Tom Brady: NFL Savior?

While I'm pondering how I can grow a 'stache like Gardner Minshew...

Look, I'm the last guy who should be wanting to praise Tom Brady for anything. After all, it's because of him (well, maybe it was more Kyle Shanahan) that I will go to my sporting grave with the numbers "28-3" tattooed on my forehead like a scarlet letter. My best friend (who of course is from Massachusetts) is quick to remind me of that number to the point where it haunts me Sunday in and Sunday out. Anyway, Brady has ended many a dynasty for two decades, but it was something he did earlier this evening that might have a greater impact. Hold on, Oakland Raider fans, before you start crying about that "Tuck Rule" again, hear me out.

As the Tennessee Titans-Jacksonville Jaguars game was taking place during Thursday Night Football, Brady sent out a set of tweets blasting the referees for calling a series of heinous penalties. Now, at "It's Sports, It's Life," we tend to look at the more serious issues in the world of sports. However, when the arguably G.O.A.T begins to opine on the state of officiating, that merits a discussion.

This isn't about whether or not the referees are not simply doing their job, it's about a league that refuses to acknowledge a problem that they created. It was in their desire to kowtow to pressure from one blown call in last year's NFC Championship that has led to the yellow flags being thrown more than the footballs through two weeks. The men in stripes, through no fault of their own, are calling any 50-50 play in favor of the offense. It led to an atrocious call in Sunday's Denver-Chicago game which led to the Bears kicking a game-winning FG (if only that had occurred last January). ISIL is predicting that by year's end some team is going to be on the wrong side of a roughing the passer penalty that will make that call a reviewed one by a disgruntled team.

But back to Brady. He's already had the most accomplished career of any football player ever, and even with a simple tweet can get others to listen. After all, his legend began on a controversial call, isn't it time for Tom Terrific to give back by pushing for change? He can even create the next Twitter craze and call it #PutTheFlagsAway.

By doing so, he can get back to doing what so many Americans did, and watch the exciting battle between Marcus Mariotta and Gardner Minshew. Who'd want to miss that?

Check out our latest episode of the Final Five on the Washington Redskins: http://tobtr.com/s/11512855

Foul? No, you're foul!

For the 3-plus decades in which I have watched all levels of basketball, there is always the perpetual question being asked: "What is a foul?" We have seen referees blow whistles on the lightest of touches, to allowing blatant discretions like the one above. We argue, "Why don't they call it by the book?" Understand first and foremost that referees, just like anyone else, are human. They make mistakes, and unlike anyone else, their mistakes are shown before millions around the world on television and online. Sports-talk radio shows banter on for days about what they believed was a missed call.

Again, by the letter of the law, it is a foul. However, the NBA came out yesterday and stated that at least 5 missed calls took place during the end of the San Antonio-Oklahoma City game on Monday night. They are correct as fouls by both teams occurred. While the tune of "well it's too late to do anything about it now" has been the prevailing mantra in the days after, what is refreshing to see is the league doing something that fans have been asking for a long time: keeping referees accountable. Recently during the first round of the playoffs Detroit Pistons guard Reggie Jackson took it a step further:

It will be interesting to see what will happen going forward, or if Commissioner Adam Silver will begin to enforce stiffer penalties. The NFL has a system in which referees who continue to blow missed assignments are not allowed to officiate playoff games, and if the same is done in the NBA, it could see an end to what many people feel is an unfair and selective enforcement of officiating at opportune times.

Remember the outcry in the 2002 Western Conference Finals between the Lakers and the Sacramento Kings in Game 6? The Lakers had an absurdly amount of free throws awarded to them in the fourth quarter, and appeared to many as if they were allowed to do more than what the Kings were in that instance. Although we forget that Sacramento still had a Game 7 (at home, btw) they could've won, to this day everyone and their mother outside of Staples Center still believes this game was rigged so that the NBA could have the LA market in the Finals.

 

Sure, there are times in which superstars are allowed to travel (Michael Jordan was notorious for getting away with three steps) and maybe can use their elbows more often than the 12th man off the bench, but to think that the league is telling their referees (who are well compensated) to throw a nationally televised game for the sake of ratings borders on the brinks of absurdity. However, after decades of people asking for the referees to be held accountable, the league has listened and are doing so. In life, we all know that mistakes will be made (Romans 3:23) but it's as they always say "The cover-up is worse than the crime." We all want to know that what we are watching and supporting is on the up-and-up, and that the standards of fairness and competency is extended to those officiating the games as much as those who are playing them.

However, I'm still convinced that the "frozen envelope" conspiracy was contrived by the Illuminati...