What’s the difference between professional wrestling and any other contact sport? Well, the obvious answer would be that one is heavily scripted and rehearsed, and the others are not. After former Houston Texans running back, Arian Foster, came forward blatantly calling the NFL “scripted,” fans are now beginning to speculate if there even is a difference between them, especially after the conclusion of this year’s Super Bowl.
Fans took to Twitter after a controversial holding penalty was called on the Philadelphia Eagles defense during the final minutes of Super Bowl 57. This flag essentially caused the Eagles to burn their final timeouts and give the Kansas City Chiefs a field goal attempt with only seconds left on the clock. Had the flag not been thrown, there could have been numerous different outcomes to the game, including a victory for the Eagles.
I’m not so sure the NFL is scripted; in fact, I’m fairly certain that it is not. However, I think it is extremely obvious that the referees clearly have some sort of bias for a select number of teams. We’ve all seen our favorite team play magnificently for most of a game, and then out of nowhere the opposing team starts having everything go their way. Now, that is not to say that it is impossible for a team to lose all momentum and give a game away. The fact of the matter is that this kind of stuff happens way too often across all sports, not just in the NFL, but in every other sport, whether they be professional or amateur leagues.
Now, is there any way to eliminate such bias from the sport? If there is, it surely won’t be coming any time soon. There have been talks in other leagues, such as the MLB, to implement an automated officiating system soon. Could we see something similar come to the NFL? Possibly, but it could prove too difficult for a game as complex as football. So, until then, we cannot expect the supposed “rigging” of games to stop.
