This the countdown of all the things that made news in the NFL and NCAA Football for all the wrong reasons. Reffereeing mistakes, coaching blunders, outside problems and espionage, its all in here.
Here are the ones that just missed the cut: The Death of Chris Henry, Plaxico Burress' Shooting, and the death of Darrent Williams, Ray Lewis, murderer? and Hurricane Katrina displaces the Saints.
10.) The 2004 "Rule Change"
The Colts were somehow still in the game, even though Manning had thrown four interceptions, and the Colts gave up a safety. Somehow, it was still within reach, at 21-14, two minutes to go. Manning had a 3rd and 10, and attempted to pass to Marcus Pollard. After a blatant hold that was left uncalled, Manning attempted one last pass to Pollard, again the refs did not call a penalty after Pollard was mugged. After the game, Colts GM Bill Polian complained that the refs did not honor the "5-yard contact" rule put in place back in 1979 that prohibited defenders from holding receivers after 5 yards from the line of scrimmage. After admitting the missed calls, the NFL sent a memo to the refferees stressing that this rule should be called more often and more strictly. Since, it definitely has been, with defensive contact and holding penalties way up. However, the controversy comes from the outrage against Polian. Polian, already no friend to the media, was hailed as a cry-baby, molding the NFL's rules to help his team. What was left in the dust was that this rule was in place for years, but had been neglected wrongfully. There was no real rule change, as so many people feel to be true. Polian, to this day, gets hammered, even though he did nothing wrong.
9.) Sean Taylor
This is why I defend Plaxico, although Plax should have licensed the gun. This is why all the right that say, "What need to NFL players have for getting guns," are so wrong. Becuase, at any time, your life, especially when you are a rich, successful man from an area where success is scarce, is one with a bulls-eye on it at all times. Sean Taylor was known for his huge heart on the field, and his reformed, quiet life off the field, one that was centered around staying clean and living with his daughter. Four men, all poor villains from the Miami ghettos, decided to rob his house, thinking Sean was gone. Sadly, recooperating from injury, Taylor was there, and when the four men noticed their mistake, it was all too late. Sean was shot in the femural artery, killing him over time from major blood loss. The NFL was truly at a loss for words. All of Goodell's work (see below), and for the second time in nine months, an NFL player was shot to death doing nothing wrong but being a target. Sean Taylor was a star player too, making the pain from loss so much worse. The league did its due diligence honoring him, while his team did more, running off four straight wins to make the playoffs, but Sean Taylor, and the idea that football player's are never safe, even in their homes, has never truly left us.
8.) Roger Goodell's Personal Conduct Policy
This all predates Vick, although the scepter of a certain, do-ragged canine-killer overshadows the developments that happened before. Goodell entered into the Commissioner's Office as the NFL entered an age of unmatched popularity and labor peace (he kinda ruined the latter one), but also an age of unmatched thuggery (not really, but with 24/7 news all player mishaps were bigger news). Goodell's answer, one that was particularily aimed at the devil that was Pac Man Jones, and hauntingly the now-late Chris Henry, was to create a new "personal conduct policy", one that would allow Goddell the dictatorial ability to suspend players without a conviction or settlement. Essentially, Goodell was allowed to suspend and fine players becuase he did not like the way they acted. It was purely un-American, but since the espousers of freedoms, the right, were all secretly petrified of Pac Man Jones, a man who has still never been convicted of anything (he does seem to have the inteligence of a anal bead though). No one complained except for players, and they have a most viable claim. How can the commissioner suspend players with the only cause being that he did not like their conduct? Lord knows, but it happened. Pac Man, gone for 16 games because he was addicted to strip clubs.
7.) Terry Porter's Pass Interference
Miami had done it. 34 straight wins. 2 straight National Championships. Following in the footsteps of the most loaded college football team maybe ever, the 2002 Miami Hurricanes, albeit slightly less dominant, had run the table and run Miami into the history books again. It was all over. Yet, for one man, it was not. Terry Porter, the backjudge that had just witnessed Miami defensive back Sean Taylor bat a pass targeted for Michael Jenkins with perfect coverage, decided, after waiting three seconds, to throw a flag. Pass interference was the call, Ohio State was given new life, and the Miami fans that had rushed the field were herded like cows back into the stands. Ohio State would go on to complete the historic upset, winning 31-24 in double overtime, allowing Maurice Clarrett his 15 minutes of fame (minutes that Clarrett foolishly tried to add to with his "attempt" at cracking the NFL early). Miami was left to wonder, what if? the country was outraged (at least the college football loving part of the country). The National Championship of College Football was, in their eyes, decided by a striped man. Refferees had made a mockery of college football's biggest game. Little did anyone know, in three short years, they would do the same to the country's biggest game.
6.) Nipplegate
There is a reason that the last six halftime acts at the Super Bowl have been Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, Prince, Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen and the Who (Combined age: 234). That reason happens to exist on the left breast of Janet Jackson. For all the people who scream every time the NFL announces another male senior-citizen laden halftime show, blame Janet. It was Justin Timberlake's de-shrouding of Jackson's nipple that ruined the halftime show forever. Granted that show was horrible even before it happened, the reason Beyonce will never be allowed to do the halftime was becuase of Jackson. What was lost was that all it was was a momentary nip-slip, something that isn't that common and isn't that big of a deal. Sure, it was live, but just have a seven-second tape delay and blur that boob out. End of story, end of problem.
5.) Super Bowl XL
And here was where the refs decided to screw the Super Bowl up. Referees jobs are hard, but honestly, a gymboree class could have worked this game better. Tim Donaghy must be proud of the work Bill Leavy put in that day. Three calls, that was all it took to ruin what should have been a close Super Bowl. First, was the negation of Darrell Jackson's first quarter TD catch becuase of a push-off that had all the strength of a stampede of pillows. Next, came the call of Ben Roethlisberger's running TD, a play that did not cross the goal-line in any camera angle available to man. Third, a holding call on Seattle tackle Sean Locklear that negated what would have been a first and goal for the Seahakws, three yards from a 17-14 lead, setting up a great ending. All of the calls went against the Seahawks, and that only made it worse. The Steelers were the sentimental favorite, America's true team, with a fat, lovable Wiggle of a man in Jerome Bettis playing his final game. Seattle had a lovable, fat wiggle as well in Mike Holmgren, but other than that were a soulless bunch from Seattle playing in a Detroit crowd that was 99.4% Steeler fans. It was a despicable display of reffereeing, and probably Exhibit A in any case that the NFL riggs their games. It was all-summed up with Mike Holmgren's comment at a Seahawks rally: "I knew it would be tough playing the Steelers. I didn't know we had to play the men in stripes too." Yes, Mike, yes you did. The Super Bowl officiating has never been the same since.
4.) The Tuck Rule
The rule that started a dynasty. Still, to this day, no one can say that even using the inane rule, if it was a fumble. All anybody knows is that it was a fumble. It was called one on the field. It was called one in everyone's living rooms. Even the Patriots knew it. Tom Brady walked off the field, slamming his helmet into the snow-draped sideline, knowing in his heart and his head that he fumbled away the final game in Foxboro Stadium history. Sadly, Walt Coleman was the sole person on earth who thought that there was considerable enough evidence to overturn the ruling, granting the Patriots new life, life that they would extend to the next nine postseason games. The Patriots dynasty was born, and the Raider run ended, as Gruden left two weeks later, something Al Davis admits would never have happened had the Raiders won that game. The Tuck Rule remains the most controversial refferee decision this decade, probably in any sport, as it is the one where the fight is over the call itself, more than the outside influence. It wasn't the Super Bowl, where the calls came in the middle of the game. This one decided it, and what only made it worse was that the Raiders, the team that always thought the NFL was out to get them, was on the wrong end. As a Raider fan, I have never gotten over that call, but when a highlight or review of the call or game is on TV, I, and millions of others scarred by the wrong-ness of it all, cannot turn our heads. It is too compelling, too important. One call created one dynasty, and killed one franchise.
3.) Michael Vick
I won't get into the demerits of what he did, and the punishment he received. Simply put, I believe what he did was wrong in many ways, but in no way deserved 24 months in prison. Dogs may be beautiful, regal creatures, and deserve to die in more humane ways than torture, but they are not humans. Two years in prison was ridiculous. Anyway, I know that probably around 80% of the populus greatly disagrees. What is not disagreeable though, is that this was the single biggest off-the field story in the NFL this decade. This was a story that if it happened to anybody famous, let alone the single most marketable star in the NFL, it would make major headlines. It became the worst nightmare the NFL could have envisioned, as the league was under attack, seemingly as if they were harboring a terrorist (some claimed they were). The Falcons were charged by Peta, as if Arthur Blank, Falcon's owner, was personally shooting the films of Vick doing the deed. The Falcons recovered quite nicely, drafting Matt Ryan one year later, but for one year, there was no more ultiamtely irrelevant, but absolutely mystifying NFL location than Atlanta, Newport Beach, Virginia and the now infamous Leaven-worth penitentiary.
2.) The BCS
Love it or hate it, everyone has to admit that it has made college football much more important and talked about. The BCS' major claim is that "it makes the regular season so much more important", and do you know what? They are absolutely right. It has made the regular season infinitely more important. If there was an 8-team playoff, and Alabama and Florida both had locked in spots, do you think the SEC Title Game in '09 would have received 31.3 million viewers. The BCS has helped the college football regular season become a money-making racket, getting more viewers and more spots on Sportscenter than ever before. However, the overwhelming majority hate it. Guys like ESPN analysts Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corso all slam the BCS, but fail to understand that if not for the BCS, their jobs would be pretty much useless (and much less lucrative) until January. College football is now the most exciting regular season of any sport not named the NFL, and the sole reason is the BCS. Sure, there is no perfect formula, but without the BCS, we never would have seen Texas play Alabama, or that classic USC - Texas or Ohio State - Miami title games, as all those teams would have had to fill their previous conference bowl obligations. Small schools say the system is unfair, well, then if you are Boise St. go ahead and join the Pac-10, or TCU in the Big 10. The Big 10 is here to stay, which will only get talking heads brewing a controversy. Talking heads, that would have had nothing to talk about otherwise.
1.) Spygate
And finally, there is the story that got congress involved, made Bill Belichick into the Nixon of the NFL, coincided with the most pariahacal/excoriated team in NFL history. It was the perfect storm. Mix in one team already seeking revenge for their embarrasing loss in the 2006 Title Game, with the added bonus that the team's success and bombast had already merited some nation-wide hate. Add in one coach who was seen as a obnoxious, arrogant jerk. Add in one video-camera cheating scandal (aren't those type of scandal's always the best), and a Watergate inspired name. And Viola!! The greatest football scandal ever. Also, let's not forget Roger Goodell's butchering of the entire situation by burning the evidence, the very tapes that actually went back to 2000, and included some playoff games. In the end, it amounted to nothing, with the Patriots eventually getting their commeuppance, one that was wholly deserved after somehow turning themselves into the victims, with their loss in Super Bowl XLII. The Matt Walsh situation, one that if true would probably have gotten the Patriots stripped of their 2001 Super Bowl title, ended up being nothing. But, there was no situation that enveloped a nation and had legs longer than Spygate. Amazingly, this is not the last Spygate column in the decadium. That jsut goes to show you that there was no bigger football controversy in the aught's if ever, than Spygate.
