Five Blind Zebras

Adam Markowitz
Thursday May 24, 2007

Memo to David Baker: Your refs are deciding far too many games.

Sunday’s game between the Orlando Predators and Austin Wranglers was a perfect example of just how awful some of these officials really are.  At the end of the first half, Ryan Bowers returned a kick to the 10 yard line and fumbled.  The fumble was recovered by Marlon Moye-Moore, which he promptly fumbled.  The Wranglers recovered that fumble and appeared to take over the ball yet again, which could have added to their 11 point lead.

Head referee, Dave Curtaia and his crew got together for a zebra caucus that met for seemingly forever.  When Curtaia went to announce the penalty, his line judge, Dave Chesney was explaining to him what to say.  The ruling on the field was that inside of 1:00, if the team with the ball fumbles forward (which this fumble was not) and recovers, as long as the person who recovers it is a different player on the same team, the ball is dead where it is recovered.  Confused?  So were Jay Gruden and Brian Partlow.  The Austin offense and Orlando defense were both on the field until the announcement was made.

So the explanation was really bad and confused everyone.  I’m still not totally sure whether the ruling was correct or not, but if the ruling was correct, the refs should have added more time back on the clock because it continued running until the Austin player who recovered the fumble was down by contact.  The Predators could have had one more play before having to settle for the Jay Taylor 45 yard field goal before halftime.  If the ruling was incorrect, the Wranglers would have gone into the half with at least an 11-point lead, and they would have had the ball inside the Predators 10 with 0:06 remaining.

Later in the game with the Predators trailing by 8, QB Shane Stafford hooked up with WR Ron Johnson on 4th and goal from the Austin 2.  Johnson appeared to have stretched the ball across the goal line in real time play, and replay confirmed that he was certainly in the end zone.  The ball was marked at the 1-yard line, and the Wranglers took over on downs.

Earlier in the day in the Kansas City/New York game, the Dave Lambros crew made an incredibly questionable call on an onside kick.  The Brigade appeared to recover the kick, but the crew ruled that the ball belonged to New York.  Instead of getting a chance to win the game, the Dragons ran out the clock and preserved their 62-56 victory.

How many times have we seen this in this league?  I understand that officials are human and make mistakes as well, but this is starting to get ridiculous with officials deciding games by making bad calls or not making calls that should have been made.

Many suggest that instant replay is a necessity in the league.  I am a purist and detest instant replay in the NFL and college football in general, but there is no such thing as a perfect replay system.  The Johnson touchdown could have been reviewed, but the Predators fumble on the kickoff could not, at least if the AFL goes with the NFL-style review system.  Another problem would be logistics.  Not every game is televised, and those that are televised don’t necessarily have all of the camera angles necessary to review every possible play.

What is the answer to this then?  Maybe it’s time for the league to wise up and pay some officials with a clue about the game.  Aside from that, let’s cut down on these ticky-tack calls.  Pass interference calls, holding calls, personal foul calls… they’re all getting old and they’re starting to really decide games.  

Last season, I had a conversation with Joe Duncan, a referee in both the AFL and in college football, and he told me that the refs are always told to make fewer calls when they can.  I like seeing the refs touch the defensive linemen to get them to move inside instead of calling them for shading, or reminding the offensive line that no one declared which lineman was eligible.

Think about this.  There have been 1680 flags thrown so far this season.  That’s 15.7 penalties a game.  The least penalized team is the Arizona Rattlers at 5.7 penalties per game.  The most penalized teams are the Georgia Force and Tampa Bay Storm at 10.0 penalties per game.  Since John Elway was out to make this league “as much like the NFL as possible,” let’s compare that to the NFL, shall we?

The highest penalties per game total in the NFL since 2000 is 13.0, while the average is 11.7 penalties per game.  The average NFL game is roughly 125 plays a game.  The AFL?  Roughly 90.  It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that penalties account for a much larger percentage of the game in the indoor game than the outdoor game (in case you wanted real stats, I did the math for you… 8.5% for the NFL vs. 14.8% in the AFL).

Oh sorry, I forgot.  The addition of free substitution was also supposed to make the game more “watchable.”  If “watchable” means the casual fan wants to see the officials talk more, mission accomplished.  In 2006, there were 14.1 penalties per game.  That’s 1.6 penalties per game, or another 1.5% of our games taken away thanks to the zebras.

Maybe it’s no coincidence that attendance is down this year despite adding the 16,605 per game that the New Orleans VooDoo draw.  When I go to a game, I want to see two teams battle it out on the field.  Unfortunately, what we’ve seen too much of this season, are two squads of eight players fighting tooth and nail for 60 minutes, only to see the five players on the team of zebras decide the game for them.