The first half of the Vikings game just ended, and I don't know if I can watch the second half.

First, the NFL's rules are set up so that everything is a foul by default, except for a tiny subset of physical action. Because of this and the speed that professional athletes move, a foul is committed nearly every single play! It's literally unavoidable!

When you have decade after decade of idiots constantly hyper-regulating every little aspect of the game in overreactions to some outcome that they personally found unpleasant, the game eventually becomes physically impossible to play without continuously violating the gauntlet of rules.

Second, and this is related to the last point, the league's punditry is emotions-based, not logic-based-- whatever outcome they want in the moment, they are going to contrive some rule to get it.

For example, when Rodgers was knocked out of the game by Barr in a rare example of the rules being followed, the announcing crew asked no fewer than five times whether the hit should have "been allowed", and whether it was "legal". And it was only because Rodgers, a player that they personally like, had been hurt.

Another example was when Kyle Rudolph caught a pass, it was challenged, and the announcers asked Mike Pereira-- the former head of NFL officiating-- what he thought.

The NFL's rules in this regard are absolutely unambiguous: the ruling on the field stands, unless there is irrefutible evidence to overturn it. And that would have been my response: "It's not obvious from the replays that he didn't have control. The ruling should stand." It's very simple: black and white.

So what was Pereira's response? In a snively, whiny voice: "Weeeeeellllll... um... well, I don't knooowwww... what do you think Troy [Aikman, one of the announcers]?"

The reason why Pereira was so hesitant wasn't because he was assessing the rules, which make the outcome obvious: it was because he was assessing his feelings-- and he wasn't sure how he felt about it; does he like the player? Does he like the team? Has the team had rough luck in the game so far, and should get a break? And so on.

And sure enough, the ruling on the field was hilariously overturned, which tells me that the referees are just like their former boss!

In this same game, I also saw a player get flagged for blocking a defender-- "the defender was helpless!", whined Troy Aikman-- even though there was zero helmet-to-helmet contact. I also saw a Green Bay player-- Ty Montgomery-- catch a pass, turn, run, and dive into the endzone, only to see the NFL's absurd gauntlet maze of rules conclude that it was an incomplete pass! "Who do you believe-- me, or your own eyes??"