After reading a few posts in other threads(quoted below, I thought I would try this.
So here it is.
My idea is this…if you have a rant/complaint/whine/justifiable cause for homicide against any officials or league representatives due to on-field calls this weekend, post it here. If your post is relevant to another thread, post your complaint here, with a link in the other thread.
For example…Winnipeg/BC game thread, bad PI call, costs one team a possible touchdown. Post in the Wpg/BC thread that you disagree with the call, reasons given in Official’s Thread. Then link the words "Official’s Thread" to your post in this thread.
That way, the people who want to discuss the officiating and rules definitions can do so, without highjacking the entire thread from those who wish to discuss the game without a great debate on the quality of calls.
In order for this to work, most, if not all, complaints about officiating should come to this thread this week.
This will also save work for those who like or need to discuss officiating, as such threads almost always end up being duplicated. This way, a poster only has to make his point once, on one thread, rather than typing the same thing out on four or five threads (Like blue-blood had to do last week after she did research clarifying the actual rule on a call. She had to type the explanation out at least five times in different places.)
Anyways, I hope this works, and creates some peace on the boards (for those who want it) and some good fights, er, debates :twisted: on other boards, (for those who want that).
Now, for the sake of continuity from multiple threads that started last week, I’m going to start things off with a few quotes I pulled…
My thoughts on this are, as usual, not likely to make any sense whatsoever.
So here goes…
I think twenty people can see the same play and come up with twenty different descriptions. How each person describes the play depends on that person’s own response bias. I don’t mean bias here in any negative way. Every single person on the planet, no matter how objective, will have their own response bias.
I’m going to cite a few examples, because these people are consistent and often very clear in their posts. Apologies if I misread anyone…
DCMoses will often be critical of calls and officials. What I get from him is that he is trying to be constructive in his criticism, and wants officiating to improve, for the good of the league. He appears to want the league to get better and improve its image, and he sees officiating as an obstacle to that. I would say that his response bias is quite negative towards officials, but with the goal of a positive outcome. (Think of a hard-ass coach who always rides his players and benches those who make mistakes.)
FootballYouBet will almost always support the officials. He recognizes how difficult the job is, and doesn’t want criticism to dissuade others from joining the ranks. He appears to believe in a more measured response, and allow people to learn from mistakes. Kind of like Ken Miller. Keep the praise public and the criticism private. I think his response bias is quite positive.
CFListhebest also tends to have a positive response bias towards officials, in general. Regardless of what some people say or think about him, he does have knowledge of the game. He does, however tend to have a response bias that favours their own team. This, I think, is the most common and understandable response bias.
Some people, like Chief, RPaege, and Blue Blood, are better at overcoming their response bias and seeing a situation from multiple points of view. Others, like GeroySimon, Turkeybend, and 15Championships have more of a tendency to view calls and situations through their own prisms. Their response bias is that of a more passionate fan. This is not a bad thing.
I, myself, know I have a bias towards the Riders, and an even stronger one against the Lions. I have my reasons for this, just as anyone else does. I try to tone down my bias, and see things objectively. Sometimes I fail in this. OK, OFTEN I fail in this.
I think that these response biases explain RPaege’s and Blue Blood’s questions/concerns, which I quoted above. No one agrees on what they saw because they all saw something different.
My own response bias towards officials is probably more negative than it should be. I try to work on that. But I do think they need to improve. I’m not in favour of public whippings, but I do think that accountability is not unreasonable.
I think that general consensus of casual CFL fans is very negative towards the quality of officiating in the league. This is based on conversations I have had, and nothing more, so take it for what it is.
But I do believe that the CFL has an image problem in this regard. This image problem will continue even after they “fix” officiating, and needs to be addressed on its own, as well. I know, fixing the image without fixing the officials will not work, but, really, how much of the officiating problem itself is actually based on nothing more than image itself?
Anyways, I now leave the debate in the hands of people much smarter than myself.
[b]My idea is this...if you have a rant/complaint/whine/justifiable cause for homicide against any officials or league representatives due to on-field calls this weekend, post it here.
If your post is relevant to another thread, post your complaint here, with a link in the other thread.[/b]
For example…Winnipeg/BC game thread, bad PI call, costs one team a possible touchdown.
Post in the Wpg/BC thread that you disagree with the call, reasons given in Official’s Thread.
Then link the words “Official’s Thread” to your post in this thread.
Great stuff from Hit 'em Hard including the above recommendation for action, irrespective of any positive influence of fine scotch, yet again! :thup:
The above actions recommended will work great like most things when more of us will just do it, so please take note but also please share this thread with others popping up in the game threads who perhaps are not commenting on other threads as regulars.
I can live with a separate thread, but would still prefer a separate forum. That way, people could still have separate threads to discuss each individual "bab" callnoncall and admin could make a rule agains posting such comments in other forums.
I’m not a mod or admin, so I don’t have the power to create a separate forum. What’s more, I am probably NOT the person who anyone would want in any kind of position that even resembles power.
I’m just a guy, who thought he’d try an idea. Hopefully it works. If it doesn’t, no harm done.
OK, I go on a rant that grows to the size of a small novel, and you sum it up in two sentences. Talk about stealing my thunder
I agree with you there. I will challenge the quality of officiating but they do not win or lose games. They can and do have an impact on the outcome, but not being able to turn the clock back and watch the game without the bad/missed call we will never know exactly HOW it impacts the outcome. Even in a situation where a call is directly responsible for points that win or lose a game like last years Grey Cup (best example for this except for the fact that it was the correct call) there is still 59 minutes that a team had to prevent from putting themselves in that position.
That said it does not excuse poor officiating that does not measure up to the level of play on the field. Winnipeg got cheated on the non fumble, but they did gave up 44 points which rarely is the losers score. I don’t blame the officials for losing games, just calling them badly.
The week 14 CFL roundtable on TSN.ca talked for almost 10 minutes on the officiating situation this season. Some excellent observations and suggestions were made. I really hope Higgins and Cohon were listening. Check it out.
Pass interference and horse collar tackle. The flags are easy to find, an actual infraction deserving of a flag is a lot more difficult. You two are funny. Must be members of the officials union.
