No Fun League

If you read this blog often, you know I'm no Lions apologist. In fact, I'd say I veer toward the other extreme. If it was up to me, the Lions wouldn't even be in Detroit. They'd have left years ago to become some other city's curse. As it stands, they're still the sad-sack franchise for the beaten-down city of Detroit. And the folks who had the displeasure of watching yesterday's game against the Bears had yet another reason to feel sorry for themselves.

By now, most people have seen Calvin's non-catch against the Bears. In case you'd like to relive the absurdity...

The non-catch was in the waning seconds of the game and, barring a miraculous kickoff return for TD by the Bears, the Calvin catch would've clinched the win. Like so many sporting events this year, the fate of the game was in the hands of the officials. But why did this play even require review? The official present in the above video had a clear view of the play and signaled "Touchdown". Nope. Because of some bizarre NFL rule, the play required the dreaded "Booth Review".

In any other league or sport in the world, Calvin's catch is legit. Yet, in the NFL, it's incomplete. It truly makes no sense. Why would the league have a rule in place that negates a perfectly decent completion? It seems to go against the spirit of the game. The rules of sports (and officials for that matter) were put in place to ensure fair-play and equality. Apparently, the rules have taken over. The spirit of the game means nothing.

If I were a Bears' fan or player, I'd feel a bit sick to my stomach. That's no way to win. It's like USSR's basketball team stealing the Gold from the US in the '72 Olympics. It makes me long for the days of Bobby Jones who called a penalty on himself when nobody else saw it. Alas, those days are long gone. The Bears open the season 1-0 and won't care a lick about how they won.

For shame, NFL.