SportsGirl

Here it is, another Monday, and we are getting set to wrap up Week 10 in the NFL. I can’t say that I’m particularly jazzed for tonight’s match-up between the 49′ers and the Seahawks, but hey, it’s football, so I’ll be watching. My condolences go out to Mike Nolan and his family at the loss of his father, and hats off to Mike for deciding to coach tonight’s game, even while coping with the grief. I know it will be said a million times tonight, so let me be one of the first, that it’s probably a decision his dad would support.

I stayed up and watched the entire San Diego/Indy game. Most people probably quit in the first half, thinking it was a sloppy, one-sided game. And it was. I’m not going to say that Indy had no business coming that close to winning the game because I actually think the opposite is true; San Diego had no business beating the Colts. It shouldn’t have even been a contest! The Chargers are not the better team. They played better than the Colts last night, but they are not the better team. They are the team that allowed one rookie phenom to gain almost 300 yards by himself against their defense last week. They are the team whose quarterback barely managed 100 yards passing in victory last night, even with a weapon like Antonio Gates at his disposal. So all the talk about Indy “not deserving” to get a win last night is bull to me. They absolutely deserved a win and I’m still shaking my head that they didn’t get it!

One interesting note that I observed while watching the NFL games yesterday. During the Dallas-NY game, one of the Dallas defenders got flagged for unsportsman-like conduct for after he taunted the Giant he had just tackled. I thought it was a little ticky-tacky, but whatever. Just make your tackles and move on and quit jawing on the field. Then I’m watching the Chargers game and Marques Harris makes a tackle and proceeds to literally do a back-flip on the field like he’s going for the Gold at the Olympics. Was there a flag? Nah. You know, to possibly have a slight bit of consistency throughout the officiating crews would be nice. Maybe too much to ask for? Especially when we have things like “inadvertent whistles” happening that can truly affect the outcome of the game. A big thumbs-up to Clint Sessions for knowing what the ref apparently missed–that the ball never hit the ground on that 4th quarter almost-incomplete pass by Rivers and that it was a live football ready to be run back the other way for a touchdown. You could argue that this botched whistle blowing by the officials severely impacted the game. Because with the ball on the SD 7 yard line instead of on their own 20 yard line is a completely different scenario for the Colts. And really if you think about it, Sessions may have run a little harder in that last section of field to try to score if he hadn’t been hearing all the whistles blowing, signaling that the play was dead when it wasn’t. Even Al Michaels was commenting “This is all for show, of course, as the call on the field is that it was an incomplete pass”. Um, no Al, it wasn’t.

I must say, I was crabby watching the first half of the Cowboys game. Too many penalties, not enough catches, not enough explosive running from Barber, etc. And FYI, to Patrick Crayton. When you’re freakin’ untouched by a defender and you’re streaking towards the end zone? Cross the bleeping line into the end zone before you set that ball down. That is hardly a novel concept. You know what, if you want to make a statement by firmly placing the ball on the turf once you’ve scored, fine. But people who want to showboat and high-step it into the end zone, holding the ball out in front of them as they clown around or who want to not cross into the end zone, just extend the ball across the plane and then plant it into the turf? Give me a break. Even when you’re on my team, I’m rooting for you to botch the play and end up getting the ball stripped or have the officials review and tell you the ball didn’t actually break the plane. I am a fan of end zone dances and celebrations. I think it’s a shame that Ocho Cinco can’t perform his any more, though I guess he’d have to score a touch down for my disappointment to really count. But only after you’ve run into the end zone, ball tucked firmly in your arm should you make your “I’m awesome” statement. Is that so hard? Please.

A look ahead to next week reveals that announcers and analysts are already trying to create some hype behind a New England/Buffalo game that, by all accounts, should be a fairly one-sided contest. Wait, wasn’t that what last night’s game was supposed to be? In the NFL today, you just can’t keep it straight on which team is supposed to be crushing which.