Re-live September 28, 2011 In One Awesome 12-Minute Video

Has there ever been a more dramatic, chaotic, and improbable 20 minutes in the history of sports?  There have been classic games in the past, but what happened last night, was not just one classic game.  It was the finale of a 162-game season like no finale ever before.  The chaos of last night was more than just one game, it was the frantic switching back and forth between stations ultimately culminating with two historic collapses coming complete in the span of twenty minutes and two walkoffs literally separated by three minutes.  There are few times where it feels like time just stops.  Last night was one of those nights.

Last night was an Fredi Gonzalez incredibly allowing Scott Linebrink to pitch to Hunter Pence who would ultimately hit the game-winning RBI with Michael Martinez on deck.  Last night was a last place Baltimore Orioles going nowhere way too fast celebrating like they won the World Series.  Last night was Dan Johnson, he of the .119/.187/.202 slash line in 31 games in 2011 hitting the game-tying home run with the Rays down to their last out and their last strike.  Last night was Evan Longoria.  Last night was the mathematically improbable coming to fruition.

And this is last night, condensed into one 12-minute, 5-second video.



Given the numbers in the above link, to say this was the most improbable night in sports history is not that much of a stretch.  In fact, it may be a reality.  For the Cardinals and the Rays, it is a comeback they will always remember.  And for the Braves and the Red Sox, it is a collapse they will never be able to forget.

There Is A Reason Gus Johnson Is Not A Baseball Announcer

I am not sure why there is such a crazy about over-lapping Gus Johnson screaming into every dramatic sports video ever, but nonetheless it is somewhat entertaining. If you have ever thought about why Gus Johnson never does baseball, hearing him screaming dubbed over T-Mac and Wheels on John Mayberry, Jr.'s top of the 9th game-tying 2-run blast off Huston Street may carry some of the answers.



On the plus side, that was better than T-Mac's orgasm.

The Phillies went onto win 4-3 in the 10th inning thanks to a Victorino solo shot.

Tim Thomas Bites On Burrows's Fake; Canucks Win Game 2 In Overtime

Sorry I did not have these up last night. But anyway, here are videos of the NBC and CBC feed from last night's Bruins-Canucks overtime where the Canucks took a 2-0 series lead. In case you missed it (cough*cough*LikeMe*cough*cough*) and want to re-live everything, these YouTubers have done us a great favor by posting the overtime in its entirety. So prepare some popcorn, sit back, relax, and enjoy last night's overtime!

CBC feed (Jim Hughson, Craig Simpson, Glenn Healy)



NBC feed (Mike Emrick, Eddie Olczyk, Pierre McGuire)



The Canucks now have a 2-0 series lead heading into tomorrow night's Game 3 in Boston. The Bruins played two close hockey games so you can't say the Bruins are out of it yet, but the Canucks on paper are arguably the best team in the league and a force to be reckoned with in these finals. Assuming they do not have a two game lapse like they did against Chicago, I do not see a scenario in these Cup Finals where the Canucks cannot beat the Boston Bruins twice in five games. If I'm a Vancouver fan right now, I'm liking those odds. If I'm a Bruins fan, I'm hoping the Bruins can get some friendly rolls and fluke goals, because they may very well need those in order to win this thing.

Lastly, while Bruins fans can argue that Burrows should have been suspended for this game and I would agree with them in principle, do not act like this is a major injustice and an NHL conspiracy theory against them. Remember Game 6 in this year's Eastern Conference Finals when Nathan Horton sprayed water on a fan? Horton did not get suspended for that. The ensuing Game 7 ended 1-0 in favor of Boston. Guess who scored that lone goal.

Mavericks Tie The NBA Finals With An Incredible Comeback

Down by 15 with 6:28 left in the 4th quarter, the Dallas Mavericks pulled off an NBA Finals comeback for the ages. Here are the thrilling last 10 seconds of the game, courtesy of bubbaprog.

Get the Flash Player to see this video.

Raffi Torres Scores The Game 1 Winner In The Final Minute

Well that was something. After 59 minutes and 41 seconds of scoreless hockey, Raffi Torres scored the game-winning goal for the Vancouver Canucks to give them a 1-0 win in Game 1 and a 1-0 lead in the series. Follow the jump to view massive amounts of media, including final goal as seen and heard on both NBC and CBC, in addition to proof the goal was in fact onsides and a peculiar sign off from Mike Emrick.

Wilson Valdez Channels Babe Ruth, Danys Baez Has The Night Of His Career As Phillies Win 19-Inning Marathon

I hope you were able to stay up and watch the Phillies and the Reds play an instant classic that had Danys Baez do something he had not done in nine years and then some and Wilson Valdez do something that has not been done since Babe Ruth. Danys Baez pitched five scoreless innings. Seriously. Wilson Valdez became the first person to start the game in the field and pick up the win as a pitcher since Babe Ruth on October 1, 1921. The Phillies beat the Reds 5-4 in 19 innings. The game lasted 6 hours and 11 minutes. Wilson Valdez started the game at second base. He ended as pitcher. Carlos Ruiz started the game as catcher. He ended the game as 3rd baseman. Much less remarkably, Placido Polanco started the game at 3rd base and finished the game at 2nd.

I am sure there will be some trivia tomorrow, but for now, here are a bunch of videos. Warning: T-Mac and and Wheels are present in most of the following videos.

Jay Bruce makes it 4-3 Reds in the 10th

Ryan Howard makes it 4-4 in the 10th

Danys Baez pitches five innings of scoreless relief

Wilson Valdez pitches a scoreless inning of relief

Ibanez 19th inning walk-off sac fly. (T-Mac and Wheels)

Ibanez 19th inning walk-off sac fly (T-hom)

Valdez takes a pie in the face; Sarge takes the same pie on the mic.

Four Announce Teams Call Kevin Bieksa's Western Conference Finals Game-Winner

Last year, announcers had a difficult time knowing exactly what had happened when Patrick Kane scored the Stanley Cup winning goal in Game 6 of the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals. Last night, Kevin Bieska scored a similar goal to propel the Canucks to their first Stanley Cup Finals appearance since 1994. Edler sent the puck off the stanchion, the puck then ricocheted back to Bieksa who shot it past Antti Niemi for the game-winner. The problem, once the puck went off the stanchion, no one knew where it had gone until it bounced out of the net. This set up for some interesting calls from the boys in the booths. I have been able to find two TV calls (Versus and CBC) and two radio calls (Sharks radio and Canucks radio) of the goal. Everyone fell flat on their face last year with Kane. Let's see how we fared this year, shall we!

First up, "The Voice" Dave Strader, Brian Engblom, and Darren Pang on Versus.



Oof. Not only was The Voice caught completely off guard, but all three seemed certain the puck had gone off the netting until they saw the definitive replay that said it hit the stanchion.

Next up, three people who were in Philadelphia for the Kane goal, Jim Hughson, Craig Simpson, and Glenn Healy on CBC.



Oy ve. "Up in the air....Score!". Way to describe the action, Jim. Craig Simpson claimed he thought it went off the netting before Hughson went into his dramatic "Canucks are going to the Stanley Cup Finals call" 15 seconds after the puck crossed the line. Congrats guys, you are 0 for 2.

Here is a very surprised Dan Rusanowsky calling the goal for Sharks radio.

No YouTube video exists, so click here for the audio.

Not bad for a losing announcer, although he clearly lost it as well. Not a bad call though afterwards, and not once did he mention that it may have gone off the netting. He did not correctly identify stanchion, but he did identify off the glass, which is better than netting. Plus one for him.

And lastly, here is Canucks announcer John Shorthouse

No YouTube video exists, so click here for the audio.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner! After all these attempts this year and last year, we finally got someone to give a good dramatic call that did not sound lost, confused, surprised, or mentioned things that did not actually happen.

So congrats, Canucks fans. I take it you will be replaying the call from John Shorthouse for many years to come.

Good Sunday: 76ers And Flyers Stay Alive In The Playoffs With Thrilling Victories

I am pretty sure this Easter Sunday took 30 years off my life. At least it certainly felt like it. The team to play first today was the Sixers, who were just hoping to force a Game 5 and not get swept by the more talented Miami Heat.



In the final 8.1 seconds, LeBron missed a shot and Evan Turner made 2 FTs to give the 76ers a 4-point win.

Then it was the Flyers trying to stave off elimination. They started Michael Leighton in goal. That did not go so well. Leighton gave up 3 soft goals (Boucher replaced him in the 2nd) and the Flyer had to rally. The Flyers rallied down 2-0, down 3-1, and down 4-3 to tie the game at 4. They sent it to overtime tied at 4 whereupon Ville Leino scored the game-winner to force a Game 7.



Game 7, Tuesday night. Wells Fargo Center. Sabres at Flyers. It will come down to one game.

But if those moments were not good enough, Shane Victorino hit an inside-the-park home run en route to the Phillies beating the San Diego Padres 3-0 and completing the 4-game road sweep of the Padres.

Failure On Figueroa: Sharks Complete Improbable 4-0 Comeback

Only four times in the history of the Stanley Cup Playoffs has a team been down by four or more goals in a playoff game and comeback to win. Thanks to a 4-0 early 2nd period Kings lead followed in a few hours by a remarkable comeback and an overtime game-winner from Devin Setoguchi, the 2011 San Jose Sharks can say they are one of those four teams with their 6-5 overtime win tonight at Staples Center in what will surely go down as one of the greatest games in Stanley Cup Playoff history.

The other three 4-or-more goal comebacks in the Stanley Cup Playoffs:

1971: Habs beat the Bruins 7-5 after trailing by 4. The Bruins are on the bad side of this chronology. Imagine that.

1982: The Miracle On Manchester. This is the only 5-goal comeback in the history of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. It's also the subject of one of this year's History Will Be Made commercials. The Oilers were up 5-0 after 2 periods. The Oilers lost that game 6-5. Ironically enough, the Los Angeles Kings won this game.

1985: Minnesota North Stars beat the Chicago Blackhawks 5-4 after trailing 4-0. The North Stars are the only team to have such a comeback in a game in a playoff series, and still lose the playoff series. The '71 Habs would go on to win the Stanley Cup. The 82 Kings got eliminated in the next round.

Congrats to the San Jose Sharks and their fans for what will surely be known as one of the greatest games in Stanley Cup Playoff history. If you think about how long the Stanley Cup Playoffs date back to, and then when you consider that a 4-goal comeback has only happened 4 times in that lengthy history, you know you have witnessed something special.

Butler Is Back In The Final Four

1985 was the first year the NCAA Tournament expanded to a field of 64 with the only format changes since then being that of play-in-games. In that year, 8-seeded Villanova went to the Final Four, and ultimately won the NCAA Tournament in what is considered one of the greatest NCAA Tournament upsets of all time. Since that time, only 3 other teams seeded 8th (and 0 seeded 9th) advanced to the Final Four: North Carolina in 2000, Wisconsin in 2000, Butler in 2011. North Carolina and Wisconsin both bowed out in the Final Four that year. There is a reason this is a rare occurrence. The 8 or the 9 seed is literally the worst possible draw in the NCAA Tournament. If Butler beats the winner of Kansas/VCU, they will do something that has not been done in 26 years: advance to the Final Four as an 8-seed. Best of luck to the Butler Bulldogs, for when they take the court next Saturday in Houston, they will be up against some very sacred NCAA Tournament history.

The Most Bizarre Ending To A College Basketball Game You Will Ever See

Presented with only one comment: Chris Webber now feels better about his life.

Juan Fernandez Beats Penn State At The Buzzer

What many expected to be the most boring game of the day may have had the best finish of a day filled with them. Granted, this will likely be the forgotten buzzer beater of a Day 1 of the NCAA tournament filled with them, but Battle's shot with too much time left to tie and Fernandez's game-winner for the Owls were both incredible shots.



A big congrats to Fran Dunphy, who won an NCAA Tournament game for the first time in 17 years. Very few people have contributed to Philadelphia and Big 5 college basketball the way Dunphy has over the past 21 years and it is great that the current coach of the Owls finally got his moment in the sun. In spite of a disappearing act from Lavoy Allen, Juan Fernandez picked up the slack on the offensive side of the court, with it ultimately culminating in a great 2011 NCAA Tournament moment that will be hard to top as we progress.

Eff You, Logan Couture

If the Penguins come back and take the Atlantic Division, the Flyers will have but one man to blame: Logan Couture of the San Jose Sharks. Coming into the game 7 points behind the Flyers, the Penguins needed to salvage anything they could against the visiting San Jose Sharks. Just getting one point out of the game would be a huge improvement to the Penguins situation as being 6 points behind the Flyers (3 games) with is much better than being 7 points out (4 games). With just over a minute left, and up by a goal, Logan Couture had a chance to put the game out of reach with an empty net goal. Only instead of scoring, this happened.



The Sharks could not win it in the last minute and the game went to overtime. It does not matter that the Sharks would go on to win the game in awesome fashion in said overtime. The fact of the matter is the Penguins got a crucial Bettman point. The Penguins are now three games behind the Flyers instead of four because of Couture's inability to perform simple tasks to skate up to an empty net and put the puck in. So if it comes down to it, and the Penguins win the Atlantic Division by 1 point, there will be only one man worthy of your scorn in the NHL. Your potential 2010-2011 Philadelphia Flyers goat: Logan Couture, ladies and gentlemen!

Gone In 165 Seconds

24 hours after it happened, and I still can't believe this. I am really beginning to not like Mike Rice at all. If you remember, he was the coach of the Robert Morris team that took Villanova to OT in the 1st round of last year's NCAA Tournament. Now he is the man behind this. It is one thing if you are Maryland blowing a 10-point lead to Duke in the last minute of the game. It is a whole different thing if you are Villanova blowing a 10-point lead to lowly Rutgers in the final 2:45 seconds of the game. This video saves some of the pain and starts at a 9-point game with 2 minutes left. I don't know why.



3 things of note here. First of all, I have not counted the exact amount of time that should have elapsed, but when Rutgers inbounded with 6.3 seconds left, the clock took a very long time to start. Michigan State approves of Rutgers's timekeeper.

Secondly, how was that a foul on Fisher on Mitchell's game-tying 3-pointer? I am begging someone to show me where contact was made at all, let alone enough contact to draw a foul on the last play of the game. There was no contact. There was no foul. Terrible, terrible call by the Big East refs. And to think that it was 3 days before the 3-year anniversary of this atrocity.

Thirdly, there is no excuse for blowing a 10-point lead with 2:45 left in the game to Rutgers. Absolutely none. And it was all Rutgers capitalizing on stupid Villanova mistakes. That is probably the worst part about it. If Villanova advances past the 1st weekend of the NCAA tournament this year, I'll be shocked. They can beat Syracuse and will probably play real well against Pittsburgh, but there just seems to be something about facing weaker competition away from home that this team can't handle. Providence stormed the court on them earlier a few weeks ago, and now Rutgers. Unacceptable.

Eagles Week 15 Recap: Miracle At The New Meadowlands

The perfect Christmas card for Giants fans.

On to the bullet points of one of the greatest comebacks I've ever seen in football.

• That just happened.
• Joe Pisarcik/Herm Edwards.  Jeff Feagles/Brian Westbrook.  Matt Dodge/DeSean Jackson.  The last of the three may be the most improbable of all.
• But for all the talk about the Jackson punt return, the Eagles were trailing 24-10 in the 4th quarter when DeSean Jackson caught a pass and took it to the 40 yard line.  After being touched by Goff, Jackson fell down, the ground caused a fumble, and the Giants recovered.  Clearly, Goff had touched Jackson and before he hit the ground and the ball came out after Jackson hit the ground, but for reasons of pure idiocy, Andy Reid did not challenge.  The Giants proceed to drive down the field for a touchdown.  8 minutes left, 31-10 Eagles.  Game over, right?
• Wrong.  Next drive, Vick to Celek.  One of the best onside kicks ever executed.  Vick making plays with his legs.  QB draw.  QB touchdown.  Just like that it's 31-24 with the Giants having never touched the ball.  Giants get the ball.  Eagles get a stop.  With the ball at their own 88 yard line, Vick makes plays with his legs and his feet again.  Eventually, inside the Giants 20 Vick finds Maclin who breaks a tackle and scores a TD to incredibly tie the game with less than 2 minutes left.  Giants get the ball back.  They go 3 and out.  The last play of the drive was a sack.  Clock ticking.  Giants call timeout with 12 seconds left, right before the play clock expired.  Then Matt Dodge punted the ball.  DeSean Jackson bobbled it, picked it up, and the rest is history.
• So, how did this happen?  How does a team that is completely dominated for 52 minutes, come back and win the game in 8 minutes?  And how does a team up 21 with 52 minutes left completely collapse in the last 8?  I'll give my take on the Jackson return in a second, but the comeback in general was started because of one man, Michael Vick.  All game long the Giants had been blitzing and getting to Vick, largely taken advantage of the astoundingly awful King Dunlap.  To counter said blitz, you need two things:  a).  a screen game.  Or b). an athletic QB who can run.  The Eagles opted for option b.  For the first 52 minutes, no QB draws were called and for the most part, Vick was not taking off and running with the ball.  In the final 8 minutes, that changed.  Vick eluded pressure and took off when he saw daylight in front of him.  Outside of make shift scrambles, QB draws were called as well.  Vick had 94 rushing yards in the 4th quarter!  There were other factors, but if you are searching for an anatomy of this comeback, it was Mike Vick running the ball.  That's what changed.  The Giants never adjusted.  And that's how the Eagles scored 21 points in 7 minutes.
•  To the 8th minute and the final 7 points.  I may have a screen-by-screen breakdown later, but for now, I'll just describe what happened and what I saw.  Tom Coughin reportedly told Matt Dodge to punt it out of bounds, the smart move.  It would not kill all 12 seconds, but it would force either a hail mary attempt or the Eagles would just take a knee, satisfied to take it into overtime.  Instead, the snap was high, Dodge believed that because of that, he did not have enough time to angle his punt out of bounds as needed.  His hurried punt forced a line drive that went right to DeSean Jackson.  What happened next was the key to everything.  DeSean Jackson bobbled the punt.  While an accident, this allowed for two things to happen.  The Giants defense collapsed around Jackson and the Eagles special teams unit were given 1 or 2 more seconds to set up their blocks, including Omar Gaither blocking a Giant into two other Giants causing a domino effect taking them all out.  This allowed Jackson to find a seam up the middle.  A block from Jason Avant at the 45 cemented the return from the speedy Jackson.
• Before Jackson crossed the goalline, he ran diagonal into the endzone, in what was a feeble effort to kill the clock.  I say feeble because the clock had already expired, but Jackson may not have been aware of it as he was reading the defense and running full speed on a game-winning punt return touchdown, the first ever in NFL history.  Because of the unnecessary nature of the extra running, many will see what DeSean Jackson did as show-boating.  But trust me, when DeSean Jackson showboats (a.k.a. last Sunday in Dallas), you know it.  That was intended as a heads-up football play that ultimately was not needed.
• Most media outlets have already named this the "Miracle At The New Meadowlands."  Seeing as it's the last Sunday before Christmas, I was hoping someone would name it after the street New Meadowlands Stadium is on, a la Miracle On 34th Street.   But good luck with "Miracle On New Jersey Route 120" ever catching on.
• Not to be a Debbie Downer now, but 52 other minutes were played in this game.  And during those minutes, the Eagles lost 2nd round draft pick Nate Allen to a petallar tendon injury, effectively ending his season.  And in the span of less than a week, the Eagles have lost their top 2 draft picks from the 2010 draft.  Your starting full safety will now be 7th round draft pick Kurt Coleman.
• BREAKING NEWS:  King Dunlap is terrible.
• Dimitri Patterson had a nightmare.  Eli Manning picked on him all game long.  The re-addition of Samuel was a boost, but it can only help so much if other QBs continually pick apart Patterson like Manning did today.
• Enough negative nancy shit, that was one of the greatest comebacks in Philadelphia Eagles history, and perhaps even one of the top 10 in NFL history.  Seriously, amazing.  The Miracle At The New Meadowlands.  And Giant fans thought Herm Edwards and Brian Westbrook were bad.  And this was less than a week after the Phillies came out of nowhere to sign Cliff Lee out from under the noses of the New York Yankees, and a day removed from the Flyers putting a solid 4-1 beatdown of the New York Rangers.  Now not every Yankee fan is a Giants and/or Rangers fan, but to steal and modify a joke Grant from McCovery Chronicles made on Twitter a month or so ago when FC Dallas lost the MLS Cup off the heals of the Rangers losing the World Series:  there must be some guy in the New York metropolitan area who is a Yankees, Giants, and Rangers fan.  And he's in a dark, dark place right now.
• At the end of the game, Tom Coughlin went haywire on his punter Matt Dodge.  While Dodge had no business ever kicking that to Jackson regardless of how high the snap was, Matt Dodge did not blow a 21-point lead with 8 minutes left.  That burden should belong to Perry Fewell and Tom Coughlin for not making adjustments, and for the Giants players for being out of position and/or whiffing while trying to tackle Vick.
• I am working all day tomorrow, so either tomorrow night or Tuesday, I will have more on this game and this comeback.  
• Lastly, the epic win probability graph. (advancednflstats.com)

The Craziest College Football Finish Of The Year

Perhaps maybe even one of the games of the year.

So You Are A Phillies Fan And You Don't Know Who To Root For On Sunday.....

Tomorrow is going to be an exciting day in sports. There could be some strange bedfellows, awkward celebrations, and utter heartbreak for a baseball team who could possibly lose out on the playoffs on the 163rd day, after holding a massive lead in the division 2 months ago. Before I go into about what Phillies fans should be hoping for, here is a list of the scenarios based on the results of tomorrow's games. The Phillies/Braves game starts at 1:35 whereas the Padres/Giants game does not get underway until 4:05.

1). Phillies win, Giants win: Giants win NL West, Padres travel to Atlanta to play Braves in a wildcard tie-breaker on Monday.
2). Phillies win, Padres win: Padres win NL West, Giants win wildcard, Braves are eliminated.
3). Braves win, Giants win: Giants win NL West, Braves win wildcard, Padres are eliminated.
4). Braves win, Padres win: 3-way tie. Giants and Padres will travel to San Diego for NL West tiebreaker game on Monday, the loser of the NL West tiebreaker will travel to Atlanta to play the Braves in a wildcard tiebreaker on Tuesday.

Now who the Phillies play on Wednesday and what team I will be inches away from at Citizens Bank Park on Friday is not yet determined. Using the same numbers for the scenarios, here is what each of them would result in for the Phillies in terms of their NLDS opponent.

1). Phillies opponent will be based on the tiebreaker results. If the Padres win, the Phillies will play the Padres. If the Braves win, the Phillies will play the Reds, who are starting Edinson Volquez in Game 1.
2). Phillies will play the Giants and a rested Tim Lincecum will be pitching Game 1.
3). Phillies will play the Padres..
4). Phillies opponent will be based on the tiebreaker results. If Giants win/Padres win, Phillies will play the Padres. If Giants win/Braves win, Phillies will play the Reds. If Padres win/Giants win, Phillies will play the Giants. If Padres win/Braves win, Phillies will play the Reds.

As hard as it is to believe, the worst case scenario would be the scenario where the Phillies win and the Padres win, the same result those who have enjoyed the schadenfreude have rooted for the past couple of days. As mentioned above, the Phillies would face a rested Tim Lincecum in Game 1, who would also be able to pitch in Game 4, if necessary, at AT&T Park. And while anything can happen in the playoffs and anyone can beat anyone on any day, this is as close to a disaster as you could possibly imagine for the Phillies. But the counter to that is the LDS series are mathematically speaking the most luck driven series of the playoffs because it is only best-of-5 instead of best-of-7. In other words, it can better to play the toughest opponent in the shorter series, where luck can play a bigger factor.

Perhaps the best scenario for the Phillies would be a scenario where the Braves win. Of course, its counterpart would be having the Padres win and us having a 3-way tiebreaker. And while this does involve the chance of playing the Giants, it would be without Lincecum starting Game 1. The Giants being in a tiebreaker means Tim Lincecum pitches in said tiebreaker. While that certainly gives the Giants a leg up in that game, it leaves them bare and exposed in the NLDS. But because I can't in good faith root for the Braves to beat the Phillies, I'll settle for the Phillies winning and the Giants winning, resulting in a Padres/Braves tiebreaker where the Phillies would either play the Padres or the Reds.

Any scenario where the Phillies play the Reds is fine with me, same with any scenario where the Phillies play the Padres. I am well aware that nobody is a guaranteed victory and I will not be celebrating an NLCS berth before this Wednesday, but I will certainly feel like the Phillies chances to advance will be higher by avoiding a series where Tim Lincecum pitches on Wednesday after a week of rest and in Game 4 in San Francisco on normal rest, even with the prospect of luck, because the Giants could very easily lose out and the Phillies can avoid their strongest adversary this year all together.

Michigan State, Notre Dame, Little Giants, And The Controversy That Really Should Not Be One

A "what the fuck are you thinking you fucking imbecile?" play if it does not work and the "CALL OF THE YEAR!" if it does work. And this play, known as Little Giants to Michigan State, worked to perfection, giving Michigan State a 34-31 OT victory over Notre Dame.

Now I am sure you are wondering, what on earth did I post 2 pictures showing ABC's play clock at 0 with Michigan State having not snapped the ball? To prove a point. ABC's play clock is not in sync with the play clock on the scoreboard. Look at the play clock on MSU's scoreboard. It still says 1 on it. Look at it on the 2nd screenshot. It says 0. Now watch the play. Per someone who can count tenths of a second better than I can, Michigan State got the snap off with .2 of a second expired after the ABC play clock expired. Now, the referees obviously cannot see that computerized play clock. They can only see the stadium one. Based on the screenshots, it can be reasonably assumed that the out of syncness is by .1 second. That leaves .1 second for the referees, who have to look for other things than just delays of game (i.e. false starts, offsides, illegal motion, etc.), to look up, notice the play clock has expired, recognize it is delay of game, and blow the whistle all in .1 of a second. Is it humanly feasible to blow that whistle in time? Probably, yes. A trained individual looking at the play clock could blow a whistle between the instant the clock expires and .1 seconds after said expiration. But given the nature of the referee's other responsibilities, is it reasonable to assume that we will get a delay of game whistle .1 seconds after the play clock expires? No, it is not.

And even if the estimation of tenths of a second is off here, blowing a whistle for delay of game is not a science. The next time you are watching a football game, watch how long it takes for a referee to blow a delay of game whistle. Often times it can take 1 to 2 whole seconds after the expiration of a play clock, though a referee who spots it at the just right instant probably has the play dead in .5 seconds. Notre Dame fans are going to get pissy about it. Heck, they already are, but until the age of robot referees hits us, you are not going to see delay of game penalties called that quickly in any level of football. It is just not reasonable to expect a referee who is watching for other infractions not clock related in addition to delay of game to blow a whistle for delay of game less than two-tenths of a second after the play clock expires.

(Note: If you are having problems reading the stadium scoreboard play clock, click on the pictures to enlarge. The difference between the 1 and the 0 is clear as day once enlarged, though unfortunately this is the largest Blogger will allow you to make them without pixelation.)

Update:  Here is a tremendous breakdown of the clock, the graphics, and the situation.



The Big East issued the following explanation that I agree 100% with.

"After review, the conference believes that the game officials correctly applied the proper mechanics and guidelines that are in place to determine, in a consistent manner, when a flag should be thrown for delay of game. The responsibility is assigned to the back judge, who in this situation was standing beneath the upright. Proper mechanics dictate that his focus be directed to the play clock as it approaches zero. When the play clock display reads zero, he must re-direct his attention to the ball. At that time, if the snap has not started, a flag will be thrown for delay of game. If the snap has begun, no flag will be thrown.

Under these procedures, there will always be a small amount of lag time between the time the clock reads zero and the time the back judge is able to see the football. On the play in question, this lag time created the situation where it appears the play clock expired just before the snap. We believe the snap occurred well within the normal lag time for the back judge to make this determination. This play is not reviewable under current NCAA rules."

That's a clean, fair and square win for Michigan State. I don't think I have ever seen a delay of game called 1/5 of a second after the play clock expires. If you are an upset Irish fan or just someone who is unhappy with the call, this video says it best. Deal with it.

(Hat tip to The Only Colors.)

Dallas Cowboys Fail Epically

Last play of the 1st half.



Last play of the game.



I am sure the Philadelphia media and/or Bleacher Report articles associated with Philadelphia will talk about Donovan McNabb, whereby I will need to do an FJM takedown about how stupid they are.

Radio Announcer Scott Franzke Calls The Phillies Remarkable Comeback

Mike Leake hit an RBI single in the Top of the 9th inning to expand the Reds lead to 7-1 over the Phillies. At that stage, the Cincinnati Reds had a win probability of 99.7%. The Cincinnati Reds did not win the game last night. The Philadelphia Phillies had a 6-run 9th inning and a walkoff 2-run shot by Ryan Howard in the bottom of the 10th after Ryan Madson (finally back with the Phils after kicking a metal chair in San Francisco in April!). Of those 6 runs in the 9th, 5 of those were scored via homerun. Greg Dobbs (or some imposter wearing a Greg Dobbs jersey, the latter being the most likely possibility) hit a 3-run homerun to draw the game to 7-5 (Phillies got a small ball run earlier in the inning to make it 7-2). After a walk and a Brian Schneider fly out, Cody Ransom stepped to the plate with 2 down in the bottom of the 9th. The next thing anyone knew, the game was tied. Cody Ransom launched a 2-run bomb. From there on out, Howard's walkoff winner was academic. Given the fact that MLB are nasty with taking down videos, watch this while it lasts. Here is Phillies radio announcer Scott Franzke calling the 3 home runs last night.