Joe Horn and Michael Thomas bringing out cellphones after touchdowns was the high watermark for cellphones.

I recall a Dallas game back in the Roger Staubach dsys where a guy caught the ball for a touchdown and he did jumping jacks and got fined for it. Obviously the rules have changed without anyone from the NFL consulting me

[quote=AArdvark post_id=141391 time=1705870329 user_id=20]
Next item: is celebration in the endzone still a penalty? I see an awful lot of guys line dancing and stuff after touchdowns
[/quote]

Last I knew, only if a "prop" is used. IE, players jumping into the Salvation Army Kettle get fined. Players who act out some pre-practiced routine do not.

But god forbid your franchise QB point at a defensive player after he gets bitched.. that apparently also results in a fine.

Next item: is celebration in the endzone still a penalty? I see an awful lot of guys line dancing and stuff after touchdowns

[quote=AArdvark post_id=141387 time=1705863699 user_id=20]This is another area that we (me) don't discuss. He also still believes we never landed on the moon, we don't talk about that either.[/quote]This idea has been thoroughly debunked for one simple reason: we did not have the capacity to fake the broadcast. Human beings had advanced the technology of rocketry, environmental protection, and spacesuit technology such that we have the capacity to send a team to the moon safely, keep them alive on the trip to the moon and back, and safely land back on earth, as well as keep them alive on the surface of the moon in the lunar lander and in a space suit. However, the technology of optics, camera equipment, broadcast technology, and broadcast relays at the time was too primitive to produce a credible fake transmission.

Further, the fact that over 50 years later and no credible reports of this "conspiracy" have been published by a major news outlet indicate the claim is incredible. Back then, and for decades to follow, no current, former, or disgruntled employees working for NASA leaked anything to the press, knowing that it would make front page news? The government couldn't keep [i]The Pentagon Papers[/i] out of the newspapers, and what it told was far less serious than a multi-billion dollar fraud committed against the American people. We're talking about a fraud that would have required the involvement of hundreds or thousands of people, and nobody talked?

I'll believe that now, currently, 100% of people eating Jack in the Box food suffer vomiting and/or diarrhea, first, before I'd believe that, because there is no evidence to prove that either.

[quote=AArdvark post_id=141387 time=1705863699 user_id=20]Having football games pre decided doesn't make sense.[/quote]No, it doesn't. Again, nobody publicizing this? Even if there were non-disclosure agreements, that doesn't cover criminal activities, which I suspect rigging sports events would be. Wrestling is rife with reports of the whole thing being fake and predetermined. Again, where is the evidence of this? There is not one disgruntled or ex-employee of an NFL team publicizing this? A story this juicy and scandalous is just [i]begging[/i] to be reported and/or posted on social media, yet no one has done so. A conspiracy that large would require dozens to hundreds of people involved. But nobody has said anything.

We went five or six times to the moon. Most dumbfucks that don't think we went have no idea. Sometimes you'll get one that thinks that it is reasonable we went on launches 2-6, which is great. That I can appreciate from a farcical standpoint.

He should get together with Flack's sister-in-law!

This is another area that we (me) don't discuss. He also still believes we never landed on the moon, we don't talk about that either. There's whole swaths of conversational areas I avoid when we hang out. Usually I just nod silently and move on. Having football games pre decided doesn't make sense.

Who does that benefit, fixing the teams?

My conspiracy theory friend claims the superbowl tickets are printed in advance, hence the outcomes are pre-decided. The only way I believe him is if he had an actual ticket in his hand and the two teams on the ticket were actually going.

[quote=Tdarcos post_id=141105 time=1704380836 user_id=829]
[quote="Ice Cream Jonsey" post_id=141051 time=1704173487 user_id=3]
Imagine using "gamesmanship." == In. == In a game.

Whatever, the league is lying if they actually come out and say that.
[/quote]
Actually, that's not true. The league is lying if they say [u]anything[/u] at all [i]about anything[/i]. If they said the sky is blue, I'd want independent verification.

As Encyclopedia Brown said, "I wouldn't believe them if they swore they were lying."
[/quote]

Thank you. Agreed. Our hatred of the bureaucracy of football is what has truly tied us together as brothers.

[quote="Ice Cream Jonsey" post_id=141051 time=1704173487 user_id=3]
Imagine using "gamesmanship." == In. == In a game.

Whatever, the league is lying if they actually come out and say that.
[/quote]
Actually, that's not true. The league is lying if they say [u]anything[/u] at all [i]about anything[/i]. If they said the sky is blue, I'd want independent verification.

As Encyclopedia Brown said, "I wouldn't believe them if they swore they were lying."

This is what actually happened.

[quote][ProFootballTalk] Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the NFL does not plan to change the procedure for players reporting as eligible. The league views the situation as an effort by the Lions to engage in deception and gamesmanship that backfired.[/quote]

"Deception and gamesmanship."

Imagine using "gamesmanship."

In.

In a game.

Whatever, the league is lying if they actually come out and say that.

Wow. And here I thought I don't understand American rugby very well, but I was wrong. I don't understand it AT ALL. :mrgreen:

So here is what I dont get.

Here is a YouTube video with the last 20 minutes of that game. Unedited, as it was broadcast last night. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM_a0iAf_L4

Start the video at 11:22. The players are in the huddle, then they go to the line, and execute the play. #68 does not ever go to the ref and report. So from that perspective, it seems like the right call?

What the video DOESN'T show, is if he reported eligible before they huddled. Now, how would the linesman know the play before the huddle and the play was called? Maybe it was standard and the players just "knew" it, and he reported off-camera before the huddle. I dont know.

Oh. I always thought anyone could catch a pass but they always threw the ball to the wide receivers as that was their job. Well.... Who knew you had to clear it with the refs first.


THE
HALL PASS
AARDVARK

Sure. If you're an offensive lineman, you can't catch passes. Unless!! Unless you tell the referee that you are eligible.

[quote]If you’re an INELIGIBLE receiver (someone with a number between 50 and 79 or 90 to 99), you may be eligible if you immediately report the change in his eligibility status to the ref, who will inform the defensive team. [/quote] I think that the announcer in the stadium will announce it over the P.A. system, too.

A player for the Lions did exactly that. He found the ref and said, "Hey, I'm eligible this play." Why would you want to do that? If you are a coach maybe you want two extra linemen out for a play but want to make it so that one of them can catch a pass if needed.

The ref was too incompetent to remember who he spoke to from 3 seconds earlier and mixed the players up. He announced that #70 for the Lions was eligible not #68. 100% screw up on the part of the ref. He couldn't do his job at the point in the game where it mattered the most.

There is one good thing to come out of this though!

It's very silly to make that the process for eligibility. You gotta talk to a ref, make sure he knows its you and then communicates it out correctly? With 70,000 screaming fans around? When you as a ref have a day job you are worried about on Monday? When you're probably pushing 70? My understanding is that the Detroit Lions coach was also bugging the refs before the game about something. Something that, Jesus Christ, the refs are trying to get a game started, I am sure whatever the coach talked about at detail and length wasn't important. You gotta feel bad for the refs. They were blindsided by this.

So yeah, there are things to be improved about this.

And that is where the NFL Commissioner comes in. :)

I have to give the man credit. It was too late to affect what happened on the field, but NFL Commish Roger Goodell saw a screwed up system in place so immediately went down to his office and spent the ENTIRE NIGHT drafting an emergency change to the rules to fix this egregious problem in this $15 billion-a-year sports league. A lot of people would have enjoyed spending time with their families this week, and a lot of people in charge maybe would have hidden like some kind of piece of shit coward who was in over their heads, but not Rog. This guy has been fucking [/i]nailing[/i] this job for 15+ years and he did what he always does. [i]He fixed it.[/i] The new procedure change is amazing and brilliant - it's simple, fool-proof and solves everything. He got it solved and got the change to all head coaches before today's games. It's clear enough that everyone gets it. I am impressed and amazed. The NFL is lucky to have such a dynamic and valuable commissioner. Can you imagine if action wasn't taken and an entire package of games were to take place this Sunday without something in place? How embarrassing that would be? I love that the NFL -- no, I love that [i]Roger Goodell[/i] takes care of stuff immediately like this. Almost 20 years on the job and I've never seen someone adapt so well and get better at it every year. Incredible leadership.

Incredible competence. There should be a way to shorten that!

I'm not a football guy, can anyone explain the Cowboys/Lions controversy re: reporting eligibility to the ref? All the Youtube videos I watched use big words and or assume I know the rulez. My boy is a Cowboys fan and even he feels the Lions got robbed by the referee

Jonsey, please give me back my YouTube inlining privileges

"These NFL Players Believe Their Super Bowls were Rigged. Why?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpeKAkTyvfU

[quote=AArdvark post_id=133284 time=1672060349 user_id=20]
When reviewed replays started creeping into baseball I knew the entire sports world was doomed to be a whore for television. [/quote]

The replay system in baseball is {i]so bad[/i].

All anyone wanted was a way to correct glaring errors, like the Galarraga kid losing out on his perfect game because the blind ref fucked up the biggest call of his career. That was it.

Now it's micro-analysis to see is a runner "came off the base" for a split nanosecond while the tag was on. Stupid, stupid, stupid and anyone competent in the commissioner's office would have corrected this. I don't know how the fans of other sports feel about things. NHL's commish has been there for most of my adult life. He was usually considered the worst of the four two to causing multiple labor disputes, causing the loss of an entire season, allowing multiple franchise moves, being too much of a pussy to put the teams back on for the Dallas/Buffalo no goal game. But he hasn't done anything egregious in 10 years, he's rocketed ahead of Goodell (worst commish of any sport in my lifetime but also the single most incompetent American worker in the entirety of our nation's history) and Manfred (a guy who should be doing a better job in baseball).