by Jack Kerwin | ydkjack1@gmail.com
Don’t get it. Really don’t.
Oh, totally understand fans’ bias toward their own team, and wanting all things during the course of a football game go that team’s way.
But to proclaim bias on national announcers or analysts, and go all cuckoo with trying to “force” the expulsion of one or more from being able to call a game involving your team, because their straight-edged, honest, unbiased take on what they see doesn’t match your own?
Sorry, don’t get it.
There is bias, but it does not lie within the object of your ire. It lies within you.
Look, no fan of Cris Collinsworth here, so no disclaimer needed. He’s annoying, with an annoying voice and an annoying way of getting across his points. Always has been. Ever since he got on the air following a quality, eight-year career with the Cincinnati Bengals as a wide receiver that ended 30 years ago.
But biased? Sorry. Not buying that premise.
The two incidents that seem to have Eagles supporters in an uproar the most are the ones that basically decided the outcome of Super Bowl 52 on Sunday night.
On the first, rookie running back Corey Clement slipped out of the backfield, ran a post route and hauled in a 22-yard strike from Nick Foles in stride midway through the end zone, appeared to have clear possession of the ball, but then started readjusting the ball, which caused it move as he was stepping on the boundary at the back of the end zone.
On the second, veteran tight end Zach Ertz, lined up wide left of Foles with the Eagles at the New England 12, cut inside and caught the quarterback’s pass in mid-stride at the 6, took another two steps and then leaped for the goal line after contact at the 2, clearing it in the air, before landing and having the ball pop up and him re-catching it.
Both plays were called touchdowns on the field, and both were deemed worthy of video replay. Meaning, in broadcast-ese, both were worthy of an analyst’s scrutiny – which Collinsworth provided.
Going off the NFL rulebook’s clustereff description of what a “catch” is, and how woefully inept officials often have been in grasping that description, he had every reason to question whether either play would be upheld as touchdowns.
Frankly, if anything, he tried to shy away a little from commenting on the Ertz score because he was convinced Clement’s was going to be overturned and then it wasn’t. Announcer Al Michaels was the one who poked and prodded Collinsworth into giving his take … and it was an honest one. Not a biased one.
The reality is, just because you don’t like what the guy has to say, or if you don’t agree with it, that doesn’t mean he is biased.
Collinsworth didn’t show favoritism toward New England any more than he did toward the Eagles throughout the broadcast.
If anything, the rulebook was the real cause of your frustration, and fear, Philly fans. Not the guy trying to explain things through the convoluted parameters it has set up.
So, you can cool it on the call for petition signings out there. My Facebook newsfeed could use the break.
Don’t get it. Really don’t.
Oh, totally understand fans’ bias toward their own team, and wanting all things during the course of a football game go that team’s way.
But to proclaim bias on national announcers or analysts, and go all cuckoo with trying to “force” the expulsion of one or more from being able to call a game involving your team, because their straight-edged, honest, unbiased take on what they see doesn’t match your own?
Sorry, don’t get it.
There is bias, but it does not lie within the object of your ire. It lies within you.
Look, no fan of Cris Collinsworth here, so no disclaimer needed. He’s annoying, with an annoying voice and an annoying way of getting across his points. Always has been. Ever since he got on the air following a quality, eight-year career with the Cincinnati Bengals as a wide receiver that ended 30 years ago.
But biased? Sorry. Not buying that premise.
The two incidents that seem to have Eagles supporters in an uproar the most are the ones that basically decided the outcome of Super Bowl 52 on Sunday night.
On the first, rookie running back Corey Clement slipped out of the backfield, ran a post route and hauled in a 22-yard strike from Nick Foles in stride midway through the end zone, appeared to have clear possession of the ball, but then started readjusting the ball, which caused it move as he was stepping on the boundary at the back of the end zone.
On the second, veteran tight end Zach Ertz, lined up wide left of Foles with the Eagles at the New England 12, cut inside and caught the quarterback’s pass in mid-stride at the 6, took another two steps and then leaped for the goal line after contact at the 2, clearing it in the air, before landing and having the ball pop up and him re-catching it.
Both plays were called touchdowns on the field, and both were deemed worthy of video replay. Meaning, in broadcast-ese, both were worthy of an analyst’s scrutiny – which Collinsworth provided.
Going off the NFL rulebook’s clustereff description of what a “catch” is, and how woefully inept officials often have been in grasping that description, he had every reason to question whether either play would be upheld as touchdowns.
Frankly, if anything, he tried to shy away a little from commenting on the Ertz score because he was convinced Clement’s was going to be overturned and then it wasn’t. Announcer Al Michaels was the one who poked and prodded Collinsworth into giving his take … and it was an honest one. Not a biased one.
The reality is, just because you don’t like what the guy has to say, or if you don’t agree with it, that doesn’t mean he is biased.
Collinsworth didn’t show favoritism toward New England any more than he did toward the Eagles throughout the broadcast.
If anything, the rulebook was the real cause of your frustration, and fear, Philly fans. Not the guy trying to explain things through the convoluted parameters it has set up.
So, you can cool it on the call for petition signings out there. My Facebook newsfeed could use the break.
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