I'm gonna make these short answers (as much as I can) just so you know where I was coming from, because I'm not even kinda done, I simply am done with this. It's definitely repetitive.
1 ) You cited Youtube and Google when you said there was Chatter going on... Not me. I just assumed you knew people have conversations about every Youtube clip below them. I'm sorry you didn't know that... The conversations really not much different on Youtube than the Google searches though, so moot point IMO. There are plenty of people who aren't upset and don't think he deserved thrown out, and that Harrison got the penalty he deserved and the circumstances afterwards negated it too... People are arguing both points, and I don't give a **** about either side, just my own opinion, whether they agree with me or not at this point. I was reading some conversation on this at places like Yahoo sports, ESPN, etc., and it's all pretty much the same it seems. People are having the same argument we are it seems, with no end in sight.
2 ) I never said the game's chippiness was equal to what Harrison did, however I don't believe pushing on the sidelines is much different than pushing a guy who potentially chop blocked you either. I'm just saying, and the commentators mention it in the Youtube clips you cite, that the game's chippiness was what lead to that play, and it was getting out of control on BOTH sides. Harrison's was definitely the worst, but I still say he didn't use a closed fist, he didn't "punch" anyone like you have stated several times without proof. He pushed someone, and that's what earned him the penalty he got. You want him ejected for "punches" nobody threw.
3 ) I'm busting your balls partly on this... Matt and I were debating a play you kept saying didn't exist, that you didn't see, that maybe you were grabbing a beer while it happened. I was simply saying it existed and I don't give a **** about this to prove it to you... It was a joke and just proving the play existed. Matt and I disagree on whether it was "bad" is all. I think it was similarly bad to Harrison's play, but I'm 100% sure that even if I did prove this play with video to you, you'd disagree, becuase I find you completely biased on this matter. I know, I know, I know, spare me your speech on impartiality... I don't believe you, I think you're not being honest about that, and that's all I have to say. I don't care to argue THIS point any more than I care to carry on arguing with you on these OTHER points.
I'm pretty sure you feel similarly.
Again, I'm just being a ball buster and using Matt and I's separate conversation about that play that the play actually existed, that's all. Matt made your argument as well as you would've made your own I think, and it would've ended in another disagreement.
4 ) Actually most people consider expeience with the game relevant... I know I do, be it playiing it at various levels, or actually being requested to coach it, and having physical involvement with it on and off the field in some organization. It's something everyone I've worked with on it takes it very seirous.
I teach kids sportsmanship, leadership, and the difficulty and intricacies of the game so they're prepared to move up to the high school level and play competitively. If the kids ask me if James Harrison should've been pulled from the game, I'll tell them 100% unequivocally no... That he let his aggression get the better of him, that he lost his cool, and that a good player doesn't do that, and that he got a penalty for it that could've really cost his team a lot. I'll also teach them that football is a rough, physical sport, and that the older you get the more physical it becomes, and that they must learn to control themselves in all situations because it's for the good of their team, and as examples to their teammates, to do so.
To be honest, I'm proud to say I've never had a kid on my defenses, any season, be ejected from a game. And if you think kids don't do things like punch one another after a whistle or start scrums, you're mistaken. Youth rules actually require ejection for children due to their age, if they scrum at all after the whistle.
I don't think I could ever not cite that I actually am still involved, on and off the field, with a football organization, as a positive to my background though. I think it's sort of a jerkoff move to be critical of that with me, but whatever man. My mind is straight on MY actual experience with football, and if that makes me a lesser person in your eyes, well I'm sorry you see it that way. It seemed relevant to what you were questioning me on, but I guess you disagree.
5 ) Just so you feel better, I agree the Warner fumble needed reviewed. I know we really didn't touch on that much, but I agree it at least should have been reviewed. On the replays I saw, I still think it was a fumble, but it was a very reviewable play because it was close like the first Warner fumble that got called back. I thought I'd heard on the news that the NFL said it was reviewed upstairs immediately and ruled the right call on the field, but regardless it doesn't hurt to go to the hoods and make sure the call on the field was right or wrong by the guys actually down there.
I get that you're not from Arizona, and only were rooting for them because they're underdogs or whatever, but I still think you're biased and not being completely honest here... You feel the same way about me because I'm a Pittsburgh fan. I know you're not a die-hard AZ fan though, so don't worry. I've heard you on that. I think every MN guy's aware you're a Packers fan. I still think you're wrong on Harrison being thrown out though, and I think Warner fumbled (though his earlier one called back was 100% correct because he had control of the ball just as it went forward).
Again, I pointed out what I teach kids because that's what you teach at the most basic levels of the game, and yet we've got adults in a forum arguing that officials are who always decide this sport, week-in-and-week-out... I guess I'm basically saying the people who do that, are no better than 8 year olds. You can cry about reffing all you want, but at the end of the day the TEAM decides their fate. AZ did a lot of things wrong, and a lot of things right, and calls went both ways in that game (I think more holding calls went AZ's way than ours... Could that have decided the game too?). Mike Tomlin said it best that Pittsburgh came to play 60 minutes of football, not 58. That's what won the game to me.
I find adults using reffing as their basis lame is all... If the Steelers were in the reverse situation, I'd say the same thing to Steelers fans crying and whining that officiating lost them the game. If the Steelers had lost, I'd be saying "WTF was up with the offensive line?", or "Where did our #1 defense go to because our secondary ate ass!?". There's always someone other than the zebras to blame, I guess is my point. The guys who seem slanted towards AZ don't seem to see Fitzgerald not being an entity on the field till the second half, all the dropped passes, the run game getting stonewalled, and the AZ secondary 100% ******* up. They don't seem to count that.
I completely agree though, that we are not on the same page as football fans. Not even close.
