Although it has history longer than Coca-Cola (by one year), I'm not sure if I've ever consumed a can or a bottle of the soft drink Dr. Pepper. Sold in the United States since 1885 and now available around much of the world, Dr. Pepper has long been a sponsor of American college football with its big-budget advertising campaigns appearing on nationally televised games for many years.
Since 2008, the Dr. Pepper Tuition Giveaway has been a halftime feature of college football Conference Championship games which are played on the last full weekend of play before the bowl games begin later in December. The Tuition Giveaway is a live halftime competition where two current or aspiring post-secondary students compete by throwing as many footballs into an oval shaped opening in a life-sized can of Dr. Pepper as they can in one minute from a distance of about ten yards. In recent years, winners have used the chest pass technique rather than using a traditional overhand football throw. In each competition, the winner receives $100,000 toward post-secondary tuition and the runner-up gets $25,000 (Dr. Pepper says it has given away more than $10 million over the past 12 years). In one of the games on Saturday, I happened to see one of these halftime competitions which was followed by a brief interview with the winner, a cheerful young woman whose goal is to attend medical school. "I want to thank God and I want to thank Dr. Pepper", she said in a rehearsed bit with the company's VP of marketing standing beside her with a giant cheque for $100,000. It reminded me of what a remarkable country the United States really is - one where a nationally promoted partnership between God and Dr. Pepper doesn't seem unusual until you think about it a little. This is a melding of three of the most important elements of what America is all about: football, religion and corporate power. If this particular young woman realizes her dream of being a doctor, she better have a can of Dr. Pepper on her desk to remind herself and her patients of who funded her education.
There were two very similar defensive plays which were critical in deciding NFL games yesterday - one in Orchard Park, NY and one in Foxborough, MA. The Bills almost completed their unlikely comeback but, trailing by seven points, Josh Allen's last minute 4th down pass intended for John Brown on the goal line was deflected away by Ravens cornerback Marcus Peters. This sealed the Ravens 11th win of the season and gave them the inside track to having home field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs. The Patriots also found themselves down by seven with a chance to tie the game in the final seconds against the Chiefs. A 4th down Tom Brady pass thrown into the endzone toward Julian Edelman was deflected away by cornerback Bashaud Breeland, allowing the Chiefs to hang on for the win. The Patriots have now lost two games in a row and the Bills remain one game behind them with three games remaining, including a head-to-head match-up in week 16.
This NFL season has been quite successful from the league's perspective with improved television ratings, a welcome absence of criticism from Donald Trump and only a few minor off-field player indiscretions. The biggest area of concern is clearly the poor quality of the officiating which has been evident almost every week. Yesterday was no exception. The Bills final drive was aided by three penalties against the Ravens, including one personal foul call which was not discernible to me on replay. In the Patriots/Chiefs game, it was much worse. A key missed pass interference call cost the Chiefs but the Patriots were the victims of two particularly egregious missed calls - one where receiver N'Keal Harry was called out of bounds on a play where he not only wasn't out of bounds but the replay showed clearly that he actually scored a touchdown . Under the replay challenge rules, since the Patriots were fresh out of replay challenges and the play was not a "scoring play" (not ruled a touchdown on the field) and did not occur within the last two minutes, it was not reviewed. The other missed call was on a play where the Chiefs Travis Kelce was called down by contact but had actually fumbled. The call was reversed on review but, had the right call been made on the field, the Patriots would have advanced the fumble and probably scored. Make no mistake, I'm happy that the Patriots lost but the league has a growing credibility problem caused by too many bad calls by on-field officials. As for the rules around replay challenges, since the millions watching the game on television saw N'Keal Harry's foot clearly land in-bounds before he launched himself over the goal line, the fact that the play could not be reviewed just feels wrong.
Up next for the Bills is a trip to Pittsburgh to face the Steelers on Sunday Night Football. Jerry Sullivan wondered if the league and NBC might be second-guessing their decision to flex that game for next week after the Bills woeful offensive performance yesterday. C'mon Jerry, the Ravens defence is really good, isn't it?
No comments:
Post a Comment