Way back in October 2012, sports fans across the United States were howling foul. Officiating calls in the final week of replacement referees in an NFL game and Major League baseball’s National League Wildcard game turned the sports world into a finger-pointing circus.
On Sept. 24, 2012 Monday Night Football game between the Seattle Seahawks and the Green Bay Packers, as the clock wound down, two players, Green Bay’s M.D. Jennings and Seattle’s Golden Tate went up for a Hail Mary pass. Although Jennings had the ball secured in his chest as the two fell to the ground, Tate was ruled to have “dual possession,” having his hands around the ball at the same time.
The NFL rule states that if two players from opposite teams have simultaneous dual possession, the catch will be given to the offensive player.
The officials said that Tate’s possession, according to the rules, gave Seattle the winning touchdown and set off such a fan uproar that NFL officials hurriedly completed the negotiation with the regular refs, hoping to move on.
On Oct. 5, 2012 in the first Wild Card Playoff game in Major League History, a pop-up to shallow left field has become the talk of injustice.
The Atlanta Braves were trailing by three with runners at first and second base with Andrelton Simmons at the plate. Simmons hits the infamous pop-up, and Saint Louis Cardinal shortstop Pete Kozma apparently drifts under the ball with little effort, waving his arms to call off left fielder Matt Holiday. The officials dutifully called the “infield fly rule,” which states that if an infielder can easily play a pop-up with runners at first and second base with less than two outs in the inning, the batter will be out and the base runners can advance at their own risk.
However, as the call is signaled by official Sam Holbrook (a Louisville native, by the way), Kozma runs away from the ball and it lands on the ground without being caught. The results? The call had already been made, and the Cardinals went on to win the game.
In both situations, the fan debate has drifted from whether the rule should have been applied, and if it should, is the rule flawed?
Someday, we will all stand before the Head Referee, the Eternal Judge. The rule for Eternity is clear: “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” The key to victory in this life and in the life to come is simple: believe and trust in Jesus Christ alone.
Many will bring up a list of the reasons why there should be exceptions to the rules and even claim that it is ridiculous to put so much importance on one issue or rule. But to them, God the eternal judge will say, “I will hear no arguments, you cannot make any appeals, there is no debate. Depart from me. Because I never knew you.”
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