Come to think of it, who can forget what’s-his-name?
If you scroll back to roughly this time four years ago, you would find that many of the same print and electronic media, letter-writers and callers to radio shows, who now are demanding a return of the tried-and-true NFL game officials, were calling for a total overhaul of NFL officiating, a demand to replace the old with the new.
Many fans and media, without suggesting or considering how officials spend the rest of the week and year, demanded that the NFL hire full-time officials.
Heck, on WFAN, Joe Benigno, always a deep thinker, advocated corporal punishment against those NFL officials who did not meet his standard of excellence — as if he knew or knows holding from cuddling.
So now that we’re older and wiser and a mere two games into the season, we sincerely miss the good ol’ NFL game adjudicators, eh? Agreed!
But why would anyone have expected better than much less from their replacements? You could’ve called this one in the air — or on the air — two months ago.
Not that it’s any easier to remember to forget than to forget to remember, but some of the stuff we’re hearing about the replacement guys and one gal is downright funny.
Rex Ryan, last week on ESPN Radio, hinted that Jets safety LaRon Landry, with three personal foul calls against him after two games, might be the victim of an officiating conspiracy or, at the least, a burgeoning reputation among the new officials.
“I think he’s a target,” Ryan said.
That’s rich. Or is that Rich? It’s doubtful that most of these replacement officials yet know one another’s names, let alone have conducted a clandestine meeting to target LaRon Landry.
But, oh well, it sure would be nice to have the regular officials back. Though few among us actually know the rules, questioning the competency of the lesser competent is not nearly as much fun as questioning the competency of those who better know what they’re doing.
Nessler endures Mayock babble, so far
In Brad Nessler, the NFL Network has a steady, pleasant play-by-play man. Nonetheless, we’ve placed him on “Flip Out Watch,” given that his analyst, Mike Mayock, is liable to push him over the edge.
It’s not that Mayock doesn’t know what he’s talking about, it’s more a case of not being able to tell.
He chooses the long form to explain what we just plainly saw. In other words, as heard Thursday during Giants-Panthers, a DB didn’t jump to deflect a pass, he “elevated.”
Mayock speaks in football code, in terms of “reps,” “touches,” “schemes” and “packages.” As for what the team that’s losing has to do, well, that’s easy: “Someone has to step up and make a play” — as if that team is short on volunteers.
Thursday, Cam Newton underthrew a pass that was tipped by WR Brandon LaFell then intercepted by Jayron Hosley — a self-evident and simple cause and effect. Yet Mayock turned a short trip into a schlep. Over a replay: “Now, LaFell is open. Remember, Hosley, in the nickel package, is the sub-defender on a crossing route … ”
Remember? Who could forget?
* It sure gets confusing.
Jays’ shortstop Yunel Escobar is suspended for three games and ripped into by team management and media for crafting eye-black that contained the word, “maricon,” the Spanish slur equivalent to faggot.
Well, right on, everybody! The forces of social altruism will not be denied!
Yet, two days earlier a fellow who writes and raps both “maricon” and “faggot” — not to mention dozens of other unprintably vulgar slurs and putdowns — hosts a Presidential fundraiser in Manhattan.
The same guy owns a piece of an NBA team, serves as the team’s marketing consultant and has been honored by the Yankees to such an extent that he was granted Lou Gehrig’s retired No. 4 because it’s his favorite number.
Yet, not a peep from anyone in sports or the news media.
* It’s time FOX NFL sideline reporter Pam Oliver give up the silly game and cease pretending that NFL head coaches, before the second half kickoff, seek her out to confide in her what’s on their minds.
Oliver continues to quote these head coaches as prefacing their comments with, “Pam.” Last Sunday, just after the second half kick, she quoted Tom Coughlin as having just said to her, “Pam, all I do is talk about ball security.”
Please. These brief, personal sessions for “Pam” are in fact network bought and paid for. Stop pretending otherwise.
FOX puts on graphic display
Nothing changes, not for the better. No bad idea remains unworthy of duplication.
FOX’s college football telecasts, as if FOX cracked the code up at ESPN, are now devoted to cluttering the screen with nonsense, including the mindless borrow of ESPN’s graphics identifications of “Impact Players,” which is especially helpful to those not watching the game or unable to see it through the clutter.
And FOX shrinks the view of the game to endlessly scroll individual stats from other games, as if catering to college football fantasy leaguers. In a 63-13 loss to Michigan, UMass RB Michael Cox ran for 76 yards? Well, that answers that!
* So with only one team, the Knicks, again about to become the only team MSG Network has for its 12 months of programming on its four cable channels — with the loss of Rangers, Devils and Islanders — how much, this time, will Cablevision/James Dolan/MSG rebate or credit subscribers for the loss of the NHL? Nothing, again?
How much will non-Cablevision systems rebate its customers for the loss of three teams’ worth of “expensive sports programming” on MSG? Nothing, again?
We will pay for games that won’t be played. Again. When it’s over, The Garden can paste “Thank You Fans” just under the ice. Again.
* Nice job by NFL Network on Thursday, memorializing NFL Films’ Steve Sabol. To a great but overlooked extent, what Sabol and his dad Ed did with NFL Films provided the inspiration for what followed from other sports, starting with MLB Productions.
* FOX continues to show touchdown dances and chest-pounding in slo-mo, as if to remind all that this is the network’s sense of what football is all about.
* Remarkable happenstance from Golf Channel’s live coverage of the Tour Championship on Friday: A Tiger Woods birdie putt was shown, for the first time, on tape!