The "catch 22"

With the Wales v Scotland 6 nations game tomorrow (Sunday 12th of February), I was thinking about the Bradley Davies yellow card, and his ludicrous sentencing. There are two problems with this incident. First and foremost, as one of the officials has seen the incident clearly enough to see that the offence warrants a card, than they have seen it clearly enough to know that this particular offence warrants a red card. This is for two reasons. A) the tackle itself was a stand-alone red card. B) there are two yellow cards, the dump tackle and the tackle without the ball. Combined this makes for a straight red card. Why is this a "catch 22"? The sentencing means Davies will miss the 6 Nations but will return for the Cardiff Blue's Heineken Cup quarter-final. On the one hand, no one wants to see a key figure miss any game. However, on the other, fans and players alike want to see justice served. There is no one involved in Rugby that wants to see that incident (or something similar) ever again. What kind of message does that send when concessions are being granted to players who are supposed to be punished? It is a double edged sword.

Changing tack slightly, I though I would just bring up the AMA Supercross round 6 in San Diego. The first 4 rounds saw the 4 title protagonists all claim victories, all on their respective manufactures (Kawasaki, Honda, Yamaha and first time winners KTM). In the last round at Anaheim 2 Ryan Villopoto claimed his second win and became the first repeat winner this season. Is the title challenge swinging in his favour? I would say so but this season is too unpredictable.           

Was it the worst Superbowl winning touchdown ever?

1. The sight of Ahmad Bradshaw trying to stop and just falling on his derriere is going to be a sight constantly replayed for years to come. However, it won't be replayed for the same reason as David Tyree's "helmet catch" in Superbowl XLII. Sure, that play did not turn into a touchdown, but it converted a third down and was instrumental in setting the foundation for Plaxico Burress to score the Superbowl winning touchdown. The "helmet catch" has become arguably the greatest play in Superbowl history. Unfortunately that turned out to be his last NFL catch. Fast forward four years and the stage is set. No Tyree, no Burress, no Moss and no Maroney, all of the touchdown scorers of four years ago. Yet the suspense is still high. New England v New York, Belichick v Coughlan and biggest of all, Brady v Manning. History suggests the Giants should win the rematch, as only one team as exerted revenge (The Redskins 1983). If the parallels of four years were not enough, how about the 4th quarter and another dramatic late drive to win the Superbowl, again over the Patriots. If successful it would have been the eighth time this season the Giants came back to win the game in the final quarter. Three minutes left and the Giants were down 17-15. This drive should be remembered for Manningham's phenomenal catch. Instead it will be remembered for the bizarre Bradshaw touchdown. I have never seen a score in any final of any sport scored so reluctantly. Initially it was thought to be an unorthodox play to run down the clock from the Giants offence. It was also an unorthodox defensive strategy by the the ever unpredictable Belichick, a method to keep as much time on the clock as possible for Brady to go down field and win. Manning later told David Letterman that when handing Bradshaw the ball he told him not to score as he thought the defense was doing something unusual. I don't think Bradshaw could help himself. Who could? It is a chance to put your team up with less than a minute to go. It turned out to be the right call as the Giants won their 4th Superbowl and 8th NFL championship placing them 3rd in the all time NFL championship standings and Eli now has an extra ring over his more illustrious brother. I imagine, however, we will be talking about Bradshaw's touchdown for years to come.