Catch Rule Craziness Continues …
By Ken Reed
I recently wrote about the absurd, anti-fan, NFL catch rule. Since then, only a week later, another incomprehensible catch rule call was made.
This time, it took place in the Buffalo vs. New England game this past Sunday. A catch by Kelvin Benjamin of the Bills was initially ruled a good catch and touchdown by the officials on the field. However, after a review by the NFL office in New York, the call on the field was overturned and the play was ruled an incomplete pass.
In addition to the coaches, players and fans who couldn’t believe the overturned call, former NFL officiating VP Mike Pereira was in shock due to the overturned call. This is what he posted on Twitter:
Regarding the Buffalo no touchdown, nothing more irritating to an official than to make a great call and then someone in a suit in an office in New York incorrectly reverses it. Now that another touchdown has been taken away without clear and obvious evidence, it is time to move on to the catch rule. It doesn’t work. It doesn’t make sense. Start with the Jesse James play. That should be a catch and a touchdown, not an incomplete pass.
The “Jesse James play” he’s referring to is the overturned catch-and-touchdown call from the recent Pittsburgh vs. New England game. That ruling likely determined home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs and, as such, might’ve determined the Super Bowl champion.
It was a horrible ruling.
The current NFL catch rule has to go, before another season is tainted and more fans get fed up with the absurdity of it all.
— Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans
Sports Forum Podcast
Episode #28 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: A Chat With Mano Watsa, a Leading Basketball and Life Educator – Watsa is President of PGC Basketball, the largest education basketball camp in the world, with over 150 camps in 30+ U.S. states and Canada. We discuss problems in youth sports today, including single sport specialization, the growing gap between the “haves” and “have-nots,” the high drop-out rate in competitive sports, and the growing mental health challenges young athletes are dealing with today.
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Episode #26 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: How Can We Fix Youth Sports? – John O’Sullivan is Founder and CEO of Changing the Game Project and author of “Changing the Game: The Parents Guide to Raising Happy, High Performing Athletes and Giving Youth Sports Back to Our Kids.”
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Episode #23 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Olympian Benita Fitzgerald Mosley Talks Title IX, Youth Sports and the Olympics.
Media
"How We Can Save Sports" author Ken Reed appears on Fox & Friends to explain how there's "too much adult in youth sports."
Ken Reed appears on Mornings with Gail from KFKA Radio in Colorado to discuss bad parenting in youth athletics.
“Should College Athletes Be Paid?” Ken Reed on The Morning Show from Wisconsin Public Radio
Ken Reed appears on KGNU Community Radio in Colorado (at 02:30) to discuss equality in sports and Title IX.
Ken Reed appears on the Ralph Nader Radio Hour (at 38:35) to discuss his book The Sports Reformers: Working to Make the World of Sports a Better Place, and to talk about some current sports issues.
- League of Fans Sports Policy Director Ken Reed quoted in Washington Post column titled "What happened to P.E.? It’s losing ground in our push for academic improvement," by Jay Mathews
League of Fans is a sports reform project founded by Ralph Nader to fight for the higher principles of justice, fair play, equal opportunity and civil rights in sports; and to encourage safety and civic responsibility in sports industry and culture.
Vanderbilt Sport & Society - On The Ball with Andrew Maraniss with guest Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director for League of Fans and author of How We Can Save Sports: A Game Plan
Sports & Torts – Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans – at the American Museum of Tort Law
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