Detroit Gets Robbed Some More, And Yes, Dallas Fan, It's An Asterick Game Now

A Game Of Hide The Asterisk

When you have people talking about an officiating incident over 48 hours after it went down...

You have a clearly botched officiating incident.

When you have the NFL now acknowledging that there was offensive holding on the fourth and six conversion that kept the Cowboys' game-winning drive alive...

You have a clearly botched game.

When the President, who has no dog in this hunt because he's a Bears fan, tells the media that he'd be pretty annoyed if he was a Lions fan...

You have achieved Asterisk Status. For the ages, really.

Now, Asterisk Status doesn't mean that Dallas is a fraud that will be stomped into the tundra in Wisconsin this weekend. Note that the Tuck Game Patriots (still the most ludicrous officiating decision in my lifetime) and the Fail Mary Seahawks both took their good fortune and ran with it, rather than just revert to the Luck Mean soon afterwards. Athletes are superstitious and coaches are good at running with signs of Destiny, and Acts of Officiating are random enough (at least in theory) to play into those narratives.

But what it should do, at least for a little while, is give some slight pause to the pom-pom waving Dallas fans in the national media.

Your franchise is not beloved, you utter and irredeemable wastes of sperm and dignity.

No one cares that they won a lot back in whatever day you prefer to live in. Live in the now. It's the only time we all have.

In terms of national coverage and Road Fans that actually travel, Pittsburgh and Green Bay own you, and in terms of broadcast love, it's the Patriots and Broncos, now that Peyton Manning is there. In the near future, I like Seattle's chances more than yours, and hell, maybe even my Eagles if Hyperfast Football wins. The kids sure seem to like it at the college level, and that's correctly seen as the NFL's test kitchen.

And if there is a kind and just Football God (there isn't), your team will get it good and hard from the refs in Lambeau this weekend. Prior to, and included with, a massive scorefest against your ready to be exposed defense.

(There isn't, and the proof is that the Dallas owners box didn't collapse from Chris Cristie's weight during that Fail Hug. Sleep well.)