional desire to pursue the Good, the True, and the Beautiful, they have practiced a nasty kind of corruption. Let's hope that if New Orleans is the best team this year they won't need any help from NFL zebras to prove same.

ECS · Jan 14, 2007

Dr. Know it all said:
Who cares where the schedule is made? It's cheating and the N.F.L. does it! Call it what you want, but to me it's cheating.

If baseball did it the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, would have losing records every other year because of all the games against each other and the other teams with winning records. That would be cheating!

Tampa Bay might make the playoffs because of the schedule they have playing the bad teams all year. Heck 1 of the bad teams would have a winning record because of the schedule!

Using the schedule to even out your teams is not on the "up and up" it's cheating the public!

You do realize that only 2 games on the 16 game schedule is determined by what place you finish in conference.........

I will agree that its maybe not the best way, but I think the main reason they do this is to make sure they get good matchups......