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Guest blueadams

The NHL's new 'catch-up' officiating

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Guest blueadams

Even though it worked in our favor tonight, the NHL's new 'catch-up' post-season officiating is complete and total b.s. It's pretty f-ing clear to me that Bettman's given his officials an agenda this post-season, with the goal seemingly being to take as many series as possible to seven games, and to take as many games as possible to OT.

I hadn't seen a thread on this since the post-season started (if there was, my apologies), so I wanted to see if I was alone here (...as a paranoid conspiracy theorist), or if this was obvious to everyone!?

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Guest blueadams

its sad. i mean, i get it from a business perspective. if the pistons and the spurs meet in the nba finals, the nba probably misses out on about 50mil that it could have gotten if kobe and lebron had met in the finals instead. it makes sense. but it sucks. and it's becoming more and more prevalent in all professional sports.

i don't have this link right now (i could get it if it's wanted)...but former pistons owner bill davidson was doing an interview with mitch albom in the last year of his life...and mitch albom asked him what he thought about tim donaghy situation - the nba official who got busted by the FBI for betting on games he officiated - and davidson responded, "that's just the tip of the iceberg with referees."

for those that don't remember, donaghy later told FBI agents that he and other officials (whom he referred to as 'company men') had fixed games at David Stern's request...including game six of the 2002 western conference finals between the LA Lakers and Sacramento Kings. if you saw that game live, it was blatantly obvious. if you didn't, the lakers attempted 18 more free throws than the kings...IN THE FOURTH QUARTER alone.

and this nba talk is important because...of course, david stern is the man that taught gary bettman how to run a league. you think that bettman's above cheating to promote marketable north american stars (like crosby, toews and kane)? you think he's above cheating to create highly rated game sevens and overtime situations? hell no.

rasheed wallace - who, as you may not know, was voted by nba coaches as the smartest player in the league several times - used to refer to the NBA as the WWNBA (as in WWF/fake/predetermined). well, hockey's certainly becoming the WWNHL. it's a shame, but this is what professional sports is increasingly becoming. money & marketing talks. fariness & integrity walks. and it also happens to some degree in college football and basketball. the only sports that are pure anymore are the ones that don't make money.

...in a DREAM WORLD, wouldn't it be nice if the officials of all the major sports formed their own unions, and answered to their own bosses instead of obviously biased league managers?

Edited by blueadams

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LOL, you guys are nuts. If the whole thing really is rigged, then they are failing pretty miserably seeing as it looks like most if not all the series are going to be done in five games. Boston had 5 PP's to Flyers 3 today, and the numbers were the same in the last TB/Wash game with TB getting the edge 5 to 3.

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LOL, you guys are nuts. If the whole thing really is rigged, then they are failing pretty miserably seeing as it looks like most if not all the series are going to be done in five games. Boston had 5 PP's to Flyers 3 today, and the numbers were the same in the last TB/Wash game with TB getting the edge 5 to 3.

they are not dumb to bias in favor of a team that is clearly loosing a series. Detroit and San Jose are not that far way from each other compared to the current Flyers and Bruins. Moreover, you cannot always control a game as one team could be head and shoulders better and may overcome even biased officiating. Finally, amount of PP is not that important compared to their timing. You usually easily kill a PP early in the first period. Much more complicated to kill it during the second period when you have long shifts (Detroit had 3 PPs today). Even more in the 3rd. Todays game was given to us and I'm not fine with this.

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Even though it worked in our favor tonight, the NHL's new 'catch-up' post-season officiating is complete and total b.s. It's pretty f-ing clear to me that Bettman's given his officials an agenda this post-season, with the goal seemingly being to take as many series as possible to seven games, and to take as many games as possible to OT.

I hadn't seen a thread on this since the post-season started (if there was, my apologies), so I wanted to see if I was alone here (...as a paranoid conspiracy theorist), or if this was obvious to everyone!?

Yeah... makes sense considering all the game 7's in round two... 2 sweeps out east, and possibly two series ending in 5 games in the west. Take off your tin foil hat and enjoy the best sport on earth. Damn this is getting ridiculous.

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Guest Heaten

My wife says the same things. She says things are staged in the NHL to help 'push' teams they think will bring the most money. To this day I believe the Sharks were handed the series last year against the Wings. People (fans) were sick of seeing the same team in the Finals year after year after year... meaning there was little for the NHL to gain from allowing Detroit to advance to the WCF yet again...

If this series makes it to 6, expect us to lose on a bad penalty or 5 on 3.

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Even though it worked in our favor tonight, the NHL's new 'catch-up' post-season officiating is complete and total b.s. It's pretty f-ing clear to me that Bettman's given his officials an agenda this post-season, with the goal seemingly being to take as many series as possible to seven games, and to take as many games as possible to OT.

I hadn't seen a thread on this since the post-season started (if there was, my apologies), so I wanted to see if I was alone here (...as a paranoid conspiracy theorist), or if this was obvious to everyone!?

As for the "catch-up officiating"? That seems to have been going on for years. They will penalize Team A, miss something obvious on account of Team B, but look for something to get Team B for to "set things right".

People have been complaining about that for decades, nothing new imho.

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My wife says the same things. She says things are staged in the NHL to help 'push' teams they think will bring the most money. To this day I believe the Sharks were handed the series last year against the Wings. People (fans) were sick of seeing the same team in the Finals year after year after year... meaning there was little for the NHL to gain from allowing Detroit to advance to the WCF yet again...

If this series makes it to 6, expect us to lose on a bad penalty or 5 on 3.

We did not deserve to beat San Jose. The funny thing about conspiracy theories is that every fan of every NHL team thinks the league and Gary Bettman are somehow conspiring against them. Even Penguins fans think the league has it out for them.

The NHL tends to enjoy better ratings when teams in larger, more traditional markets are successful. With that said, if the league really wanted to control the outcomes of games and playoff series, teams such as Nashville, Vancouver, Tampa Bay, and San Jose would be screwed, not us.

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Evening up calls has been happening for as long as I can remember. And probably even before that. I remember a young coach from a new St.Louis team that used to be in the refs ear with every call against his team. Always reminding the ref that he owed them one. I wonder what ever happened to that guy?

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Ever notice that threads on bad officiating exist or have existed at one time on every hockey message board ever created? Fans from all teams have at one point or another felt hard done by.

Clearly the officiating is wildly inconsistent and often terrible, but it is NOT a conspiracy. There is no agenda.

Just my opinion. I have said it before but I don't understand how someone can follow a league if they truly think there is a significant bias towards certain teams.

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Just my opinion. I have said it before but I don't understand how someone can follow a league if they truly think there is a significant bias towards certain teams.

there is no bias towards Detroit exclusively. They are just making business decisions that sometimes coincide with Team A winning and Team B loosing. We were successful for approximately two decades, we have strong fan base, our generation of Red Wings fans will never switch off TVs, etc. So why should we continue winning from a business point of view? They will not generate any additional profit if we'll make SCF of WCF again as we already bought all the merchandise they generated. Our market is already saturated. Teams like Boston and San Jose are a different question.

Getting back to your question. Yes, there is no reason to watch Red Wings next 5-7 years. Perhaps, even more. Still we are fans and more importantly fans of hockey. I'll watch this year's finals featuring San Jose and Boston. Moreover, both teams more or less deserve it. It is not like we are going to have Pens there again.

Edited by RusDRW

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there is no bias towards Detroit exclusively. They are just making business decisions that sometimes coincide with Team A winning and Team B loosing. We were successful for approximately two decades, we have strong fan base, our generation of Red Wings fans will never switch off TVs, etc. So why should we continue winning from a business point of view? They will not generate any additional profit if we'll make SCF of WCF again as we already bought all the merchandise they generated. Our market is already saturated. Teams like Boston and San Jose are a different question.

Getting back to your question. Yes, there is no reason to watch Red Wings next 5-7 years. Perhaps, even more. Still we are fans and more importantly fans of hockey. I'll watch this year's finals featuring San Jose and Boston. Moreover, both teams more or less deserve it. It is not like we are going to have Pens there again.

In my opinion, I do not think the officiating is in anyway influenced by financial decisions. In fact if it were, surely Detroit would make it to the SCF every year? The ratings on those games will be far better than finals featuring Columbus/Phoenix/Nashville/Florida/Tampa etc. Sure, their might be some growth in the smaller markets if their successful but it won't be anything on the revenue generated by any of the original six teams for example.

Business decisions aren't just financial ones, the NHL is a business built on a game of sport. If they are making decisions which undermine the integrity of the game itself, then that would be the worst business decision they could possibly make.

You're point about being a fan of hockey is a good one, however do you really believe there is no reason to watch the wings for a few years? Seems crazy to me.

Edited by crotty99

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ROFL @ the conspiracy theories. Pathetic.

Actually, I think there's a very, very good chance that a empirical study of when penalties are called and to which team would show that within the 3rd period way more are called against the winning team. This would prove the "catch-up" rule.

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Sorry guys. As much as we, and I myself, have complained about inconsistent officiating in the past, y'all need to slow your gears down. These side stories are a waste of time and you are just pissing yourselves off.

Last night showed that the Wings also were fortunate with a few calls as well. It might not happen much to us because we see ridiculous phantom interference calls or whatever, but we get a break every now and then as well (i.e. Bertuzzi's goal which should've been offside). And both those penalties on Detroit were legit in the 3rd period, as much as I didn't like the call on Abdlekader in the heat of the moment either.

And let's get one thing clear that I am one of the first people to blow gaskets at refs for phantom interference or intent to blow the whistle or whatever.

Please stop wasting useless energy and just accept that the officiating and rules for the most part just aren't that good and are inconsistent. Nothing more and nothing less.

Edited by SouthernWingsFan

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The league has been steadily becoming more of a joke since the lockout. Wings should sign this guy:

savage2.jpg

Unfortunately, the Macho Man is looking more like Kenny Rogers these days.

600full-randy-savage.jpg

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they are not dumb to bias in favor of a team that is clearly loosing a series. Detroit and San Jose are not that far way from each other compared to the current Flyers and Bruins. Moreover, you cannot always control a game as one team could be head and shoulders better and may overcome even biased officiating. Finally, amount of PP is not that important compared to their timing. You usually easily kill a PP early in the first period. Much more complicated to kill it during the second period when you have long shifts (Detroit had 3 PPs today). Even more in the 3rd. Todays game was given to us and I'm not fine with this.

In my previous post I stated how the refs are failing pretty hard if there is manipulation seeing as none of the series are going deep, the response is "they only try to manipulate the game in the tight series or games." Second I point out that there were more powerplays called for the team that was ahead in games four of the TB and Bos series, and the response is all that matters is second and third periods. Do you guys realize how ridiculous this all sounds?

FYI... wash/tb was a very tight series and TB and Bos had more second and third period power plays so your points are moot.

Actually, I think there's a very, very good chance that a empirical study of when penalties are called and to which team would show that within the 3rd period way more are called against the winning team. This would prove the "catch-up" rule.

Come on...even if we assume that this is true, correlation is not causation. Its quite possible and probably very reasonable to assume that the team playing from behind, especially in the playoffs, is going to show a ton of desperation late in the game, spending much of the time in the offensive zone. You don't think this could lead to more power plays for the team that is down?

Edited by greenrebellion

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Come on...even if we assume that this is true, correlation is not causation. Its quite possible and probably very reasonable to assume that the team playing from behind, especially in the playoffs, is going to show a ton of desperation late in the game, spending much of the time in the offensive zone. You don't think this could lead to more power plays for the team that is down?

At the same time team that is trying to even up the score is likely to take more penalties, right? Because players are desperate and often panic. What we usually see these days is that refs are starting to allow them a bit more and call every penalty against defending team. Apart from clear bias that is often evident nowadays, this "a bit more" is one of the biggest problem with officiating. I simply do not understand why one team needs to work harder to win.

This really coincides with neighboring topic titled "Remember when third period leads were safe". Yes, I do remember. 15 or 10 years ago when one team led after two it is likely to win. Two goal leads were even safer than deposits.

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