Originally Posted by
steelreserve
Yeah, it is pretty far-fetched that the league is "fixed." The more people it takes to be involved in a conspiracy, the higher the probability of it unraveling. Anything beyond, like, a small handful of people means the probability of it being exposed is roughly 100%.
On the other hand, is it possible to have one guy who doesn't know what a touchdown is? Or one guy who doesn't know what a touchdown is and also has a hard-on for the Patriots, so he's made the same call more than once in recent weeks? Or maybe for a fair cross-section of officials to subconsciously favor a team because they are impressed with them?
Those all seem more within the realm of possibility. "LeBron gets the calls" is not just something they made up. Hell, there was a study done once that showed a huge difference between the number of fouls/penalties called on teams wearing light uniforms and dark uniforms (teams wearing red and black got significantly more penalties, if I remember right).
At any rate, fixed ... idiotic ... same difference, I care about results. And the result was that they fucked up. And another result is that EVERY time I have to watch the Patriots, there is at least one game-altering play that either has to do with the officiating or with unbelievable luck (which also often involves something like the play being allowed to continue well after it would normally be over, or a huge break for the other team being called off because the whistle blew, or some such horsecrap).
So, fixed? No. Biased? I'd say so.