This weekend saw two games that have gamblers everywhere yelling ‘fix’ and cursing Vegas for having a say in the outcome of games.

The two games in question were Saturday’s Pac-10 game between USC and Stanford. I am writing from a southbound train and I don’t have the score specifics, but suffice it to say that USC had a big enough lead that they were going to cover the sizable spread. Stanford however was deep in USC territory with a few seconds to go and decided to bring out their FG team. I don’t know what compelled Stanford head coach Jim Harbaugh to do this, but it pissed off USC head coach Pete Carrol and he called a timeout. This prompted Harbaugh to put the offense back out, and they scored a TD and thus Stanford covered the line.

The ‘fix’ doesnt fit the USC game. That was just posturing by coaches. What is Harbaugh doing kicking a FG with 6 secs to go and down by so many points? That pissed off Carrol, as it would most coaches. The TO by USC was to say FU to Stanford. Harbaugh then said, no FU, and went for it. It just so happened that the game was around the spread.

Now, the Chargers / Steelers game yesterday is a different story. It reeks the more they, the refs, try to explain themselves. If you are unaware of what happened, in short, the Steelers were up by 1 with seconds to go and SD had the ball deep in their own side of the field. The Chargers try the customary multiple lateral play and in the process the ball is fumbled and scooped up by Steeler Troy Palamalu who scores with no time left. Final score 17-10 steelers and a back door cover of the 5 point spread. Then all hell broke loose. The refs ultimatley excuse the teams from the field declaring the game over. This was after a review and multiple conferences by the refs. The score was even posted on NFL.com as 17-10. Then, inexplicably, the refs take the TD away saying it was advanced on an illegal forward pass. The head ref, Scott Green, said after the game that they erred and the Steeler TD should have counted. Additionally, the Steelers were called for 13 penalties and the Chargers were called for 2. One of those Steeler penalties negated a TD that would have put the Steelers up by 4, 5, or 6 points depending on what they did with the PAT. Since the TD was called back they kicked a FG and took an 11-10 lead. That score is the official final score.

All I can say is, its called gambling for a reason. The NFL’s response to this should be interesting especially in light of the recent NBA referee scandal. Personally I do not believe this was a fix, rather it was just horrendous officiating. I am well aware of all the clues that point to a fix, but to me they are too obvious. Though perhaps being obvious is the best cover for the fix.

And this was on the tail of my article about how gambling can sure seem unfair at times.