Just give it to 'em, Ralph

[Meathead]

Ralph Wilson once issued a memorable press release

In 1998, former Commissioner Paul Tagliabue fined Wilson $50,000 for making comments critical of game officials. Via TSN.ca, Wilson reacted to the fine with a stirring rebuke of the boss of the sport. Here’s the full text of it.

“On December 2nd I received a fax from Commissioner Paul Tagliabue informing me the Bills are being fined $50,000 for criticism on my part of officiating in the last moments of our game with New England. I described two calls, back-to-back, as probably the worst I have witnessed in the 60 years I have watched pro football. Those two calls cost the Bills a very important game, one in which our team fought back very courageously from a substantial deficit.

“Society today is more enlightened. Fair comment and criticism are rampant. The entire media as a unit is frank and the millions watching a game are frank.

“But the Commissioner lecturing to me as if I were a novice, instead of one who has been involved in football infinitely longer than he has, contends that criticizing a call has ‘destructive and corrosive effects on the game.’

“What is more destructive and corrosive — errant calls in front of millions of viewers or my statements of opinion? People all over the country registered shock at the way the officials, however honorable their purpose, took the game away from us. Even the league has admitted to us that the calls near the conclusion of the game were incorrect.

“On Monday morning the Commissioner can sermonize on destruction and corrosion, but he has never experienced the pain of blowing a crucial game due to officiating. I have yet to decide whether I will pay or challenge the fine.

“But, at 80, I do know I don’t need pompous lectures from the Commissioner and I feet that the $50,000 is not only unwarranted, but punitive in nature. The next time he may ask me to sit in the corner.”

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/03/28/ralph-wilson-once-issued-a-memorable-press-release/

[GvilleBills]

Ralph for the win...

[coastal]

He's a pant shartin' gangsta cold lampin!

[swiper]

I was wondering when this article would get posted. I was going to do that but had 2nd thoughts. Tagliabue was hired by the owners to do a job. As bad a the calls were, Wilson comes off as being above the law. F*** him. He should have called Tagliabue and not said anything to the media like everybody else. The fine was appropriate.

[JoeMama]

Ralph Wilson once issued a memorable press release

In 1998, former Commissioner Paul Tagliabue fined Wilson $50,000 for making comments critical of game officials. Via TSN.ca, Wilson reacted to the fine with a stirring rebuke of the boss of the sport. Here’s the full text of it.

“On December 2nd I received a fax from Commissioner Paul Tagliabue informing me the Bills are being fined $50,000 for criticism on my part of officiating in the last moments of our game with New England. I described two calls, back-to-back, as probably the worst I have witnessed in the 60 years I have watched pro football. Those two calls cost the Bills a very important game, one in which our team fought back very courageously from a substantial deficit.

“Society today is more enlightened. Fair comment and criticism are rampant. The entire media as a unit is frank and the millions watching a game are frank.

“But the Commissioner lecturing to me as if I were a novice, instead of one who has been involved in football infinitely longer than he has, contends that criticizing a call has ‘destructive and corrosive effects on the game.’

“What is more destructive and corrosive — errant calls in front of millions of viewers or my statements of opinion? People all over the country registered shock at the way the officials, however honorable their purpose, took the game away from us. Even the league has admitted to us that the calls near the conclusion of the game were incorrect.

“On Monday morning the Commissioner can sermonize on destruction and corrosion, but he has never experienced the pain of blowing a crucial game due to officiating. I have yet to decide whether I will pay or challenge the fine.

“But, at 80, I do know I don’t need pompous lectures from the Commissioner and I feet that the $50,000 is not only unwarranted, but punitive in nature. The next time he may ask me to sit in the corner.”

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/03/28/ralph-wilson-once-issued-a-memorable-press-release/

I like how Ralph basically treated Paul Tagliabue like a kid who had gotten too big for his britches in that statement.

Awesome.

And Ralph was 100% correct about those two calls.

He's referring to Shawn Jefferson's 4th down "completion" that was not only incomplete but also shy of the first down marker. Then of course the "holding" on a hail mary.

Walt Coleman is an absolute joke.

[Meathead]

ralph deserved his fine and yeah i would say he overreacted to it with the press release, but of course he also had a point. gotta be a top three all time worst pro sports ref blunders. one of those 'its worth it to get the fine' just to point out how absurdly unfair that outcome was

[Night Train]

That's awesome.

[Jeff1220]

There's nothing about Ralph's quote that I don't like. The end of that game was BS.

[feldspar]

I was wondering when this article would get posted. I was going to do that but had 2nd thoughts. Tagliabue was hired by the owners to do a job. As bad a the calls were, Wilson comes off as being above the law. F*** him. He should have called Tagliabue and not said anything to the media like everybody else. The fine was appropriate.

I disagree. Ralph was angry at the time and spoke his mind. The NFL is getting nothing but worse about allowing people to openly criticize it, even when they are grossly and blatantly wrong...like we are all supposed to ignore the 500-pound gorilla in the room or admire the Emperor's new clothes. Just pretend everything is alright when it isn't.

This unnatural political correctness is a big part of the reason why that when players or coaches are asked a specific question, they start talking about something else entirely. Few people are willing to tell the truth anymore about certain things for fear of ramifications, and that's annoying.

**** the NFL, not Ralph in this case. What's right is right, and it shouldn't be wrong to point that out.

[Historian]

No goal.

[Victor7]

Awesome.

Whinny or not Ralph was right. Those calls at the end of the game were among the worst ever seen. The usual handicap for the Pats

[kscdogbillsfan1221]

I do not have one single problem with what Ralph said there.

[Meathead]

No goal.

MAN i wish there was a recording of the conversation from that room in toronto

id love to know exactly what was said to justify calling that a goal when theres that image of the skate sticking in the crease like a big ol festering sore thumb. what could they have possibly said to make that ok?

'well yeah i know weve called it one way all season including playoffs but i believe we are here to evaluate the rules and make decisions to change them on the fly at literally the most crucial point possible after 81,120 minutes of nhl hockey this year. and i feel good about this decision'

[ICRockets]

ralph deserved his fine and yeah i would say he overreacted to it with the press release, but of course he also had a point. gotta be a top three all time worst pro sports ref blunders. one of those 'its worth it to get the fine' just to point out how absurdly unfair that outcome was

It wasn't even the worst blunder that season, though. This was the same year that Phil Luckett thought Vinny Testaverde's head was a football.

[DynaPaul]

Walt Coleman is an absolute joke.

Walt loves the Patriots. He's also infamous for making that Tuck Rule call in the Oakland-NE playoff game.

[kscdogbillsfan1221]

It wasn't even the worst blunder that season, though. This was the same year that Phil Luckett thought Vinny Testaverde's head was a football.

was this the same season that some ref f***ed up a coin toss in an overtime game. I believe Detroit was somehow involved?

[ICRockets]

was this the same season that some ref f***ed up a coin toss in an overtime game. I believe Detroit was somehow involved?

I believe so. That was also Phil Luckett, the guy who doesnt know what footballs look like.

[Generalissimus Gibby]

It wasn't even the worst blunder that season, though. This was the same year that Phil Luckett thought Vinny Testaverde's head was a football.

And you also forget how Bills receivers could be five and six yards in the endzone with clear possession of the ball and the refs would never signal td. I recall a great line by one of the broadcasters of the Raiders game that year (we won something like 44 to 21) and the broadcaster asked, so how many yards into the endzone does a Bills receiver need to be for it to be a touchdown. There was also the killer no catch against Reed in the playoff against Miami. What made thoss **** calls --especially the ones in the playoffs so bad -- is that those late 1990s teams were the last truly good teams we had.

[Dr. Lecter]

Walt loves the Patriots. He's also infamous for making that Tuck Rule call in the Oakland-NE playoff game.

We might not like the rule, but it was the correct call

[YardRat]

MAN i wish there was a recording of the conversation from that room in toronto

id love to know exactly what was said to justify calling that a goal when theres that image of the skate sticking in the crease like a big ol festering sore thumb. what could they have possibly said to make that ok?

'well yeah i know weve called it one way all season including playoffs but i believe we are here to evaluate the rules and make decisions to change them on the fly at literally the most crucial point possible after 81,120 minutes of nhl hockey this year. and i feel good about this decision'

"Just give it to 'em..."