Officiating: XFL vs NFL (1 Viewer)

[Slaw]

Anyone find it hilariously ironic that the league owned by the WWE owner has proactively transparent officiating while the 100 year old league is the one with WWE-caliber suspicion about whether its outcomes are predetermined.

Doesn't that sounds like a huge story? But nobody is even mentioning it.

 

[Slaw]

Just shows you that they fix may be in for the NFL......

I don't believe it's impossible to win. But I do believe we would've had to beat our opponent and the officials in some games.

 

[black_floyd]

Doesn't that sounds like a huge story? But nobody is even mentioning it.

The NFL's very seriously probably paying or pressuring media outlets to not cover the XFL or to cover it in an unflattering manner. I've already seen two negative profootballtalk articles pop up on the sidebar on this forum in the last couple days.

 

[NatureBoy]

I was on a plane the other day and sat next to a young lady who was an NCAA men’s and women’s basketball referee.

We talked in general about the differences between college and pro sports. She said working college is easy because it’s truly a game. She can just focus on making the right call. She said that the college players are there to win, they leave everything on the court, etc. I didn’t quite get what she was trying to say and asked what was her point. She said that everyone in professional sports understands its “entertainment” first. I asked if my theory was right (that NFL referees make calls that benefit the concept of keeping games close). She said “close games are entertaining”. I then said I don’t think that refs can control games but I could see them trying to keep things close. Then she said, you can call holding, hands to the face, and similar plays on every play, so it’s quite possible to control a game. She stopped short of saying that they do so.

My point in sharing this story? I agree about the XFL’s transparency. They don’t appear to be officiating in a manner that promotes, “entertainment”. They’re just trying to make the right calls. The process of transparency provides an entertainment factor in itself and the games just seem cleaner. What a twist of fate. The XFL, a league owned by a man who champions fake fighting (entertainment), is running a more honest ship than the NFL.

 

[Taker597]

Questionable judging in MMA?

If you're talking about the Jon Jones fight. Jones won that fight handily. You can't coast versus a champion in the championship rounds and win. Dude was on rollerskates in round 4 and 5 and John Jones had to chase him down. There are more things to judging a UFC fight than punches.

Fighting 'Just enough to win" isn't gonna win you a belt.

 

[msusaintsfan]

I have not watched a single game, only a couple highlights on youtube... I wonder if this is a matter of perception, combined with a slower, less complicated game.

The perception part, would be a combination of fans not being as invested in XFL teams as they are NFL teams, and therefore viewing NFL calls with a higher level of scrutiny; and the attempt of the XFL of being as transparent as possible in the call review process.

The slower, less complicated game is easier to officiate.

I am not defending the NFL, and it is commendable that the XFL is trying to be as transparent as possible in the call review process, from both the game and marketing perspectives.

Dude you need to watch one. It is pretty good football and seems to be better each week. These guys really didn't have that much time to gel before the season.

There are plenty of guys who have played in the NFL so the speed is there with a lot of guys. Some of these guys will find their way o to a NFL squad this upcoming season. The XFL just proves how much their refs and officiating is better than the NFL.

 

[Swimmer]

I know I'm probably beating a dead horse by bringing up anything related to officiating. But I don't understand why this isn't being talked about. How can the XFL, a league that just started, have obviously better officiating than the NFL's "best in the world". The XFL is showing that it isn't difficult to get the calls right. This only further's my suspicion that there is something fishy about all the blown calls throughout the NFL.

The NFL has been my favorite sports league for as long as I can remember. But with the "bad officiating" of the NFL, the ridiculous amount of cheatery in the MLB, and questionable judging in both MMA and boxing, I think the NBA has become my favorite (Zion and the gang obviously plays a part).

I know a former NBA ref wrote a book about cheating, but if I'm not mistaken, that was more about covering gambling spreads than determining outcomes of big games. The NBA is a huge step ahead of the NFL when it comes to the treatment of it's players. I guess I just have a little faith left in the NBA, and I don't know if I can say the same about most other sports.

I really like your post. Well done and thanks Slaw. If it were not for the Saints, I'd pull out of watching the NFL. I am not comfortable with there being real equity towards the teams and officiating would be the way to influence games. No one can convince me that the officials are not told to try and keep games close, if possible, into the 4th quarter. And there is no reason for the NFL to not have 100% full-time employee refs, unless the NFL wants to be able to cover their rears when the contractor refs get caught blowing or fixing something

As you said above basically how can a rookie league, 3 or so games into 1st season have better and more accurate officiating than the 100 year old NFL

 

[SystemShock]

Dude you need to watch one.

Nah. I got the NHL. Watching my Capitals and the Penguins go at it last Saturday, there is no football game that I want to watch over ice hockey. Plus I got season tickets for my local minor league hockey team.

 

[bigdaddysaints]

IMO, the NFL doesn't like to address it because they don't like to admit they make mistakes that change the course of the game, that they would rather double down on not criticizing the Refs instead of admitting humans make mistakes and we have the technology to correct it.

 

[Beerman84]

The NFL's very seriously probably paying or pressuring media outlets to not cover the XFL or to cover it in an unflattering manner. I've already seen two negative profootballtalk articles pop up on the sidebar on this forum in the last couple days.

Pro Football Talk is part of the NBC family, and NBC and CBS are the major networks without the XFL. So that's where this comes from IMO.

 

[fishing4food]

The NFL has rules on the field and hire an outside contractor (The referees) to come in an officiate the game. Again, the refs are contracted to call a game by the rules that the NFL has set. Since they are contracted out, their are no reprimands or fines on an official for calling a bad game. This is on the League and the Owners.

 

[NatureBoy]

The NFL has rules on the field and hire an outside contractor (The referees) to come in an officiate the game. Again, the refs are contracted to call a game by the rules that the NFL has set. Since they are contracted out, their are no reprimands or fines on an official for calling a bad game. This is on the League and the Owners.

Good post. Which puts the spotlight on the root of the issue. It's the rules (and lack of transparency) that the NFL hands off to the zebras to enforce. The NFL owns this. We can take issue with the individual refs, and some certainly deserve criticism, but the NFL owns the cluster of an officiating and integrity problem they cause.

 

[St.Dan]

Nah. I got the NHL. Watching my Capitals and the Penguins go at it last Saturday, there is no football game that I want to watch over ice hockey. Plus I got season tickets for my local minor league hockey team.

My wife, who was raised mainly in the Northeast, has gotten me into hockey as well. It's a competitive sporting event that I can enjoy without the emotional connection I suffer from when watching football And good deal on your minor league season tickets. There used to be bona fide, NHL-feeding minor league action in La. and Miss., including the Brass until the NBA came back to town in 2002. Closest thing for us this winter is the club team that plays in Shreveport.

 

[26ISTHEMAN]

Slaw, if good officiating is what you're looking for, I don't think you'll find it in the NBA. Those refs are just as bad, if not worse, than NFL refs. They have bastageized the rules of basketball to the point that the game is almost unrecognizable. MLB has the best refs of the major sports leagues by far (I don't watch hockey, so I can't comment on them). Strike zones may vary from one umpire to the next, but each one is usually consistent with his calls, and calls on the field are usually spot on. NBA refs are corrupt as far as I'm concerned. Same goes for NFL refs.

 

[St.Dan]

Slaw, if good officiating is what you're looking for, I don't think you'll find it in the NBA. Those refs are just as bad, if not worse, than NFL refs. They have bastageized the rules of basketball to the point that the game is almost unrecognizable. MLB has the best refs of the major sports leagues by far (I don't watch hockey, so I can't comment on them). Strike zones may vary from one umpire to the next, but each one is usually consistent with his calls, and calls on the field are usually spot on. NBA refs are corrupt as far as I'm concerned. Same goes for NFL refs.

I haven't intently watched hockey but for a few seasons now. But, I can say the NHL has instant replay to look at questionable calls (like on whether a goal should stand, whether something is "offsides" or not) and they're prone to human error out there. But, I've seen truly egregious screw-ups far less often than in the NFL.