Here's someone I bet you never see again referring an important
NFL playoff game. Pete Morelli was the genius last Sunday who on
review reversed an unmistakeable interception by Pittsburgh's Troy
Polamalu, giving the Indianapolis Colts undeserved new life late in
a game they otherwise would have lost right there.
But never fear -- Morelli has all the makings of a Democratic
appointee to a federal court. The founding fathers of the NFL's
challenge procedures, not to mention common law, established that
no call can be overturned without "indisputable visual evidence"
that the initial call was incorrect. So what did Morelli do? He not
only ignored that basic understanding and common practice, but
wrote new law out of whole cloth, claiming Polamalu failed to
intercept if his knee remained on the ground when he subsequently
fumbled after having clearly caught the ball.
Too bad for Morelli that the NFL's Supremes promptly overruled
him on Monday. Would that Antonin Scalia had their clout.
topics:
Law, Founding Fathers
