The flawed officiating system of the NFL

In week 15 the Kansas city chiefs defeated the New England patriots in Foxboro. The Patriots offense was stagnant, and the explosive Kansas city offense managed to do enough against the stout New England defense to get the win.

My thought after this game weren’t necessarily about the tell tale of either of these teams, or the future playoff implications, or anything like that. I couldn’t get over two specific plays. The play were Nkeal Harry of the Patriots reached over the goal line but was called short. And the play where Travis Kelce fumbled and a New England defender recovered it in stride with the end zone in sight but the play was whistled down because Travis Kelce was called down by contact.

These were two crucial plays in the game. The missed call on the Nkeal harry touchdown was a 4 point swing. No debate necessary on that one. The refs cost the new England patriots 4 points on that drive. On the Travis Kelce fumble play there is no doubt that the Patriot defender would have gained a significant return, and most likely score a touchdown.

I just dont understand why this should happen. With the resources of the NFL, there is just no need for it. On the missed Nkeal Harry touchdown, the patriots were helpless because they were out of challenges. The entire concept of a challenge is based on the accepted room for error by the referees.

If you have a group of referees on the field that are responsible for calling, and not calling penalties in real time, it is obvious there are going to be mistakes. And there are. To help cope with that fact, the NFL has coaches challenges, and referee review on scoring plays, and plays within the 2 minute warning. These rules are in place to help get the significant plays in the game called correctly. which is great. Although, the fact they feel the need to have these rules for specific situations shows a flawed process.

The fact that they review such a minuscule amount of the plays on the field, and we see time and time again that these play calls need to be corrected by review shows a flawed process. It shows that it is too difficult for the on field referees to adequately officiate the game in real time. with so few of the plays in the game actually reviewed, think about how many play calls the refs must get wrong. Think about how all these incorrect calls have impacted so many games to come to incorrect outcomes. Think about how much power this gives the referees. Power that is vulnerable to bias, and emotion resulting in incorrect calls.

In a game that is commonly referred to as a game of inches, these inches are often decided by the subjective calls of referees. The NFL has accepted a level of failure with its officiating process. In the past, this was acceptable. But today, with the vast resources of the National football league why should the NFL accept any room for error? There is absolutely no need for it. The NFL is completely capable of getting every single call on the field correct on every single play. So why shouldn’t they? If the NFL could get every single play called correctly on the field, it would leave fans with the feeling that the right team won every single game.

It feels completely unnecessary and outdated to have referees on an NFL field deciding the outcome of nearly every play in the game. If the NFL has come to the conclusion that in critical situations (scoring plays and under 2 minutes) video review should over rule the calls of officials in real time, then why shouldn’t all plays be decided by video review?

The logistics of this would certainly be a little difficult. One of the arguments against this approach is that it could slow down the game. Although, I believe with the resources of the national football league, they could easily manage to get every call correct with video review. While also maintaining the same pace of the game. The NFL could have 20 plus people in a room with video of all players on the field. And they could review footage of specific aspects of the plays as many times as they can with the time that they have. The NFL wouldn’t even necessarily have to get rid of on field officials entirely, but at least have meticulous video review of every single aspect of every single play.

Another argument against this approach is that there would be too many penalties. Nobody wants to watch a football game with penalties on nearly every single play. While this is a understandable argument, I believe that if NFL teams know that their players are going to be reviewed on every single play, players would adjust. Players would stop pushing to the gray area of calls, and try to play within the rules every play. If there would still indeed be too many penalties after an adjustment period, then its obvious the NFL penalty rules are too strict, and should be changed.

This lack of review, and accountability of the officiating process of the National Football League has created this gray area for referees. A gray area in play calls that leaves penalty outcomes far too much to chance, and leaves an on field officiating crew with far too much power. The NFL has the power to erase this subjectivity in its penalty calls, and make the game truly fair. The reason why they wont? I am not too sure.

The thing people who dont like to exercise dont understand

So much of what enjoying life is about is finding balances. As biological creatures we have an array of different needs. Everybody’s balances of needs are different, but for most people they are pretty similar. everybody has a desire for a certain amount of social interactions, or mental stimulation, and of course, exercise and rest.

People that claim to not enjoy exercise only think about the physical distress during a workout. They think, working hard with my body hurts. why would I voluntarily subject myself to that. Those are the same people that have trouble sleeping, or are restless.

There is nothing quite like relaxing after a hard workout. It feels great, it feels like you are recharging your body. There was a time in history when physical activity was necessary for survival. If you didn’t use your body to obtain food, you wouldn’t survive. And if you couldn’t rest to recharge after physical activity, you also wouldn’t survive. In modern society’s this is no longer the case.

Modern society has made it very easy to get by with barely needing to use your body. many people associate rest with comfort, and exercise with pain. For people that enjoy intense exercise, they associate pain with comfort. For most people, the gratification from working out doesn’t come while they are actually working out. It comes afterwards.

Our bodies have not evolved to the rapid change in technology which we are accustomed to. our body expects us to use our bodies to survive. Therefore, if people dont push their body’s to a certain point, their mental well being will suffer. Their rest will suffer. If all somebody does is rest, their balance of rest and physical activity will be off. So there rest wont be nearly as enjoyable.

Thats really what it comes down to. people that claim to not like working out dont understand how much exercise boosts their quality of rest. It makes it feel so much better. Its about finding the right balance. For just about everybody, their balance of rest, and physical exercise should include a certain amount of exercise. because if all you do is rest your body, then your not going to feel very good. Just as if all you do is exercise your body, then you also wont feel very good.

For people that claim to not like exercising, I suggest at least giving it a legitimate chance. Dont think about how tiring it is, think about how good it will feel to relax afterwards. Think about how much more rewarding relaxing will feel when your body actually needs it. Some people will find enjoyment in the moment while they are exercising. But for most, the mental benefits will come afterwards. If all you do is rest your body, your rest will suffer. And your missing out.

Why you should never buy lottery tickets

I’m sure just about everybody has fantasied about what they would do if they were to win the lottery. It feels good to think about magically being absolved of so much struggle in life. Seeing as so many people’s problems revolve around money.

If you were to win, you could truly live your life to the beat of your own drum. However you feel like spending your days, is how you spend your days. There are very few people who have this luxury. Most people who have that level of money enjoy spending their time doing something that makes them a lot of money, which explains how they have so much money.

In order for most people to make a living, they are forced to spend a high percentage of their time doing something they don’t enjoy. For these people winning the lottery would be truly life changing. The quality of their life would change instantly because they will spend much less time doing something they don’t want to be doing.

If Fred wins the lottery and is happiest spending most of his time playing video games, then Fred will spend most of his time playing video games. Or if somebody else is happiest helping people, or competing at a sport, or whatever.

I believe money doesn’t buy happiness in some ways, but how could the freedom of how we can spend our time not impact our happiness.

Its clear how beneficial winning the lottery would be for so many people. The lottery companies are well aware of this. Their marketing revolves around this fact. These companies are experts at manipulating the emotions of people that would benefit significantly from hitting their jackpot.

Just like any money-making organization, lottery companies are out to take your money. It would be great to win, but you wont. Or to rephrase that, you have virtually no chance. The odds are so low its just not worth spending the money, or the emotion.

putting any of your hope that you will be the lucky 1 in 15 million, is not worth it. For people that are unhappy with their lives, it’s a cop out, a fantasy, a pipedream of a solution to fix your life by doing virtually nothing.

All you have to do is spend a small amount of your money, and you have a chance to solve all your problems. It’s a trap, Its not worth any of your time.

In order to realistically improve your life, you have to put the work in. Its going to take a lot more then spending 10$ a month on a magical ticket. If you want to spend your time doing something you enjoy, you can do it without winning against impossible odds.

Distracting yourself from putting the work in is very easy to fall into. The fantasy of winning the lottery is an easy way to do it. Its just not worth it.

People would be much better served putting their emotions into something that can realistically improve their lives. Your better off to put your well being into your own hands, not impossible odds.