Before we get started, I'll give you a bit of my sports background. I love the New York Yankees, but also root for underdogs no matter who they are. I hate Boston sports, but love soccer and golf. Now that I have probably pissed off my entire readership, let's get down to business.
This column is about rules (in case you didn't get that from the title). Why write a column about rules? Well, because almost nothing — not the fans, not the stadiums, not the climate — affects a sport more than its rules and the way they are enforced.
Need proof? Back in Week 1 of the NFL season, Calvin Johnson of the Detroit Lions came down with the game−winning catch, at least, that is what it looked like to all watching. But according to the referees, Johnson placed the ball on the ground before possessing it through the entire catch, and they ruled the play an incomplete pass.
A Week 1 play may seem insignificant, until you realize that if that call had gone the other way, the Packers would have been the No. 2 seed in this year's playoffs, the Giants would have been the No. 6 seed and the Chicago Bears, the eventual NFC runner−up, would have never made the playoffs.
For all of you New England Patriots fans out there, how about this scenario to rub a little salt in your wounds: In Week 7, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Miami Dolphins also had a controversial end to a seemingly meaningless game. Down two in the closing seconds, Assault and Battery Ben Roethlisberger dove across the goal line for the win, but lost the ball on the way over. As the teams fought over the ball, the play was ruled a touchdown. Yet when video replay showed the ball came out before he was in the endzone, the refs could not decide who recovered the fumble, so they gave the ball — and the game — to the Steelers.
Why am I telling you this? Because if the Steelers lost that game, they would have been the No. 6 seed in the AFC, meaning the AFC Divisional matchups would have been flipped. The Ravens may have very well beaten a less−inspired New York Jets squad, while the Pats would likely have rolled over the Steelers again. One more win against an underwhelming Baltimore Ravens group and it would have been the Pats playing in the Super Bowl.
Even last night, Aaron Rodgers found wide receiver Brett Swain late in the third quarter on a key third down play, but the ball was jarred free by a hit. The play was brought to challenge, and the call came down to little more than interpretation. Though the ruling did not end up saving the Steelers' season, it was very close to doing so.
Now that we've established the importance of the rules, we can get down to talking about them. As an umpire for travel baseball, I hope I will be able to bring a different angle to some of these conversations. While I spend most of my life behind a TV screaming at the zebras just like everyone else, I also know how it feels to be one of them.
But I won't only be focusing on the written rules of sports. The unwritten rules — both on and off the field — are also all fair game. Should A−Rod have walked across Dallas Braden's mound? Probably not, but the steroids haven't left much room for brain cells up there. Should we be dissecting Tiger Woods' private life? Not while the rest of America has a 50−percent divorce rate. Should Brett Favre be sending out pictures of his MVP? Only with a healthy dose of Viagra.
In between, I hope to cover some of the cornerstones of sports: traditions, rivalries and fandom, which I also see as some of the unwritten rules of the game.
And if we ever run out of material, well, there are always more Brett Favre jokes.
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