Results tagged “Ben” from Robert Littal Presents The Infamous BlackSportsOnline

1- Anquan Boldin will have more catches and yards than Larry Fitzgerald.

Believe it or not I have a few sources that have told me that secretly the Cardinals are loving all the attention that Fitzgerald is getting from the media and from the Steelers because they plan to feature Boldin more than Fitzgerald in the game. Boldin is fully healed from his hamstring injury and the Cardinals want to establish a physical presence against the Steelers and Boldin allows them to do that. Also they do not expect Kurt Warner to have the time in the pocket to hit Fitzgerald with a lot of slow developing plays, so look for a lot of screens and quick routes to Boldin.

Simply put Ben Roethlisberger should have not been in the game point blank period. Mike Tomlin is a young coach so he will have to learn unless there is some sort of special circumstance (see: New York Giants 2007) you don't play your franchise players especially franchise Quarterbacks in games that don't mean anything. Now when you add in that Roethlisberger has been beat down like he was in the UFC octagon this year the decision to let him play at all is mind boggling.

Big Ben has a concussion and I hope he is ok come playoff time, but with his injury history you wonder if this is going to linger into the post season and if it does this decision will haunt Tomlin and Steelers fans for a long time to come.

Here is the thing about replay. You have to have indisputable evidence to overturn a call on the field. The call on the field was down at the 1 yard line. Now you tell me do you see indisputable evidence?

I have watch the play at least 20 times and I still can not tell you if the ball cross the Goaline at the time he got both feet on the ground. From the blimp angle it appears the ball is touching the Goaline. From the sideline angle it appears more clear that it isn't.

So in that regards if you have two angles (actually there was about 4 angles) showing two different things the call on the field stands.

The ref says one thing that troubles me. He states that he caught the ball with two feet down in the endzone. Which is correct, but it doesn't matter where his feet is at it matters where the ball is at. I truly hope that the ref knew what he was going in the booth for. If not then someone will have a lot to explain to the Ravens why the ref didn't know the rule when he went to review the play.

It was definitely a tough call, but the call on the field should have stood.

We have had a ton of email coming in about the interpretation of the rule of what constitutes a touchdown when a receiver clearly has both feet in the end zone like Holmes had. We are attempting to get clarification on the rule. When we do I will run another update. If I was wrong I will state it, so everyone just relax.

Still lot of confusion on the rule. But we will wait on the official statement from the NFL until then it is just all speculation, but keep those comments coming.

I got this nugget from Mike Florio at ProFootBallTalk.com who breaks down the specific rule.

The rule is clear. Even if the player's feet are inside the end zone, the ball must at least kiss the plane of the goal line in order to result in a touchdown.

It's spelled out unequivocally in Rule 11, Section 2, Article 1(c), which states that a touchdown occurs when a player legally inbounds catches a ball "on or behind the opponent's goal line."

If this is indeed the rule then once again I stand by my original point that there was not enough visual evidence to overturn the call.

That was way toooooo close

You know I am one of ESPN's harshest critics. But I have to give credit when credit is due. I just finished watching their two-part documentary "Black Magic" and it was brilliant. (Sorry I am a slave to the DVR. I never watch anything on time anymore)

Even though I go by the moniker of "Sports Expert," deep down, I am just a person who loves sports just like you. I am also a young, Black male who. by the time I was on my way to a predominately white college (The Ohio State University), it wasn't a big deal to see a Black man walking around campus. I will be honest. I knew on some level about coaches like "Big House" Gaines, John McLendon and Ben Jobe, but I never understood their struggles. When I think of Willis Reed or Earl Monroe, my first thoughts are of the NBA not the historically Black college they came from.

What really stuck me with me, though, were the players that I had never heard of such as Cleo Hill, who was universally recognized as one of the greatest Black-college players of all time. Because of racism on the Saint Louis Hawks, he was black-balled from the league. Just imagine having a skill so great that you are one of the best in the world, but, because of the color of your skin, being denied a chance to showcase that skill. How difficult would that be?

When I heard about the great Bob Love, a player that my father admired, speak on his stuttering-problem and how his wife left him and took all of his possessions because she didn't want to be with a mute and a cripple. A knee injury forced him to retire. He moved me when he spoke of having to be a bus boy after 11-years in the NBA. How embarrassing and humiliating it was. His experience should make today's athletes think twice when they are complaining about being "under paid."

There are very many more stories from the documentary that I could write about. They are both inspirational, sad, and funny and sometimes all of those combined. But, I want you to watch "Black Magic" and draw your own conclusions.

It was truly an eye-opening experience for me. I feel as if I'm a better person for having watched it. There aren't many programs that one can say that about these days. I encourage everyone to watch it, if you haven't already, especially young athletes so they can better understand the basis for the opportunities they have today. Kudos to ESPN for bringing this to light.

If you think Ben Wallace will help Lebron James this is all I have to say?