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Saturday, January 25, 2003
NFL Officiating Quandary  By Ben Maller Will the Raiders get the "Raider Treatment" in Super Bowl XXXVII? I don't mean this in a good way. The Super Bowl is the biggest sporting event in America each year, and because of this, the game has a few special unwritten rules. It's long been known in NFL circles that the league wants its officials to be conservative in calling penalties in the big game. The theory is that a game with lots of penalties is a poor game and the NFL doesn't want that in its showcase event. The question then becomes will the rules change because the Al-Davis-owned Raiders are playing? Last year, New England coach Bill Belichick, to his credit, supposedly told his underdog Patriots' offensive line to hold on just about every play because he knew the officials wouldn't call holding in a Super Bowl or they would be fired. New England was able to cheat its way past a much more talented St. Louis Rams team to win Super Bowl XXXVI. The Pats were called for just 5 penalties. If you look back at the last 10 Super Bowls, Belichick's theory has been proven correct. There have been just 100 total penalties called or an average of 10 penalties combined per Super Bowl. During the regular season, the Raiders had the second-most penalty yards (1,094) in the league behind the Vikings (1,139) and were third in number of penalties (129) behind Minnesota (137) and the expansion Texans (136). The Silver & Black also had a tough time in the AFC title game when they tied a season high in penalties with 14 and had a season-high 127 penalty yards. Over the years, many Oakland players have felt that the Raiders get a raw deal from refs because the NFL hates owner Al Davis. Keep in mind, the Raiders hold the playoff record for penalties in game, with 17 against the Broncos, 10 seasons ago. It's not out of the question that the officials could take this game away from the Raiders. Will this Super Bowl be called different from every other Super Bowls? We'll find out Sunday. Hot Sports Opinions I normally save my Super Bowl prediction for the radio show, but what the heck, I love the Raiders to roll over the Bucs. While everyone talks about the Tampa defense and the Oakland offense I'm looking at the other side. The Raiders defense is better then the Bucs offense. You mark my words, the NFL will have a team in Los Angeles by 2005. The Chargers, Raiders or Colts will be in LA before the next television contract. LeBron James might not want to play for the hometown Cavs because they fired John Lucas as coach. Is LeBron an idiot? Lucas has the worst winning percentage in the history not only of Cleveland but also Philadelphia. That's hard to do. Gary Payton would be a perfect fit for the Indiana Pacers. The Sonics are going nowhere fast. Seattle should deal the franchise now before it becomes old and has no value. Watching Lakers' guard Derek Fisher try to guard Earl Boykins of the Warriors this week must be like watching a 15 year old high school kid try to guard Michael Jordan in his prime. Pete Rose was banned for life from baseball because he bet on baseball. It's been 14 years now and Rose is going to admit he bet on baseball. So why should he be allowed back in baseball? Pudge Rodriguez playing in front of 5,000 Marlins fans this season makes no sense. Pudge, despite being the greatest defensive catcher in baseball history, never got the huge money. This is amazing considering he played the best years of his career in the 1990s. I wonder if the Padres will be selling Dog Food at the concession stands in their new "Petco Park" when it opens in 2004. permalink Friday, January 24, 2003
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