(Get) A Sporting Life

On a morning when all the sports talk shows are buzzing about a blown call(s) at the end of the St. Johns v. Rutgeers basketball game, it must be said the talk shows are missing a much worse call last night. That call happened in the Blues v. Blue Jackets game. Dan O'Neil of the St. Louis agrees with me: Ian Cole appeared to get his first NHL goal, but it is disallowed. Cracknell carried in, passed to Cam Janssen, who taps it to Cole. The puck went past the Columbus goal. Janssen is then tripped from behind by Jared Boll, and makes contact with the goalie as he falls. Cole shoots the puck in from a bad angle. But they disallow the goal on the grounds of goalie interference on Janssen. Yet another absolutely ridiculous call by an NHL official, impacting a game. There simply is no worse officiating in sports than in the NHL. Yep. Luckily the hockey gods were also appalled by the crappy officiating. Cole got his first goal later on and the Blues won the game. However, its kind of awfu...

I'm just gonna say this: If experience is any guide , had the Blues "scored" the Red Wings "goals" last night, and the Red Wings had scored the Blues goals, the game would have ended 3-0 in regulation in favor of the Detroit. There is no way the first two goals would not have been called "kicked", or that the last goal would have either A) been blown dead as being "unsighted", or been ruled knocked in by a hand (which it was.) Only when it will benefit their so-called "standard bearers" will the NHL call a back heel NOT a form of kicking. I guarantee you if the Blues (or Panthers or Hurricanes or any regular team) is playing Detroit or Pittsburgh, any back heeled goal will be called back as having been kicked.

Saw this over at Game Time . And I'm not even a Hullie hater. Its funny 'cause its true.

Remember when I said the NHL was starting to call the game by the book? Well, you can scratch that, as the Goebbels and Himmler of officiating crews is making a mockery of the game tonight. This is what happens when you let bunch of no talent hacks make up the rancid cream of your officiating crews. They could never actually play the game with any skill themselves so they resent it when they see it on the ice. Therefore a negative defensive team like the fucking Red Wings is favored over the skilled Penguins. The result is hockey that is boring as pig shit. These refs are nothing but a bunch of cocksuckers. (I know, I know...thats from baseball movie...but it seemed to fit.) ADDING: The refs are also gonna have to decide if Franzen is a hockey player or a goddam china doll. I'm betting they decide he's a china doll. And since when did Chris Osgood become such a flopper? There seems to be something about wearing a Detroit uniform that makes you a pussy.

Through one period of Game One of the Stanley Cup finals and the refs are not allowing the Red Wings to interfere off the puck, trip the goaltender, or hold Penguins up after they dump the puck in. In other words, they are actually calling the game as the rulebook says they should. Miracles do happen.

The explosion of vitriol I vented last night brought up a painful reminder. No matter how much I love the game of hockey I have to admit they have the worst standard of officiating of any major professional sport in America. MLS used to be the worst, but you can attribute that to being a new league with understandably inexperienced officiating crews who have raised their standard over the years. NFL officiating is notoriously uneven, but good work is often done. The NBA has its problems (like officials getting caught throwing games), but overall the reputation of the average gameday crew isn't abysmal. The gold standard in officiating has to be the MLB umpires. Yes, there are annoying aspects to their work, like umpires who seem unable to call a consistent strike zone or who deliberately try to antagonize players, but in general they do good work and they do it in a conscientious manner. Even as notorious a blunder as Don Denkinger's blown call in the '85 World Series shows...

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You would think that in front of a larger audience for a Stanley Cup final the NHL would quit the outrageous favoritism and fixing of games on the behalf of the Ottawa Senators. You might think that, but you would be wrong. Yet AGAIN the league has used video "replay" to screw teams playing against Ottawa. To be fair, today it was with a twist. Usually the league merely takes away goals scored by Ottawa's opposition, but today they decided to give Ottawa a goal they didn't score (legally) and overrule the on ice official (who made the no-brainer correct call for a change.) Welcome to the NHL: Joke League of all Joke Leagues.

The NHL officials are trying to give the series to the Detroit Red Wings. The Red Wings have committed 7 or 8 callable infractions in the 3rd period. None of course were called. It's a joke. A fucking joke. The NHL is a joke. A fucking joke. The league is fixed. UPDATE: The four penalty calls in a row, all against Anaheim, during the last 10 minutes of the game was simply inexcusable. This is especially so since multiple Red Wings infractions were ignored, both earlier in the period and during that final 10 minutes. Look, either you let them play it on the ice OR you call EVERYTHING STRAIGHT UP, FOR BOTH TEAMS, REGARDLESS OF WHO IS AHEAD IN THE GAME . Anything less leaves you wide open to charges of capriciousness. It strikes me as obvious that the on ice officials had a preference for who they wanted to win this game.

Good God. Senators get yet another goal for an opponent disallowed. They get what could charitably be called "questionable" penalty calls to give them a two-man advantage to take a lead. (To my mind one of those penalties was questionable, the other was a complete and utter joke.) Alfredsson gets no call on an obvious boarding call that was borderline for being a major penalty. AND they get a winning goal off of a draw that looked like the linesman was throwing the puck backward. (Did that look like a fair draw to anyone???) For all of those who say that all the breaks "even out," I defy you to look at the last three months of Ottawa's season and see anything evening out.

So, I'm just trying to enjoy a little playoff hockey tonight. My team doesn't make the playoffs so I don't have a rooting interest as such, I just want to see a good game. Well, the NHL, as usual, just tells the fans to go fuck themselves. I'm watching the Senators-Penguin game and 14 seconds after Ottawa scores to go up 4-1 Sidney Crosby scores to cut it to 4-2. It wasn't the prettiest goal in the world, but it was very clearly a goal. There is no controversy about that. If you think otherwise you are a god damned idiot. Well, the dipshits in the NHL say it isn't a goal after review. Now, these are the same assholes that got goal calls wrong TWICE in a single Blues game, so I'm not sure why I'm surprised. But it just pisses me off. I like HOCKEY. I don't really want to be on my blog bitching about the officiating. I don't give a shit about either of these teams. I just like hockey. THE NHL IS RUINING HOCKEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had to...

I promised I wouldn't bitch about NHL officiating anymore this season, but there has been a couple of interesting things resulting from the debacle in St. Louis last week. From the PD : GOOD-BYE TO MR. MCGEOUGH? The hapless work of referee Mick McGeough came to the attention of the NHL after he denied the Blues two legit goals against Ottawa. Here is an item Ottawa Sun scribe Bruce Garrioch recently published: “Referee Mick McGeough, who has been getting plenty of heat for blown calls this season, likely won’t work in the playoffs. If that’s the case, there’s a strong chance the veteran official may not be back next year.” That would be a real shame. Interesting, very interesting. There was also this comment from an eye-witness watching from the cheap seats: As a student at a University in Tennesee, I rarely get to see a Blues hockey game. I was happy when I learned that during my spring break, I would be able to attend one. Unluckily, that game ended up being the one last Tuesday...

Anybody who has followed the NHL for any length of time knew what was coming for the Blues tonight. You complain about the officiating to the league office (who acknowledge the merits of your complaints btw), and you are going to pay the next game. It's inevitable. The officials are like the thin blue line...they cover for their own. So you are Doug Weight and you take a stick to the face that busts your lip wide open and knocks you out of the game? Nah, the refs are blind, they don't see anything wrong with that. You are Lee Stempniak and you are hooked from behind while circling the net while the Blues are putting great pressure on? What? Sorry, the refs minds must have been elsewhere. Look cross eyed at a Wild player? To the box with you. Alright refs, you got your revenge, now drop your capriciousness and return to your usual state of incompetence. UPDATE: I'm done bitching about the NHL refs this season (barring something truly idiotic occuring during the playoffs...so...

...Nothing to see here."

Apparently an elderly Blues fan blew a gasket after the display of NHL incompetence last night and died of the resulting heart attack late in the game. It's sad to think that among his very last thoughts was about how this league continues to screw over the Blues. R.I.P. God, knows I'll be joining you one day and for the same reason; Death by NHL referee. The Blues and the Post-Dispatch are not pleased. Jeff Gordon's take: Send in the clowns -- an upgrade over NHL refs The Blues are working hard to the end. They are busting their tails night after night. They are establishing team pride and integrity during the final weeks of the season. So it is only fair that they expect the NHL officials to maintain their integrity while working their games -– and to not hand victories to the other side, as they did Tuesday night. This team has been on the wrong side of poor calls and inexplicable non-calls in recent games, culminating with the fiasco against Ottawa at the Scottrade Cen...

It is very obvious to anyone who watches NHL game that Dennis Larue has no business on an NHL ice surface. He is simply a disgrace. Yet there he is materially affect yet another NHL game with his gross incompetence. And I'm not claiming he is out to get the Blues (like I might with someone like Mick McGeough). Oh, I'll do that sometimes, but deep down I know I'm just a little unbalanced when it comes to the Blues. Larue is different because he ruins every game he officiates every time. He is 0 for his career. For the love of all that is holy, get him the hell out of there, and send him back to the pee-wee league...that he will probably ruin as well. UPDATE: Kelly Chase is about to lose it on the radio after yet another bad call, as the Blues/Senators game is quickly disintegrating into something ugly. Some Ottawa player went after Jackman's knee and God only knows what will happen now. Chase: "This crap has been going on for seven years while New York is supposed ...