12/03/24
July 18, 2019
"Missed call" lawsuit against NFL proceeds in Louisiana: A Louisiana state judge ruled a damage lawsuit against the NFL over a controversial "no call" late in the NFC Championship Game can proceed.
it's a game played for spectator entertainment and judged on the field by humans who cannot watch everything all at once and humans make mistakes. You want perfection on every play I suppose we can have games where every play and every player is reviewed by a dozen camera angles so no penalty is ever missed. I think we would find that every play would have some kind of penalty, no team would ever score and games would have to be called after eight or more hours. I know what happened, Putin is a Rams fan and the no-call was Russian collusion. The game is over so get on with your life and leave these referees alone.
posted by ic23b at 11:02 AM on July 19, 2019
every play and every player is reviewed by a dozen camera angles so no penalty is ever missed
Had a little bit of this at the beginning of the Women's World Cup. Every ball into the box that might have touched a hand or where an attacking player went to ground was reviewed. After every goal, fans and players have to wait a minute or so to cheer to see if the goal will stand, which takes away from the "spectator entertainment"
it's a game played for spectator entertainment and judged on the field by humans who cannot watch everything all at once and humans make mistakes
I truly think this is important and one of the reasons I am not a fan of video replay. In general and definitely at higher levels, the official do not mean to favor one team or player over another (read comments under "Aaron Boone Expresses Concern for Umpire's Day"). Sure they will miss some calls but in the end it usually evens out. Unfortunately, IMHO, video replay tends to skew that. An example, the NFL will review a play that results in a touchdown but does not review a similar play, unless a coach throws a red flag, that results in a 1st down that extends a drive that leads to a touchdown.
Video review does a decent job in some venues, like college football, I heard cricket has a good system, MLB is getting there, and almost the NFL. But this lawsuit somewhat proves that they have opened Pandora's Box to reviewing everything. We continue down this road and we will have a record for the number of offsetting penalties in a game where on a pass plays the o-line is called for holding and the def secondary is also called for holding or pass interference.
posted by prof at 11:57 AM on July 19, 2019
"I want their personnel files. I want their gradings," he said. "I want their notes from the game."
I can hear the vicious sports media now: It was discovered today that when Joe Referee was six years old he was caught cheating at marbles on the playground because he liked a red marble another player had. How do we know that he is not calling games in favor of teams wearing red uniforms because of his childhood obsession with red marbles.
These referees go through hell from the sports media and social media because of a call, they don't need to be grilled by some lawyer in court.
posted by ic23b at 12:37 PM on July 19, 2019
As the article stated, the attorney believed he had little chance for victory in federal court, thus the $75,000 max lawsuit to keep it in Louisiana (where he'd likely get a very sympathetic judge or jury).
As for the various sports/leagues, if I have one objection to the CFL's review system, it's that penalties (mostly pass interference) can be assessed after review. I guess it's the same as assessing PK's after VAR, but my problem is that it's easy to spot faults at slow speed and from multiple angles.
Review has its place: in-bounds/out-of-bounds catches, offside plays in soccer. Let's not broaden it to the point where it becomes silly.
posted by jjzucal at 11:41 AM on July 20, 2019
I'm an attorney and this is fun -- but ridiculous.
The whole idea behind instant replay is mistaken. The question isn't whether the guy really was safe at second or whether the ball really crossed the goal line. It's whether IT LOOKS THAT WAY to the naked eye. So calls get blown. And we're put out. Deal with it and get a life.
If your connection to the Saints is such that you think a referee's call is worth litigating, you need a better perspective on life.
(Permit ne a sllightly political comment. A lot of the people who favor instant replay don't support spending money to be sure rreally important real-world decisions are made correctly -- which is otherwise known as "regulation".)
posted by hexagram at 06:11 PM on July 20, 2019
I hope the filing attorney makes the league uncomfortable. He's asking for a lot of information. Let's see the commissioner squirm a bit. Not something we get to see enough of.
But the attorney should ask for more than $75K in damages. He says that all money awarded will go to charity. There's a lot of need throughout Louisiana from one end to the other. Folks getting flooded off their land in the southern region due to rising ocean levels and prescription opioids flooding the northern region. All the fracking near Shreveport. And then New Orleans itself. The help they need in that state is in the tens of millions, not tens of thousands.