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**StarDust Bum** · 09-25-2012, 06:43 PM

Armadillo: Tuesday's six-pack

-- The public deserves to know which NFL owners are driving the lockout of the officials that is damaging NFL's credibility. If the 31 men who own NFL teams (Green Bay is a publicly held team, doesn't have one owner) want their franchises to devalue, this is a way to do it.

-- What I'm saying is that Roger Goodell is the front man for the owners, but its not his money, not his fight. Some hardline owners are refusing to give the real officials what they deserve. Its hurting the game.

-- The officials in Seattle last night had the Redskin-Ram game in Week 2; sad to say, they did a way better job last night than in St Louis, and I am not kidding. They're awful.

-- Side note: The regular refs wouldn't have called offensive interference either. Offensive players are coached to do that on Hail Marys, because officials do not call offensive interference on Hail Marys.

-- Lost in the late game hubbub was fact that Seattle had eight sacks in the first half, second-most for a half in NFL history.

-- Mike McCarthy got totally screwed out of a game Monday, but he did not put his hand on any officials. If the NFL doesn't suspend Belichick for grabbing the official Sunday night, they're gutless bastards.

-- Games have ended in bad ways before; Atlanta won a game on a Hail Mary to White Shoes Johnson where he never got to the end zone, and the Raiders beat San Diego on the Holy Roller play when John Madden was coaching Oakland. But there was no instant replay to fix things then. There is instant replay now, but things still didn't get fixed.

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Armadillo: Tuesday's List of 13: Doing some thinking out loud.......

13) September NFL games are increasingly becoming what August games used to be; a time for teams to shake the cobwebs out, get used to each other and position themselves for the post-bye part of their schedules. Except September games count, obviously, and preseason games don’t. Coaches are now so paranoid about injuries that its almost like preseason doesn’t exist, except for meetings and non-contact practices.

12) Not only have Cardinals won 10 of their last 12 games, they’ve won their last nine games that were decided by less than 7 points. Arizona has allowed only two TDs on 35 drives this season, and their last two games were against Brady/Vick. Not bad.

11) Eagles trailed 17-0 at Arizona Sunday with 0:06 left in the half; they had the ball inside the Cardinal 10-yard line. 17 points is two TDs and a FG, so kick the FG, go to halftime down 17-3 and lick your wounds, right? No, Philly got greedy, Vick got crushed and Arizona had a defensive TD that effectively ended the game. Shaky decision, horrendous execution.

10) Eli Manning passed for 234 yards against the Bucs in Week 2, in the 4th quarter alone. Dallas scored one TD against the Bucs, on a 23-yard drive in the second quarter. Go figure.

9) Lot of people scoffed at the late Al Davis when he used high draft picks on a kicker and punter, but years later, Sebastian Janikowski and Shane Lechler are still Raiders and still really good. If only all their draft picks turned out so well.

8) In the space of seven years, the Saints have been devastated by a hurricane in the Gulf Coast region, then risen up to become champs, then been devastated by a political situation where the Commissioner saw fit to cripple the franchise because of a bounty arrangement that had previously been a wink and a nod thing in league circles, even joked about on older clips done by NFL Films. But with lawsuits popping up, the league is cracking down on health/safety stuff and decided to make an example of the Saints. I’m not a New Orleans fan, but it still doesn’t seem fair.

7) Of course, on one hand the NFL talks about player safety, but they have teams playing on three days’ rest most every week, and they have small college officials overseeing games, which can get out of hand if the players don’t respect the men in stripes. It makes no sense.

6) Friend of mine has Time-Warner Cable, and saw NFL Network for the first time this weekend; he was mesmerized by the Red Zone channel. “I just sat there all day and watched it. Amazing.”

5) There were 140 (4.38/team) plays of 20+ yards in Week 1, 143 (4.46) in Week 2, but only 117 (3.9) in Week 3; other than the Tennessee game, which resembled an old AFL game, games were lot less explosive this week. People are talking about the refs more than the players.

4) Memo to Commissioner Goodell; Fans care more about the referee problem than the bounty issue, a lot more; he basically made the Saints forfeit this season over the bounty thing, while the league is held hostage by hiring a bunch of officials who are learning a very difficult job on the fly.

3) Certain teams (Ravens come to mind) seem to be harder for these guys to officiate, because they play through the whistle more, they talk more, which results in more pushing/shoving after each play. Their last two games have been very difficult games to control. We still need the real refs back, though, the sooner the better.

2) $3M divided by 32 equals $93,750, which is how much extra each team would have to kick in each year to keep the referees’ pensions where they have been. That’s a lot of what separates the two sides in negotiations, and for the NFL, it is pocket change. But there are egos involved, big egos, and the overall product is suffering because of it.

1) Once the regular refs come back, the next question will be, how long will it take the players to adjust to having better officials? Some players have hinted that the replacements are letting more things go. The regular refs will not let things go, so we might see a couple flagfests before everyone adjusts back to the way its supposed to be. I just hope its soon.

**StarDust Bum** · 09-25-2012, 06:49 PM

MLB
Armadillo's Write-Up

Tuesday, September 25

Hot pitchers
-- Detwiler is 2-0, 2.63 in his last four starts. Hamels is 4-0, 2.65 in his last eight outings.
-- Medlen is 8-0, 0.89 in ten starts this season.
-- WRodriguez is 3-0, 3.03 in his last five starts.
-- Lincecum is 3-0, 2.52 in his last four starts. Collmenter is 3-0, 4.50 in his last three starts; last one was July 27.

-- Saunders is 2-1, 2.10 in his last four starts.
-- Price is 2-0, 3.00 in his last three starts. Buchholz allowed two runs in 14 IP in his last two starts (0-0).
-- Darvish is 4-0, 1.70 in his last five starts. Oakland won six of Milone's last seven (4-1, 3.92) starts.
-- Hughes is 3-0, 3.44 in his last three starts.
-- Greinke is 4-0, 1.60 in his last six starts. ERamirez is 1-1, 1.75 in his last four starts.

Cold pitchers
-- Eovaldi is 0-4, 5.33 in his last five starts.
-- Fiers is 1-2, 7.72 in his last four starts. Cueto is 1-3, 5.91 in his last four.
-- McHugh is 0-2, 5.40 in three starts this season.
-- JGarcia is 2-3, 5.35 in his last six starts. Harrell is 0-2, 4.46 in his last six outings.
-- Rusin is 1-1, 7.31 in his last four starts. De La Rosa allowed six runs in 3.2 IP in his first '12 start.
-- Beckett is 1-2, 3.62 in five starts for the Dodgers. Volquez is 1-2, 6.75 in his last three starts.

-- Laffey is 0-1, 7.94 in his last three starts.
-- BChen is 1-2, 5.76 in his last four starts. ASanchez is 1-2, 5.12 in his last three outings.
-- Kluber is 0-1, 7.36 in his last three starts. Liriano is 1-1, 6.33 in his last four outings.
-- EVazquez is 0-2, 6.75 in four starts this season.

Hot Teams
-- Phillies won eight of their last ten home games.
-- Braves won seven of their last nine games.
-- Mets won their last four games, allowing 10 runs.
-- Brewers won 25 of their last 33 games. Cincinnati won five of seven.
-- Cardinals won seven of their last eight games.
-- Padres won eight of their last ten home games.
-- Arizona won six of its last eight games. Giants won 10 of last 12.

-- Royals won four of their last six games.
-- Orioles won seven of their last nine games.
-- Tampa Bay won its last five games, scoring 46 runs.
-- Bronx won 10 of its last 12 games.
-- Rangers won seven of last ten home games.
-- Angels won seven of their last ten games.

Cold Teams
-- Washington lost six of its last ten games.
-- Marlins, who appear disinterested, lost six of last seven games.
-- Pirates lost 13 of their last 17 games.
-- Astros lost five of their last seven games.
-- Colorado lost 16 of its last 19 games; Cubs lost six of seven.
-- Dodgers lost 11 of their last 17 games.

-- Tigers lost three of their last five games.
-- Blue Jays lost 11 of their last 14 games.
-- Red Sox lost four of their last five games.
-- A's lost six of their last eight games.
-- White Sox lost five of their last six games. Indians lost 12 of their last 16.
-- Minnesota lost six of its last seven home games.
-- Mariners lost seven of their last ten games.

Totals
-- Under is 7-3-1 in Philly's last eleven home games.
-- Under is 3-1-1 in dysfunctional Miami's last five games.
-- Over is 16-7-1 in last 24 Milwaukee games.
-- Under is 21-11-2 in Mets' last 34 games.
-- Eight of last twelve St Louis games stayed under total.
-- 12 of last 15 Colorado games went over the total.
-- 11 of last 14 Dodger games stayed under the total.
-- Five of last six Giant games went over the total.

-- Seven of last nine Detroit games went over the total.
-- Five of last seven Baltimore games stayed under total.
-- Five of last six Tampa Bay games went over total.
-- Over is 6-1-1 in last eight Oakland games.
-- Six of last eight Cleveland games went over the total.
-- Under is 8-5-2 in last fifteen Bronx road games.
-- Under is 9-4-1 in last fourteen Angel games.

Umpires
-- Pitt-NY-- Five of last six Gibson games went over total.
-- StL-Hst-- Under is 8-4-2 in last fourteen Carlson games.

-- Tor-Balt-- Road teams won six of last eight Marquez games.
-- KC-Det-- Last four Blaser games went over the total.
-- A's-Tex-- Underdogs are 8-7 in last fifteen Bell games.
-- Cle-Chi-- Five of last six Bellino games stayed under total.
-- NY-Min-- Seven of last ten Demuth games stayed under.

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