Time Out: Jeff Fisher Cries Foul on 'Monday Night Football'

In reaction to a new story by Yahoo’s Chris Chase that Tennessee Titans coach Jeff Fisher was asked towards the end of the “Monday Night Football” game between Tennessee and the Jacksonville Jaguars to take a time out for a commercial break, this moves this author into once again believing that the NFL is more rigged than fans think.

Fisher was asked by a referee to call a timeout so that the station could squeeze in more commercials. This is damaging to hear as a football fan, especially given that he shows a referee—who is supposed to be unbiased—purposely telling a NFL coach to do something just so that a network can make more money.

Fischer was asked to call a timeout, and he declined, but apparently this sort of thing goes on way too often in the NFL.

Fischer commented on the situation at the end of the game:

"At the two-minute warning in every game in the fourth quarter, there are conversations that go by. There's conversations that take place at the two-minute warning before the first half. But there's conversations that take place, and it's the official's responsibility to give the head coach a status of commercials and TV timeouts. Yesterday, I was told that they were two short. And they looked at me and smiled, and I said, 'Sorry, I can't help you.' Mike Carey came across and said, 'Here's the deal. We're two short.' And I said, 'Mike, I can't help you. I'm trying to get a first down and I'm gonna kneel on it.'"

What the hell is going on?

If the NFL is trying to improve its rankings by asking coaches to forgo their original plans in favor of timeouts, then are they above fixing a game in order to get better ratings?

And I’m not going to sit here and make up crazy statements like “The NFL made the Patriots trade Moss to Minnesota so Favre could have a winning season,” or “The NFL made the 49ers hire Mike Singletary so that they would have a terrible football coach, and thus a terrible football team.” Conspiracies are fun, but there isn’t too much behind them.

Fans forget most of the time that the NFL is a complete money-making machine. And that machine can only make money if there is great action on the field.

There needs to be high-scoring affairs and close games and teams (that the American public want) winning. The NFL stops and squeezes and puts pressure on all of these games in order for them to be “entertainment” and not “sport.”

And for those who think it’s just the NFL, think again. The NFL minor leagues, otherwise known as college football, do the same thing.

NCAA football (and basketball) is just a money-making scheme, the only difference being, of course, that the players aren’t getting the profit—but that is an conversation for a different article.

If the NCAA isn’t above letting these “amateurs” play for fun, then why should they allow the guys who actually play have the fun? This is pure business at works.

Of course, finding hints that the suits at the NFL or NCAA “influence” games is about as fresh and exciting as saying that college players accept money on the side, or that baseball players chew tobacco and use steroids. Everybody already knows this.