Disturbing Trend

Has anybody else noticed the disturbing trend that is going on in NFL Football officiating or for that matter officiating period. In my humble opinion, at least 3 of the games (I did not get to see the Seattle game) had huge, impactful decisions that were incorrectly made... sometimes even with the aid of instant replay.

#1.. NE vs Denver. First off, I do not want to take away anything from Denver. I believe they played a good game and made plays when they had to; but it is my opinion that NE lost the game as opposed to Denver winning it. Denver was given a touchdown (more or less) by the referees when they called pass interference around the 5 yard line. Again, in my humble opinion, that play was not even close to pass interference. So given that huge miscall that led to a touchdown plus the many, many turnover mistakes by NE, Denver will be hosting a game against the Steelers. Which brings us to......

#2.. Pitt vs Indy. There are almost too many mistakes to call here. Conversely, to the above game, Randel El was grossly interfered with early on with no call. I believe I should also mention that I will be saying all of this with a definite prejudice against the Steelers (sorry Josh). As a Cowboys fan, you just can't like the Steelers. Enough said. The biggest miscall was when they didn't give them an interception later in the game. I don't care about having both knees off of the ground before you "gain" possession. That is ludicrous. He caught that ball clean and it should have been an interception. I'm not sure what replay they were watching. They also missed a blatant false start against the Colts that had a big gainer to Harrison. I just don't get it. They do, however, love to call the illegal contacts against the DBs.

What a finish though... I'm not sure why they didn't just take a knee at the end of the game. I realize that there were some timeouts left... but for crying out loud... don't fumble it. I also realize that the Bus doesn't cough it up very often. I guess it worked out.. Nice game saving tackle by Ben.. and how does Vandy miss that FG by 2 miles.. I think it was just justice calling.

#3 and finally, Bears vs Carolina. Again, numerous big mistakes. I believe that Carolina should of had a defensive touchdown. Yes, Gage's knee touched the ground when he made the catch; but there was no contact while the knee was down. Again, they even used replay. If I can see it, then they should see it. Maybe the most obvious error was not calling delay of game towards the end of the game. It obviously worked out for Carolina because Grossman through an interception.. but how do you miss that? I wonder if that is challengable? It should be.

So with the exception of possibly NE, the bad referee calls didn't change how the game eventually ended up; but PA-LEASE!!! Get the calls right...

Uhhh Poker.. oh yeah..

I have updated my stats for the month at the right. So far so good. As far as this weekend goes, the trend continued. I banked a good day Friday but gave it back over the weekend so the trend of losing money on Saturday and Sunday continues. Technically, with a bonus from Full Tilt, I made a whopping $12 on Sunday. Also technically, if want to consider rakeback, then Fri-Sun was profitable; albeit barely. Saturday, I just couldn't get it going. I played over 2,100 hands and finally ended up down $275. At one point, I was over $600 down; but once I got it back to under $300, I just called it a night. I still had a football game and a basketball game to watch on my DVR.

I also played in our small monthly home game tourney. We had more than usual as 11 people showed up. In the first game, I ended up in the top 5, I believe. The hand that took me out was fairly interesting. I was getting short so I push from UTG+1 position with TT. Kip behind me takes a while and finally calls. Little did I know at the time is that he was slow playing his Rockets. Doh!!!! and finally The Poker Ace (renamed from just Ace) had his own pocket pair (pkt 8s maybe.. I can't remember); but did not call. That left UTG, Webster. He also had a pkt pair (55) and he thought and finally did call. Low and behold a T came on the flop and I was feeling good. Well, at least until the River when Kip dealt himself an Ace.. IGHN. Unfortunately, Kip went card dead and couldn't put my chips to good use. Cards or no cards.. at some point you just have to push and hopefully pick up the blinds are just get lucky why you still a have a decent stack. That would be my one suggestion to him. Poker Ace, as usual, just continued to get the cards or the flops and notched a well deserved victory.

The second game only 5 or 6 of us played as the others proceeded to play our typically "wild" side games. I was just in the mood for Holdem so I opted for another tourney. This second game I made it Heads up with none other than the Poker Ace. First hands of Heads up, I am dealt the powerful 52o. I can't remember who had the button.. I believe PA did. Anyway, he just called and I checked to see a flop of 882. I bet out a little over half pot and he raised (as he is prone to do). I was putting on over cards and I went all in. He turned over Q8 and IGHN. Nice going "Poker Ace". That 2nd place finish at least made me break even for the night. It still wasn't too late; but I opted to hit the highway.

There you have it and there you are... Have a good week!!!!