ood Moooooorning Fukuma Football Pickers!

 

Seven weeks in, and it is time for a change.  

 

As I watched a little football yesterday (how about those Chiefs?!!!!) it struck me that just as all good things come to an end…change is both inevitable and good when viewed in the proper context.  

 

For us, this means a mid season change to two standby features…the weekly high point “Ring of Fire” award and corresponding singing with Johnny Cash, as well as the weekly low point “check-in” to the Heartbreak Hotel.  

 

Going forward both have gone to visit Elvis, literally and permanently, and I am looking for ideas for weekly fillers from all of you to spread the opinions shared and further engage everyone that plays.

 

Send Angelo or me your thoughts on the season, specific plays, bad calls, bad beats or whatever strikes you as funny or interesting and I will be sure to include it in a future post.  

 

As for the results…Angelo will continue to post the weekly totals at the beginning of the blog, and the commentary will follow.  It will be added at one time going forward so you do not have to check back through the week, and if there is a specific result that needs to be highlighted…for example someone posting a perfect week…it will be in the next week’s commentary.  

 

So, what should you expect in this post going forward?  It is fluid at the moment, but one thing is for sure, if I have an opinion about it…it is likely to show up, and this week it is instant replay and poor officiating.  

 

Instant replay…really, what is the point?  

 

Throughout the Brewers/Dodgers NLCS and in several football games yesterday, the calls were judged to “stand”.  Not to be correct or incorrect…but because there was not “definitive” proof of the the call being right or wrong, it stood as called.  And, unfortunately, even when the call was clearly wrong – as was the case with Altuve’s homer being negated due to fan interference – no one seems willing to put themselves out…relying on some phantom presence in the league office to cover their butt.  This is wrong and it needs to stop.  How?  Well, in this man’s opinion, eliminate it altogether.  I am continually amazed, given the speed at which the plays develop and happen, how correct the calls are the majority of the time.  

 

This is not rocket science.  

 

If an official makes a bad call…it has historically been viewed as “part of the game” and the world certainly has not ended when a bad call affected an outcome.  Think of it this way, if you were a Cowboys fan yesterday, and saw a call made that materially altered the outcome of that game, did it matter that all manner of electronic monitoring was in play?  No.  So, what is the point?  If you watched the post game and halftime shows throughout the rest of the day, you could make a logical argument that it was simply to provide fodder for the hacks that call themselves experts to critique a call.  What is next…instant replay for all penalties called…or not called?  I certainly hope not.  

 

I want the game to be fair.  I want games decided by the players.  And, I want the best talent available to officiate the games.  

 

Baseball is closer to achieving this on a consistent basis than is football, in my opinion, but with that said there is never going to be a solution that provides 100% accuracy.  As such, is it better to keep it and have it be the distraction it has become, or eliminate it altogether as a failed experiment?  

 

The original intent of introducing instant replay was to eliminate the “obvious” missed call.  Unfortunately, it has morphed into much more and removed an integral part of the game in the process.    

 

As such, I ask again…what is the point?  Your thoughts?

 

To close, I want to establish a trend of leaving you each week with a positive to start your weeks… 

 

On this Man Day Monday, and every day for that matter…Love Much, Live Fully and Laugh Often!

 

Good luck and good picking…and remember to always stay positive!  There are still well over 100 games to pick and anything can happen!

 

Hugs and love to all…

 

Commish