Bad call in AFC Championship Game

Well, the humble NFL has admitted that a bad call was made during the AFC Championship Game.

via ProFootballTalk:

"Face-guarding was discontinued several years ago and I completely missed it. I talked to Dean Blandino in the league office and he confirmed what you're saying. Blandino, by the way, was in the replay booth at the Patriots-Colts game. Ellis Hobbs should not have been flagged for pass-interference. He didn't make contact with the receiver and in no way did Hobbs impede Reggie Wayne's ability to catch the pass. Blandino confirmed that the incorrect call was made. It advanced the ball from the Patriots' 19-yard line to the one-yard line and was the big play in a touchdown drive that led to a two-point conversion and a tie game at 21-21. Referee Bill Carollo made no reference to face-guarding in his explanation, but CBS analyst Phil Simms did. Apparently, he, too, doesn't know the rule no longer exists. The next time you hear a TV analyst say, 'he wasn’t playing the ball,' think of the Hobbs play, then turn down the sound."
Make no mistake about it, it was a key call. And, to their credit, we haven't heard a public peep from the "no class" Pats about the play.
Gee, what would Napolian have done if that phantom flag had been thrown on a member of the Colts' defense?"

Truth be told, even though this was in fact a very poor call, the Colts made the plays when it mattered most and the Pats, my friends, did not.

I know this is little league, but...

Some kid is stealing 2nd base and makes it easily; however, the quick thinking 2nd baseman tricks the runner and tells him it's a foul ball, and as the kid begins to retreat to first base, the 2nd baseman tags the kid out. Smart play right? Well, apparently the umpire at 2nd base needed a quick breather after having to do a complete 180 to make that call, he apparently calls time to help the kid out. Watch this video, sure doesn't make the coaches too happy:



Actually, watching this kind of reminds me of our favorite MLB umpire... Mr. Doug Eddings. I guess this guy can find peace knowing that he probably has a good shot of umping future MLB playoff games.


It's great to know that Angels fans will never forget that night.

Ed Hochuli

Wouldn't it be great to see Ed Hochuli, who according to wikipedia, is "probably the NFL's most popular referee, in terms of name recognition, among both hardcore and casual football fans... most notably [for] his biceps" take matters into his own hands the next time someone argues one of his calls. Wouldn't you love to see Mike Vick walk up to Ed, take off his helmet, flick off the crowd, say a few choice words to Ed about stealing his water bottle... and then this happens:

Lakers/Heat

A couple questionable calls from Monday night's Lakers/Heat game... Is it just me, or is D-Wade the NBA's new "get all the calls, even when nobody touches me" player? Not only that, apparently he's allowed to foul guys too:






This is my favorite D-Wade moment. I'm not sure which ref blew the whistle, but it was one of these three: #26 Bob Delaney, #71 Rodney Mott or #56 Mark Ayotte.
Check out how D-Wade spins, falls over, lands on the ground, and gets the call. Apparently the NBA's new golden boy knows how to impress the officials. That's a foul and the Blazer fans aren't happy. Miami goes on to win the game 93-90. Here's your video:

Welcome Note

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Over here - we will focus on officiating, particularly awful officiating. How sometimes it is poor, downright pitiful, game changing, heck, in the case of Orlando Brown, even career changing. While we are not experts, and we realize that officials are mere human beings, we do hope to make you aware of certain calls, and/or controversies that cause millions of people pain and anguish. However, we will not limit ourselves to awful officiating. We will give credit where credit is due and even acknowledge the "jobs well done" out there. I'm sure we will miss things from time to time as there is no way we can watch every game out there. So feel free to give us a buzz at rigginsorama@gmail.com if you find something worthy of a post here at AO. Thanks and happy reading.