Do certain teams benefit from bad calls more than others?

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Do certain teams benefit from bad calls more than others?

  • No for other reason (please state).

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    40

Boffo97

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This is an outgrowth of other threads. Unfortunately, there's no way to start a poll rather than start a new thread. The question at hand is whether certain teams, in your experience, tend to benefit more from bad calls being made in their favor, or non-calls of their own penalties than others.

If so, why do you think that is? If not, why do you think others perceive it?
 

Rmfnlt

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I voted milkshake... because I have proven they bring more boys to the yard!
:whistle::oops:
 

Elmgrovegnome

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I voted yes subconsciously. It seems that teams that are perceived as winners get more calls going their ways. And teams that are perceived as losers get more calls against them. Is it because one team is better than the other? I don't think that is it because we have all witnessed some crazy BS calls against the Rams that completely shot their momentum. Often for a bad team or a young team devoid of a real true leader that is all that it takes to shift the tide against them.

The past three years it just seemed like the Refs were looking very hard at the Rams and calling ticky tack or even made up penalties against them just because they had a bad rep. So the refs were convinced before the game that the Rams were going to commit penalties. However when other teams commit penalties like excessive holding it is rarely called.

How could this be random when we have seen it go on for the last three years? I really think that someone could be calling the shots to sway the outcome of the game but not completely fix it.....or the refs are weak minded fools giving into preconception.
 

Rams43

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I voted Yes, subconsciously, too.

We know that elite type players usually get the benefit of the doubt on close calls, don't we?

Been that way forever.

I think it's hard to get the "human" bias out of the officiating equation, frankly.
 

blackbart

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Yes and it is because they take advantage of the opportunities given to them whether it is a timely turnover, penalty, lack of a call. A good team understands and takes advantage.

Also good teams can overcome bad calls. GSOT used to take holding penalties and blow them off the field like they never happened. When you are confident in yourself and your teammates it happens. Good teams get it done.
 

Boffo97

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Yes and it is because they take advantage of the opportunities given to them whether it is a timely turnover, penalty, lack of a call. A good team understands and takes advantage.

Also good teams can overcome bad calls. GSOT used to take holding penalties and blow them off the field like they never happened. When you are confident in yourself and your teammates it happens. Good teams get it done.
Good teams CAN overcome bad calls. They don't always.

Hard to beat another good team AND the refs.
 

blackbart

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Good teams CAN overcome bad calls. They don't always.

Hard to beat another good team AND the refs.
I know it has been a long time but if you get time go take a look at some of those GSOT games they got it done with regularity
 

NukeRam

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GSOT was a special time and place that will probably never be repeated. I miss those days. Everyone feared the Rams.
 

Jorgeh0605

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I would REALLY like to crunch the numbers on this and create a frequency distribution for each team and compare it to the distribution of the entire league. Of course you would have to be more specific than just looking at the number of penalties called on each team and simply look at the number of bad calls. This would also ignore the amount of bad non-calls as well which is opinion based to say the least. It would be interesting but alas would take up waayyy to much of my time. Sorry folks, I'm going with my gut on this one and saying it happens randomly and we as fans simply see everything through our own fanbased lense that skews our opinon. Think about it, have you ever rooted for a team (or been on one) where you were like "Wow, the refs are really pulling for me". I haven't. It always feels like the refs are out to get me.
 

Boffo97

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I know it has been a long time but if you get time go take a look at some of those GSOT games they got it done with regularity
Against bad teams, and an occasional good team maybe. But not always.

Good teams don't always beat other good teams AND the refs. Period. Meaning that the "good teams overcome bad calls" nonsense is... well... just that.

Think about it, have you ever rooted for a team (or been on one) where you were like "Wow, the refs are really pulling for me". I haven't. It always feels like the refs are out to get me.
There's definitely times I've (and I think everyone else here) has been able to admit that the Rams got a bad call or bad non-call in their favor. It's just that's been a lot less common than the reverse, and I don't just think it's personal bias.
 

bluecoconuts

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I believe that the Seahawks were one of the most penalized teams this year. I think bad calls even out, the good teams give off the perception of getting the calls in their favor because they can overcome them, while bad teams can't.
 

SierraRam

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I watched two Cowboy games this year - versus our Rams and last weekend against the Lions. Both games were decided by outrageously obvious, horrible calls. Coincidence? Nope
 

leoram

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I said yes for other reason. A league supported conspiracy would be too difficult to pull off in my opinion. But certain individuals only need to use an opportunity or two to influence the outcomes judiciously. As a matter of fact, it would be more difficult to believe there is NO corruption. It is also natural for every human to have bias of some sort so this is also a factor.

As to the GSOT, that team did overcome turnovers and penalties regularly. But they couldn't overcome the Cheatriot Super Bowl in a case of the most obvious agenda filled officiating of all time. And the Lions couldn't overcome what surely looked like a ref influenced game to me vs the Cowboys.
 

Rmfnlt

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I would REALLY like to crunch the numbers on this and create a frequency distribution for each team and compare it to the distribution of the entire league. Of course you would have to be more specific than just looking at the number of penalties called on each team and simply look at the number of bad calls. This would also ignore the amount of bad non-calls as well which is opinion based to say the least. It would be interesting but alas would take up waayyy to much of my time. Sorry folks, I'm going with my gut on this one and saying it happens randomly and we as fans simply see everything through our own fanbased lense that skews our opinon. Think about it, have you ever rooted for a team (or been on one) where you were like "Wow, the refs are really pulling for me". I haven't. It always feels like the refs are out to get me.
Yeah... way too much time and effort to actually try to prove this idea.

However, I'd bet they keep stats on calls that were acknowledged as having been made wrong in the game (like what was disclosed this week about that Dallas game by the refs).

If someone could get those stats, then look at who won, it'd give you at least a flavor for what we're discussing.

Just a thought...
 

LACHAMP46

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not subconsciously, but most are fans themselves of certain teams/players....only human nature....the call in the Lions/Cowboys game just is wrong...but it happens...why pick up the flag, some type of biases that can't be discussed....
 

Zaphod

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GSOT was such a rare thing, I think.

The Rams were on the scene and no one, not the other teams, not the fans and certainly not Vegas, the NFL brass nor their referees were ready for it.

I do remember a certain amount of get back in your place going on and the Rams blew it off like there was nothing at all to it.

We have moments like that in 2014, albeit mostly coming from the defensive side of the ball, but not consistently enough to turn the corner on popular opinion that this team remain one of the league's whipping boys.

Seriously, all you have to do is look at their schedule and add in questionable officiating in key games and you can see that meant business about that.
 

Prime Time

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According to studies attractive people get more breaks than those who are not. In the NFL there are those who are perceived as winners while the rest of the teams, like the Rams, are the red-headed stepchild. This subconscious need to reward those who are winners and withhold from those who are seen as losers is part of the human condition. How that factors into the minds of referees is impossible to prove but is deeply ingrained nonetheless. To say that NFL referees are beyond this and totally fair in every game and on every play would be naive.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/Careers/07/08/looks/

Do pretty people earn more?
Research, reality can be at odds over the ugly truth
By Kate Lorenz
CareerBuilder.com


Studies show attractive students get more attention and higher evaluations from their teachers, good-looking patients get more personalized care from their doctors, and handsome criminals receive lighter sentences than less attractive convicts. But how much do looks matter at work?

The ugly truth, according to economics professors Daniel Hamermesh of the University of Texas and Jeff Biddle of Michigan State University, is that plain people earn 5 percent to 10 percent less than people of average looks, who in turn earn 3 percent to 8 percent less than those deemed good-looking.

These findings concur with other research that shows the penalty for being homely exceeds the premium for beauty and that across all occupations, the effects are greater for men than women.

A London Guildhall University survey of 11,000 33-year-olds found that unattractive men earned 15 percent less than those deemed attractive, while plain women earned 11 percent less than their prettier counterparts.

In their report "Beauty, Productivity and Discrimination: Lawyers', Looks and Lucre," Hamermesh and Biddle found that the probability of a male attorney attaining early partnership directly correlates with how handsome he is.

Size matters, too. A study released last year by two professors at the University of Florida and University of North Carolina found that tall people earn considerably more money throughout their careers than their shorter co-workers, with each inch adding about $789 a year in pay.

A survey of male graduates of the University of Pittsburgh found that the tallest students' average starting salary was 12 percent higher than their shorter colleagues'. The London Guildhall study showed that overweight women are more likely to be unemployed and that those who are working earn on average 5 percent less than their trimmer peers.

According to Dr. Gordon Patzer, who has spent more than three decades studying and writing about physical attractiveness, human beings are hard-wired to respond more favorably to attractive people. Even studies of babies show they will look more intently and longer at prettier faces.

"Good-looking men and women are generally judged to be more talented, kind, honest and intelligent than their less attractive counterparts," Patzer says. "Controlled studies show people go out of their way to help attractive people -- of the same and opposite sex -- because they want to be liked and accepted by good-looking people."

These conclusions may not sound too pretty to those of us who were dealt a bad hand in the looks department. But don't rush off to try out for the next round of "Extreme Makeover" just yet.

Despite what the research says, some of the world's most successful people have been ordinary looking at best, and you would never mistake the faces in Fortune for those in Esquire or Entertainment Weekly. Business legends are often of average height (Bill Gates at 5 feet 9 inches) or even diminutive (Jack Welch, 5 feet 8 inches, and Ross Perot, 5 feet 7 inches). What's more, many folks who are lovely to look at complain that they lose out on jobs because people assume they are vacuous or lightweights.

How does this reconcile with all the research? Hiring managers say it is the appearance of confidence they find attractive, not the presence of physical beauty. And they contend that attractiveness has more to do with how you carry yourself and the energy you exude -- rather than having perfect features or a great physique.

According to Gordon Wainright, author of "Teach Yourself Body Language," anyone can increase their attractiveness to others if they maintain good eye contact, act upbeat, dress well (with a dash of color to their wardrobe) and listen well.

Wainright also stresses the importance of posture and bearing and suggests that for one week you stand straight, tuck in your stomach, hold your head high and smile at those you meet.

Based on many such experiments, Wainwright predicts you will begin to be treated with more warmth and respect and start attracting more people to you.

Kate Lorenz is the article and advice editor for CareerBuilder.com. She researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues.
 

dieterbrock

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The Patriots and Broncos have the ugliest uniforms in the league and the Rams the best looking. So how does fit in with Miss Lorenz theory?? Lol