Missing the Replacement Refs: By the time the so-called 'real' referees returned from their job action against the NFL in September, fans everywhere had had about enough of the screw-ups and blunders the replacements were making in virtually every game. The real refs got a brief reprieve and then got down to the ridiculous business of changing something that not only wasn't broke but was, in fact, wildly popular in its present form. With the "help" of the league office, we are witnessing the nitwit efforts to screw up a wonderful, highly competitive game that has evolved to an almost perfect form. Study the history of the game and you see the evolution in progress. Players today are equipped to reduce injury, and improvements in the equipment continue at a feverish pace. The development of the forward pass as an offensive weapon is amazing. In the early days of the game there was virtually no passing and most of the runs were right up the middle. One rule change - albeit a short-lived one - saw the entire field lined with horizontal and vertical lines. The vertical lines were parallel to the sidelines and about five yards apart. The purpose of this was to make runs of the middle illegal. When the ball was spotted before a play, the offense was prevented from running a play where the ball crossed the line of scrimmage within five yards of the spot.
Radical rule changes have been non-existent for sometime because the game was getting to a point where players and coaches had the perfect amount of latitude to prevail against another team if their plans and abilities permitted such a result. In other words, under the present scheme, the best team on any given Sunday ended up winning. But this is not necessarily true today as a wave of bleeding heartism sullies the game.
Former all-pro linebacker Stan White watched the replay again of the "helmet to helmet contact" against everybody's new darling of the gridiron, RG Griffin, III. The Ravens Paul Kruger was chasing Griffin in the Redskin backfield yesterday (December 8) as the rookie QB tried to throw. But it wasn't one of those funny chases where a big slow lineman chases a fleet QB. Kruger is big and fast and he had a plan. All-Pro lineman Haloti Ngata was moving fast into Griffin's path and Kruger elected to simply chase him right into Ngata's arms. It worked to perfection but the game ref wasn't about to chance Griffin getting injured, so he called a penalty on Ngata for helmet-to-helmet contact. Except there was no helmet-to-helmet contact. And the call was nothing short of pathetic. There is no more perfect description. It was called a bad call and a lousy call. But Stan White had the best comment. He said, "you can't play football like that." He wasn't referring to any of the players. He was referring to the referees and the idiots at league headquarters who are performing this lobotomy on the game. Everyweek you read that somebody is getting fined and suspended for rough play. Rough play? Good football is, by definition, rough play. But alas, politics has krept into the game via league headquarters. Shame is amply quantities should be dolled out to all at fault. There is plenty to go around. Last week we read that some genius wants to do away with kickoffs all together. Instead, the team that just scored will be awarded the ball on their own 30 yard line and it will be fourth down and fifteen yards to go for a first down. Going for it in that scenario is equivalent to an onside kick in this genius' mind. The reason for this new change in the game is because there are too many injuries on kickoffs, or so they say. (Who is "they?") On the play with Griffin, he threw the ball away an instant before he ran into Ngata and was penalized for intentional grounding. But the call against Ngata offset the call on Griffin and the Redskins got the down over. On that play they made a first down and went on to score in a game they eventually won in overtime. The refs weren't finished. In the fourth quarter, with the Ravens up by a single point, Joe Flacco directed a wonderful drive for a go-ahead touchdown. The big play was a breathtaking catch and run by the Ravens' wonderful receiver, Anquan Bouldin. Flacco spotted Boldin on a down and out about seven yards past the line, and threw a perfect pass against tight coverage. Boldin caught the ball on the run and then literally carried a Redskin defensive back twenty yards down the sideline. From the place where Boldin was finally forced out of bounds - near the 7 yard line - Ray Rice slashed through a narrow opening for a touchdown which, after Justin Tucker's conversion kick, put the Ravens up eight points with just over four minutes left. The refs got into the act on the ensuing kickoff, and on that play they set the table for the Redskins victory. Ravens rookie LB Courtney Upshaw laid a monster tackle on the Redskin's kick returner as he got near the 20 yard line. The ball popped out some three yards from the sideline and a very alert Raven, David Reed, pounced on the ball. Reed was sliding slowly toward the sideline as he made his recovery. But his arms were wrapped around the ball and the ball never came loose from his grip. Reed was adjusting his hands and arms to improve his hold, but there was never even one split second where Reed didn't have total control of the ball. A game official could not have been better positioned to make his call. He was one yard out of bounds and crouched down during Reed's entire effort. What's more, he was only three or four feet away from the ball during the entire process. When he signaled Ravens' ball, first and ten, no one near the play was surprised in the least. Joe Flacco and Anquan Boldin were already back on the field within two or three seconds of the call.
The rule on video reviews may as well not be on the books, because the fine folk at the Redskin park yesterday completely ignored it. The rule says that the call on the field is presumed to be correct and only irrefutable video evidence can overrule it. The official making the call was in such perfect position that he had to have had a better look at the play than any sideline camera. You make a fool out of a game official if you overrule him on such a call. But that is exactly what they did. The lads on the TV didn't even mention this. Nor did they mention that the call is presumed correct. Nor did any of them explain that controlling a fumble is not the same as catching a pass. Reed did not have to have his hands under the ball and he did not have to keep the ball off the ground. All that he had to do was "control" the ball before it went out. He clearly clearly clearly did that. But, of course, were such a call to stand, the wonderful and talented RG Griffin III would've suffered a heartbreaking loss. And the league has had about enough of that. You know?
Cirovski Stands Out Even in Defeat: Few will question the assessment that Sasho Cirovski is one of the best, if not the best soccer coach in the NCAA. His University of Maryland teams are perennially at or near the top of the college soccer world. This year was no exception. The College Cup - the name given the NCAA Division I Final Four - again included the Terps. Except this year, somebody beat Maryland in the semi-final Friday night. That team was Georgetown, a cross-town rival for all of Maryland's teams. In soccer, however, Maryland has owned the Hoyas. Until Friday, Maryland's all-time record against Georgetown was 28-0.
Swish that one around. When all was said and done, after 90 minutes of regulation and two overtime stanzas, and then after a heart-stopping penalty kick session, the Hoyas emerged victorious. {Technically, the game is recorded as a tie with Georgetown advancing in the tournament by penalty kicks. It's a nice touch and a concession to soccer fans who abhor a game being decided by a technique that has no resemblance to ebb and flow of a soccer game.)
If the all-time series record were all you knew about the Friday night match-up, what you witnessed Friday night would have stunned you. The game between 20-1-2 Maryland and 19-2-2 Georgetown was one of the great college soccer games of all time. The upstart Hoyas proved their gaudy record was no fluke as they broke on top of the young and powerful Terps, 3-1 and then 4-2, the latter lead lasting until only 17 of the regulation game's 90 minutes remained. Even worse for Maryland, Schillo Tshuma, their magnificent freshman striker, was gassed. He had scored both of Maryland's goals to that point, but he would score no more from the bench. Georgetown's Steve Neumann scored three goals in addition to converting one of the Hoyas penalty kicks in the decisive final session. The game and the entire College Cup was played in Hoover, Alabama for the second-straight year. Some have questioned why the NCAA has picked a venue in an area of the country that is not exactly soccer crazy. But the facility itself is perfect for soccer and the chances of getting good weather this far south are excellent.
That the two teams would match up well was not really a surprise. All season long both Maryland and Georgetown dominated their opponents. Friday night, they were both intent on dominating again. The raced back and forth through the midfield like a rocket ship in a hurry. Maryland's intricate passing game results in shots on goal that are bunched together. For a defense and keeper trying to defend them, it must seem like an attack by dozens of rockets fired simultaneously. You would think, also, that with a result like this one that the defenses and keepers had bad games. They did not. Maryland's All-American center defender, London Woodberry, was superb. Georgetown's keeper, Tomas Gomez, made a number of wonderful saves as Maryland pressed hard for the win after drawing even on Freshman Christiano Francois valiant effort in the final ten minutes. In fact, Gomez literally saved the game in the second overtime after a disastrous error on an attempted clear by a defender almost resulted in a goal for Maryland. On the play Maryland was again on a serious attack and a Hoya back managed to get a foot on the ball right in front of the goal. But he powerful clearing effort instead caught another defender square in the face and the ball trickled across the goal mouth where Maryland All-American Striker Patrick Mullins - who had already scored one goal - quickly moved to shoot it in. Gomez had no time to think and few options. He moved quickly also, but not to the ball. He moved to Mullins and knocked him down, apparently deciding that a penalty kick was preferable to a point-blank shot from one of the best scorer's in college soccer. To the horror of Mullins and his coach, no call was made against Gomez. Prone on the ground, the gritty Mullins managed nonetheless to get a shot off, but the ball rolled wide.
In the penalty kick session, Maryland moved into the lead, 2-1 and 3-2 after Terp Keeper Keith Cardona made a save on Georgetown's second kick. Maryland made all three of its first kicks. John Stertzer, London Woodberry and Patrick Mullins all had relatively easy times of it. But Gomez pulled himself together and saved both of Maryland's final two efforts. After the second he sprinted the length of the field with his team in hot pursuit. Even Maryland fans had to appreciate the pure joy of the sight. And even a seasoned coach like Cirovski was absolutely impressed by the pure athletic beauty of what he had witnessed. His remarks evidenced that and showed, at the same time, why his approach and perspective are so credibly noble. The Maryland Coach said:
"In today's game you see the absolute beauty of this game and you see the cruelty. I know many coaches have said that, but that's the absolute truth. Today was an incredibly beautiful game. This was a game that people will be talking about twenty, thirty years from now as one of the greatest College Cup games ever. I've been around for 25-plus years and never seen anything close to it."
No comments:
Post a Comment