(09-24-2013 04:25 PM)Rabonchild Wrote: Maybe officials have always been bad and we didn't notice it until HD TV. But I still think the ACC protected Clemson in order to keep them in the top 5
Nobody wants to examine the possible truth of your observation. Sports fans already live in a world where they can't count on their job security, where they expect corruption in politics, and in procurement of preferential treatment for large corporations in business. Those that have spiritual inclinations have all suffered disappointments with congregational conflict, clergy problems, or big organizational scandals, etc. The last thing they refuse to lose faith in is their sports, hobbies, and pleasant distractions.
I was disabused of my naivete in this area years ago. I had a friend who was a bookie, even though I didn't gamble, he would tell me about the games and how there were two lines, the betting line (often Harrah's odds) and the closing line (a summary of which teams had the heavy money placed on them) and how the heavy money in the closing line lost 70% of the time. Now that was in the 70's and 80's and then it was more with professional sports than with collegiate sports.
Back then virtually no players or coaches were bought off or crooked. And the genuine outcomes of games were seldom manipulated unless it was a very big pick em game. But point spreads were always covered through holding and pass interference calls in the second half. If a first half for a close line was getting out of hand it could happen there as well to keep things doable. If it is a big line like team A plus 14 and the heavy money is on the underdog then having it get out of hand is a good thing. No bad calls need be made. But either way you cut it the house wins. If the money was evenly bet on a game no fix was needed. And by the way even the gambling industry prefers to have the odds set to try to even out the betting. Things are better the less they have to manipulate because the more people believe things are straight the more they are likely to wager and the house always gets a cut even if you win.
With college sports the popularity has been growing at a time when the gambling industry has been hit hard at home in Vegas and Atlantic City. The college game is controlled the same way, yellow hankies. Only now that the future playoff revenues are so large and the TV contracts so big there are new groups who are interested in seeing some control over the game. While I don't know, and am not sure that conferences are actually trying to pick winners and losers to keep their best horses in the race, I do have an open mind to the fact that the amounts of money for the conference that could be at stake would be a very big motive for the conference to do a little guarantee work on behalf of their respective front runners. And since the conference pays the officials I suppose the connections exist to make it happen. I'm just not convinced that such is the case yet.
I could also see where a network might desire for a big game to stay close to hold the audience for advertising rates, but I would have to be convinced that this actually happens to believe it to be true.
Since betting on college games is now as popular as ever the other potential is rather obvious. Most officials for the P5 conferences make over 100,000 for the games they call in the Fall. That's a nice chunk of change, but far from the amounts riding on the point spreads. For those who keep an open mind they can see how shaving a few points could be quite the cottage industry for officials who are more greedy than they are in love with the game. And make no mistake, most officials do what they do because they were drawn to it for love of the game. I don't believe that all officials are corrupt. I doubt that most officials are corrupt. But it only takes one or two on the crews of the big games to make those spreads stay profitable for the house. So is the possibility there for that to happen? Yes. And it always has been. The Black Sox scandal in baseball will tell you it has been with us since the onset of popular athletes and popular sports.
My advice is to love your teams and support them. Enjoy the escape from the more serious and arduous problems of life, and enjoy the games for what they are, entertainment. Don't bet on them and don't think about those who do. If you are a person of faith believe in your God in spite of the corruption of the institution of worship, or its people, or clergy problems. If a God exists it is certainly bigger than all of them and us. If sports lightens your burdens it is worth the price of admission in spite of the little corruptions that may or may not be part of it. To go through life as an idealist is to be perpetually disappointed and to go through life as a cynic is to be perpetually burdened and angry.
It is the time spent with friends, family, and new people to meet that makes sports, worship, the local bar, and life in general worth living and enjoying.
I had another great friend and mentor tell me that if I had a problem to tell him about it. So when one arose I did. He told me if I still had the problem after the next day to call him again. I did. He told me if I still saw no resolution to it to call him one more time. I did and I'll never forget what he told me then. He said if a problem exists longer than three days it is not a problem at all but a fact of life. Accept it as that and get on with your life. It has been one of the more valuable lessons I've ever learned.
You can't enjoy life and be productive for yourself and family if you are always weighed down by the things you can do nothing about. Problems are solvable. When you run into things beyond your control they are by definition not problems because they are not solvable. They are indeed a fact of life and any worry, anger, frustration, or energy you spend on them is a waste of your time. Should you find yourself in a group that can address them with a measure of success only then can you tackle them. Because it is only together that we can change the facts of life that we don't like. Enjoy the games.
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ACC as a rigged as NASCAR
