Still #UnmissableCall
1. It is a strange and spurious argument put forward on
behalf of the NFL by Joseph Sinclare in
his affidavit that the heavy potential cost to the NFL of any remedy should trump any
attempt at attaining Justice for the plaintiffs. This could easily be seen as
an attempt by a hugely powerful corporation to intimidate the plaintiffs, their
council and even the court. Indeed if money is so important to the NFL’s
thinking what actions are they willing to take to mitigate the financial loss
to the plaintiffs, the Saint’s, and the City of New Orleans caused by Roger
Goodell’s inaction?
2. It beggars belief that Roger Goodell and the NFL go into
hiding, make no comment, take no action and give no details of any ‘investigation’
being undertaken for several days and then have the nerve to complain that there is no time to address
any possible remedy prior to the Superbowl. It is not reasonable to create a time
constraint problem yourself, then complain about that self-same problem.
3. Prior to the game were the referees instructed by
officers of the NFL to apply a higher standard of foul play before throwing a
flag? It has been suggested that this
might have occurred in an honest attempt to keep the game flowing and possibly,
ironically, to try and prevent the officials from being involved in any potentially
controversial game changing decisions. If the referees were so instructed this
could explain the obvious confusion in their minds, conflicted by the extra pressure they failed to call the unmissable
double foul. Has Roger Goodell investigated this scenario? Was he aware of, or even complicit in,
any such interference taking place?
4. Prior to the game Rams fans were very vocal in their opposition
to the appointment of Bill Vinovich and his team as referees for this important
game - pointing out 8 losses when Bill and his men had previously officiated.
They even organised a petition to have him removed. Did this hostile outpouring have
any effect on the referee’s performance? Did they feel under any extra pressure leading to
not calling such an important foul against the Ram’s at such a critical point in
the game? Has Roger Goodell asked this question?
5. I assume commissioner Roger Goodell watched the game
(on TV). Did he see what everyone else saw – that the missed PI call was
clearly unmissable, that crucially, something more than poor judgement had just been witnessed
by millions around the world. Did it occur to him that he could immediately exercise
his authority to intervene and reverse the dubious call, or order the play to
be reset? Did he not subsequently consider doing this at full time, whilst both
teams were still on the field? When this horrible calamity could have been undone
at no cost and with little or no damage to the NFL’s reputation. Has Roger Goodell asked himself this question?
