I have the pleasure of not having to attend work for the next few weeks and to be able to absorb as much EPL matches as I possibly can stomach. That amount has actually been very high until today when I witnessed an obvious goal but the Tottenham Hotspurs in a pretty well executed defenisve match against Manchester United. BIAS? POOR POOR officiating? Blindness among refs? I have no clue, but then again it is a part of sport. I would be worse if it were against my Cottagers, whom have consistently become a love affair. Being an American, I am not stranger to this epidemic. Its harsh. Its leaves a funny feeling in my stomach, but worst of all I LOVE IT WHEN IT GOES IN MY FAVOR. I know thats not nice, but like I said, its part of sport. If technology would one day take over, such as the attempts to automate and second guess baseball's strikezone, the sport would most likely lose one of its aspects, not so much Man vs Man, but Man vs. the rule book and the idiots who enforce them. On a parting note, that official who missed that call would miss bigfoot standing in an open field scratching his ass with a reflective jogging vest on. Hopefully someone will get fired. Then again I could be wrong. (but I will never admit to it)
At the risk of throwing superlatives around, that has to be just about the worst decision I've ever seen. It wasn't even close, it wasn't a split-second thing, and it didn't happen in a crowd of players, in an odd position, or away from the ball. It was in the middle of the mouth of the goal, for God's sake, and the ball was a good 3-4 feet over the line! I don't hink the poor call results from "bias" so much as from intimidation. I get the sense that the officials are as much intimidated by Sir Alex and Old Trafford as visiting players can be. In a sense, that makes it worse -- it's completely unprofessional and inexcusable. Mistakes on a tough, close call are one thing, but being intimidated into making blatant errors benefitting the home team because of who they are and where they're playing is another.
I just watched the match replay... didnt need to see extratime run out after Robinson's great save on the free kick There is gonna be some real jawboning going on... the Ref's will say in private that it doesnt matter, MU had the most of the ball anyway and was unlucky not to get a goal. But that's not the issue. Issue is, Carrol screwed the pooch and got no penalty, the officials screwed up.. the ball was enough a looper for the line guy to get a little enough clear to make a judgement. If this doesnt shake up the FA old boys, nothing will. ---------------------------------------- You can blame Me.. I voted for Dubya.. but will you give me the credit, too?
I just saw the play in question and it was a joke. How the linesman missed that is beyond me. It was not even close. I feel bad for Spurs right now. I do not know if it is a bias or what it is, but I am with Smokin' when he says that when it goes your way it is awesome. In a a sense what happened is pretty funny. I just hope that crap does not happen to Fulham again this season. It already happened against Arsenal.
unfortunately mistakes happen...it is much easier now to see all of these mistakes given the hundreds of different camera angles out there. imo the game needs to evolve just as the the technology has that brings it into all of our living rooms each week. just please don't make a mess of it like the nfl did with the red flag, 3 commercial breaks, and crazy rules about when you can and cannot challenge a play.
If soccer simply added something like Cyclops in tennis that made a noise if the ball was over the line that would work perfectly. Obviously there needs to be the human eye checking too, but what happened at Old Trafford was a joke.
sorry, Andrew... .. but the NFL got it exactly right! It works... everyone coaching thinks it works. You may have got confused with the early problems. Now it is done right.
RE: sorry, Andrew... i do agree that 9 out of 10 time it does work. i guess i was just referring to the way a "challenge" totally interupts the flow of everything, it's ugly at best. i guess the underlying theme is that it does work though i'm just now sure how they could apply what the nfl does to the epl. any ideas?
Re: RE: sorry, Andrew... Done differently. Micro cams in the upper corners of the goalposts, linked to DVR's synched to scoreclock. reviewable by the 4th on manager's request. would disrupt the game less than an "injury" certainly, and the penalty for a challenge ruled against would be losing a player. Yeah, I know this would really require FIFA approval but it's imperative that this joke doesnt happen again... since FA and FIFA dont seem to want to grade referees and punish them for screw-ups.
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