Penalty for celebration

In the Eagles-Cowboys game of 12 December, DeSean Jackson was flagged for excessive celebration after a touchdown. Looking at the replays, it seems the foul occured before the touchdown. Why was in not penalized from the spot of the foul rather than the succeeding spot? If the NFL really wants to cut down on taunting, they should have penalized this from the 1 instead of on the ensuing kickoff. I recall one Packer game from the late 1980s or early 1990s where there was a flag for excessive celebration after a touchdown that was called back due to a holding penalty. Both penalties were assessed before the next play.

IHSA Football playoffs

East St Louis (Sr.) qualified for the IHSA football playoffs and was seeded #1 in the southern half of the southern 7A bracket. They were later required to forfeit five of their victories because they had a player who did not live in their district, reducing their record to 4-5 and knocking them out of the playoffs.


If East St Louis (Sr.) were replaced in the IHSA football playoffs...

• They would have been replaced by Belleville Althoff (5-4, 38 playoff points), a 4A school.


• Metamora (8-1, 39) would move up to 5A.


• Crystal Lake Central (7-2, 41) would move up to 6A.


• Collinsville (5-4, 46) would move up to 7A.

Collinsville could easily take ESL's place in the south-south subbracket for 7A and teams would just move up one placement.


In 6A, SN#7 Dolton (Thornridge) (5-4, 43) would move from south-north to south-south, and N#9 Palos Heights (Shepherd) (6-3, 41) would move from north to south-north. Dolton (Th.) would play Danville and DeKalb would instead go to Rock Island (HS). Shepherd would become the SN#6 seed and Calumet City (TF North) would drop to SN#7 unless there is a restriction about playing conference opponents in the first round, in which case Shepherd would be SN#7 and TFN would be SN#6. CLC would become the #8 seed, knocking Lake Forest (HS) down to #9, so LFHS would lose a home game.


In 5A, the North would lose their #8 seed. They could be replaced with New at #8 Lenox (Lincoln-Way West), currently #4 in the south-north. Metamora would be coming in at #3 in the south-north, dropping Sterling to #4.


In 4A, Rochester would move from #1 in the south-south to #1 in the south-north, where #1 Pontiac would fall to #2. Belleville Althoff would come in at #8 and all eight teams would move up one spot in the rankings.



Total number of games affected: 6 in 4A, 3 in 5A, 4 in 6A (and the integrity of the bracket), 4 in 7A.


Total number of teams affected: 34.


The suggestion to create a bye was a better idea. Unfortunately, the courts required ESL be allowed back into the playoffs.

Why they call it FOOTball

The play at the end of the Montréal-Toronto CFL game last week featured a placekick, two punts, and a drop kick.



Video at the CFL website here.

No...

So Roy Halladay threw a no-hitter, the first in the postseason since Don Larsen in 1956. A lot of people are mentioning that this is the first time a pitcher has thrown two no-hitters in the same season since Nolan Ryan in 1973. Not too many are comparing this no-no, in the opening day of the playoffs, to the one by Bob Feller on Opening Day in 1940.

My fault

In golf and pick-up recreational sports, one often calls fouls on oneself. Rachel Blount of the Star Tribune tells about one NCAA women's volleyball team doing so here.

Myles Brand can't count

The Big Ten has 11 teams and will soon have 12. (The CIC, the academic arm of the conference, has 13.)
The Big Twelve has 10.
The Pac-10 has 12.
The A-10 has 14.



Maybe collegiate conferences should stop including the number of teams in their official name.

(Yes, I know Brand is dead.  But I don't know the name of his successor at the NCAA off the top of my head.)

NFL in court

In a recent Supreme Court Decision, SCOTUS declared that the NFL consists of 32 separate entities.



I am not a lawyer, I don't play one on television, and I do not work in a law library; I have not been following all the details of the cases. To me, this decision would seem to support the claim of Williams and Williams that their drug test should be subject to Minnesota State Law, since their employer is based in Minnesota.  There is one part of state law that the League and the Vikings failed to follow.

Top 10 reasons Obama rooted for the Saints

Note: If the Big Ten can have 11 teams, so can these top 10 lists

1. Part of the deal to get Louisiana Senators to vote for his health care package


2. He just wanted to upset David Letterman


3. If he supports New Orleans, and they lose, he can always blame Bush -- Reggie Bush


4. He thought it was the Saints' owner who came out against Rush Limbaugh owning part of the Rams


5. He hasn't forgiven the Colts for beating his Bears in Super Bowl XLI


6. He sees the Colts on TV too much because he doesn't watch Fox


7. Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints? Not him


8. The Colts are from the American Football Conference, and we all know how he feels about Americans


9. Saints wear White Sox colors, Colts wear Cubs colors


10. Ditka went to the Saints after he left da Bears


11. Hot tip from Tim Donaghy