The 2017 Playoff Chase

I don't know exactly what happened, so I'm making some assumptions here, but if a team asked a ref about a rule, I'd be inclined to allow the league to extend that team the benefit of the doubt. They shouldn't have asked the ref, so they get fined, but they made a seemingly good-faith, if ultimately misguided, effort to adhere to the rules, so they don't have to suffer a forfeit.

As to why the league didn't fine the ref, I thought that they're not league employees. Has MLS ever fined a ref for something?

 

I really hope that this one point doesn't help or hinder any team but I would bet it will come down to one point out in the West.

What a shame that MLS didn't take the opportunity to give their rules a little boost of integrity by actually, you know, following them. I can tell you one thing and MLS is not the PGA when it comes to following it's own rules/laws of the game regardless of how silly they seem.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/exclusive-matthew-southgate-freak-incident-210000264.html

 

I think it sucks all the way round for FCD, Orlando and the other teams that could be affected by what happened.

I think that the story from the PGA that I linked to is a pretty good example.

A golfer puttts the ball and a leave is blown into his ball. If he had followed the rules which from the story sounds like he should have and put the ball back to where he putted first and then re-putted from there no penalty. He marks the ball and puts from the new spot and then, after the round was over and someone saw it on twitter and reported it, the golfer was assessed several strokes for not following the rules during the round and then two strokes for signing a wrong score card. Brutal. He also lost his PGA tour card for next year because he didn't follow the rules.

His response to the event is I should have known the rules.

FCD should have known the rules, regardless of whether or not the mistake was made by the "officials" on the field and at the game or not. If they didn't follow the rule, and if no one caught it before or during the game, so what? It's an MLS rule. Follow the rules.

I still think that as much as it would suck for FCD to lose a point MLS by not following it's own rules missed a golden opportunity to infuse a little integrity into the leagues perception.

Golf may have the most ridiculous and stringent and sometimes weird and confusing rules but what they don't lack for is integrity surrounding those rules. Can't say the same for MLS. In fact, one could argue that the rules in MLS are exactly like getting a speeding ticket. Depending upon the MLS cop that pulls you over, where he pulls you over, like say LA, or any other "sexy" location your odds of actually getting a ticket a dramatically less than say Columbus Ohio.

 

So I guess we can officially call it the MLS 'rule' book. If they're not willing to enforce a clear cut rule, what's the point of having one? This isn't some kind of subjective rule that's open to interpretation. Whether the ref said it's fine or not shouldn't matter.

I'd be willing to bet if this happened in the first half of the season, the rule is far more likely to be enforced. Which is stupid really. The rules are the rules all season, not just when the league feels like it. I feel like as any owner, whether this affects them or not, should be upset about this.

 

There's even examples of golf officials on the course telling a player it was OK to do something that was against the rules and the player suffers the sanction of not following the rule, regardless of the course official's allowance.

 

And golf is one where I'd honestly have a hard time keeping track of the various rules. There seems to be a lot of really minor rules that rarely if ever come into play, so not knowing them is more understandable. Even still, they actually enforce the rules and keep their integrity. MLS could learn a thing or two from them.

 

The golf analogy is imperfect because for golfers, rule enforcement during the competition relies on the player himself. In soccer, this responsibility almost always lies with the head referee; if there's play worthy of a foul, the referee says so. It is not the individual players doing the fouling or being fouled who make these calls.

The best analogy is a police officer; if their words or actions overtly or implicitly communicate that something of unclear legality is tolerated, it often provides protection within certain bounds: a patrolman waving someone through a closed railroad crossing, for example, but cannot give legal protection for business tax laws.

 

In your police example, MLS would be like the judge, who should be enforcing the rules. Just because the officer (ref) says it's ok, doesn't mean it's ok. It can also be a pretty flimsy defense if you're supposed to be aware of the rules beforehand. It's also a very black and white rule. Some of the rules are more subjective, so I can understand different interpretations. Roster rules aren't. I feel like the fact they asked the ref at all shows they knew the rule. It was their way of having someone else to blame if they were caught. Had they just done it and not said anything beforehand, I would've had an easier time believing it was an honest mistake.

I've had coworkers pull the same stuff. Ask about how to do something they've known for years how to do, because it gave them someone to throw under the bus if something happened for some reason. It was their way of trying to break the rules, because someone else said they could do it, even though they knew the answer before asking.

 

Your points on golf are not true, there are several marshals on the course watching and taking note of players throughout any given round of a tournament. Yes, players are relied upon to report some infractions or questionable instances during play, but they are also constantly be monitored by officials as well. Another factor that you also did not consider is that golf rules are also subject to fan input/monitoring, there are have been several examples of fans submitting evidence to the USPGA and marshals which has resulted in players be docked strokes, this doesn't happen in any other sport that I'm aware of.

 

Admittedly unclear: golf regulation is not solely the responsibility of the player, but they do bear full liability. In most team sports, something needs to be egregiously dangerous or otherwise quite unusual to be addressed after a game, and there is no responsibility or expectation to call fouls on oneself.

 

Tenorio reported that the League was already looking into it when he contacted them about this. I think he also guessed that Orlando probably notified the league about it, since they for sure would have noticed that the player who was removed from the lineup was then subbed in to the game.

 

Uggh.. Houston.

 

Houston up 2-1 on KC, not good

 

It was fun at 1-0 SKC.

This is a double dammit, as Houston gets 3 and SKC has to play hard against us that last game of the season.

 

I'm going to go back to just assuming that we won't make the playoffs this year. I was happier before I thought we had a chance.

 

I definitely see our chances being worse without Savarino, but I think our overall play has been good enough to get in. Certainly harder with that Houston win, but I still think we get in. Obviously the results of this week will heavily swing my thoughts one way or the other.