Zero Integrity, Dept.
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Out of the Green Bay locker room* on Monday Night:
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“13th man beat us tonight.” — Green Bay tight end Tom Crabtree.
“Got (robbed) by the refs.. Embarrassing. Thanks nfl” — Green Bay offensive lineman T.J. Lang.
"Any player/coach in Seattle that really thinks they won that game has zero integrity as a man and should be embarrassed." - Lang
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Any player has a right to be outraged about a game-deciding call. We're all good there.
What I have a problem with, is Lang not allowing that he had just gone through a bitterly-fought war. Wars like that are going to be decided, either way, by a single play on one side or the other. If you are the world champion backgammon player and we play for six hours and the whole match comes down a final roll? ANY final roll. If I need 11 or 12 to win the match after six hours, then, my friend, your problem is that you shoulda beat me cleanly. In reality, a backgammon match between Dr. D and a good player is not going to come down to a final roll.
If we're playing poker, and we've been at it for 36 hours, and now I need a flush draw to save myself, and the spade lands?, don't go crying about how anybody who thinks I won has zero integrity as a man. If you wanted to win, T.J., why didn't you make sure you were up 21-10 with eight seconds left? Instead, you get incinerated on the line, to the tune of several NFL records, and then you demand that we all cast flowers during your chariot ride through the streets?
The Green Bay offensive linemen had the right to remain silent after getting their jocks handed to them in front of 20 million people. If somebody had a right to open his mouth, it would have been Aaron Rodgers. Who, you might observe, said doodly squat.
If one of the kiddies here wants to play me a game of basketball 1-on-1 for the right to publish next year :- ) and we go to a hunnerd. And he's trash talking about how I'm not in his league, yada yada. And if we go out on the court and I spot him the 20 years and after two hours it's 99-99, comes down to one shot, and he thinks I fouled him the last play, does he have the right to say "anybody who thinks Jeff really won has zero integrity?"
If you want to command respect, BEAT me. Beat me down. Leave the situation such that nobody wonders who won.
Honestly, I thought every athlete knew that. I wonder why T.J. Lang forgot it.
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There is a controlled chaos to a sports event as viciously fought as the Seahawks-Packers game. Most of those games are decided on a lucky bounce of a fumble, like that last one by Green Bay on their 2. Or on a ref's call. Or on a ref's hat being thrown onto the field, or on somebody forgetting they didn't have a time out left, or some stupid slop like that. If you don't want the last play to be subject to fate, then beat the other team down and make sure the final play is meaningless.
I thought every athlete knew that.
Usually T.J. Lang does know that. But then, the 9 sacks may have thrown off an offensive guard's sensibilities as to what creates a solid basis for embarrassment.
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Anyway. Does Dr. D think that the Seahawks "won?" Or is he embarrassed to talk about the victory?
Well, there isn't any question that the Seahawks still have a ways to go, before they're as good as the 15-1 Green Bay Packers. That isn't the question, is it, whether the Seahawks are as good as the Packers. What were the Mariners, 8-9 against the Rangers? It's not enough to be a good player, T.J. You must also play good.
Or: was the final ref'ing call counterbalanced by that phantom Pass Interference call on Kam Chancellor, which itself kept alive a Green Bay touchdown drive? The Chancellor P.I. call cancelled about 60% of the final call, for me ... but the dubious Personal Foul that cancelled a Russell Wilson interception more than cancelled the Chancellor call itself.
What really counterbalanced the final call, was the way that Green Bay was allowed to hold to protect Rodgers in the second half ...
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Ref'ing is a factor, a huge factor, a game-deciding factor, in LOTS of games. The referee'ing tonight was especially weird-looking, but in terms of affecting the game outcome? Seen. Much. Worse.
Athletes go out onto the field and they know what they're getting into. They know that the ref'ing might be worth 10, or more, points in ANY given game; Mike Holmgren IMHO watched a fixed outcome during the 2005 Super Bowl -- and he acknolwedged the Steelers' win after it. Also, athletes know that luck might be worth 10, or more, points in ANY given game; Green Bay had a goal-line fumble bounce back into their hands Monday and the Seahawks didn't whine about that.
Athletes know that in a war like that one, they never completely control their own destinies. They go out and fight like lions, and sometimes the refs, or luck, or whatever, decides the outcome. In my experience, between two evenly-matched teams who won't back down, usually something freakish decides the game. Athletes go out and bleed and sweat and die, and they watch stupid slop happen. They trudge back in, reluctantly mouth nice things about the opponents, and they get ready for next time.
Sure, the Seahawks deserved, and earned, this victory. So did Green Bay, even more so. But I've seen athletes play a lot better than T.J. Lang just did, and lose more undeservingly, and still acknowledge the winners.
But then, you're talking about athletes who had intregity as men, and who had no reason to feel embarrassed after the game.
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