Friday, January 25, 2019

Screw the NFL

I'm writing this on Monday morning, as a way to express my anger so I don't physically implode inside this Starbucks while everyone watches. As to when I'm posting this will be later in the week probably. Now I know every one of you either watched the game or at least knows the jist of what abomination took place Sunday evening in our most cherished Superdome. However, in case you for whatever reason don't know what happened: we were robbed. The Saint's were robbed, New orleans was robbed, the SuperBowl was robbed, the country was robbed, we were all robbed by some lousy (to say the least) referee who doesn't know the difference between a pass interference and a potato. You may be wondering what this has to do with the blog. Well I thought we could all take some psychological perspective from this ref. I think instead of calling him ignorant like the rest of the country (though he is), we could relate him to our dear Underground Man. UM was notorious for pushing people away and being his worst self in order to compensate for his insecurities as a person that went unnoticed.  Maybe our simple minded ref had a similar issue. I'll create a scenario for his life: he spent his days feeling unwanted and ostracized by everyone he crossed path with, his family, friends, coworkers and more. He lived his life in an isolated bubble and kept his self very close minded. He became a ref to compensate for the feeling of going unnoticed, after all he would be able to be so close to such big names and have thousands of  eyes on him every week. One day, a fateful Sunday January 20th of 2019, he woke up and realized his exposure as a ref wasn't doing much. Everyone was still focused on the big glorified football players. He wanted to be noticed. So, he took the most beloved and iconic teams of the world, The New Orleans Saints, and waited until the moment in their game that would create the most controversy and MILKED IT. He didn't make the call, he bamboozled the country, and now everyone knows his name.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interesting blog post and scenario! I knew that it was just a matter of time until someone connected the Saints game with Underground Man. I saw a picture claiming that all three referees looking at the pass interference currently live in Los Angeles and one of them actually played for the Rams. I could not fact check this because there is very little information on some of these referees for their safety. One possible scenario explaining why the referees did not throw the flag was unconscious bias. Everyone has at least some some unconscious bias whether they choose to admit it or not. A lot of everyday decisions are influenced from unconscious bias but the decision of the referees was displayed in front of millions changing the fate of three multi-billion dollar NFL franchises (including the Patriots because their Super Bowl matchup against the Rams is probably easier than the Saints).

Anonymous said...

HAHAHA! This is one of the best blogposts I’ve ever read. I never thought about how that ignorant ref could be similar to the Underground Man but now that you say it, it sorta makes sense. I believe that the ref is similar to the Underground Man in the sense that he believes that he is superior to everyone around him. In fact, he believes he is so superior that he decided it would be a good idea to IGNORE a CLEAR pass interference. Not only that but he didn’t call a helmet to helmet scenario or a hit on a DEFENSELESS RECEIVER! LIKE WHAT!?!? EVEN THE DEFENDER ADMITTED IT!!!!— Sorry, I’m getting flustered. Off topic. Anyway, the referee now will continue to live a life of loneliness and controversy. He will, probably for the rest of his life, be known as that guy who prevented the Saints from going to the super bowl. Many people will dislike him. This is similar to the underground man too because nobody really likes him all that much (his former classmates for instance didn’t wish to socialize with him). It’s only a matter of time before that ref lives in solitude and writes his own little book on his past experiences.