Does It Matter Or Not?

The NFL referees are back! Too bad it was a week too late. My Green Bay Packers had a win instantly converted into a loss based on the horrible call by the replacement referees this past Monday night.

Bad Call

I have had people tell me it isn't a big deal. As long as the Packers, or any other team, gets hot at the end of the season and into the playoffs, that is all that matters. But what if this stolen win that was instantly converted into a loss keeps the Packers out of the playoffs? What if the Packers have fewer home playoff games? Isn't that a loss of revenue to the team? What if the Packers end up with a worse match up in the playoffs, assuming they make the playoffs?

But it is only one game, right? Not a big deal? Major League Baseball plays 162 games in their season. This is 10 times as many games as the NFL. Green Bay losing a win and getting an unjustified loss is equivalent to a bad call in MLB instantly converting 10 wins into 10 losses for a baseball team. The public outcry would be large.

As of September 27, 2012, if 10 wins were taken away from the division leading teams in MLB and converted into 10 losses, then 4 of the 6 division leaders would be knocked out of the playoffs. The other two division leaders (Washington and Cincinnati) would barely be hanging onto the last wildcard position.

On a positive note, if the Pittsburgh Pirates were the Seattle Seahawks, then the Pirates would have 10 losses instantly converted into 10 wins. This would put the Pirates into the last wildcard playoff position.