Occam’s Razor

Let’s use the principle of Occam’s Razor to determine which of these two causative factors are more likely:

1) A goal line official sees a blocker extend his arms towards the back of a defender during a run. He is not in position to see whether or not the blocker actually makes contact with the defender, but immediately afterwards the blocker throws his hands up in a “Didn’t do nothin’” gesture, which is basically sports shorthand for “Please penalize me because I broke the rules.” The ref, having to make a split-second decision, throws a flag. Once the penalty is called, it cannot be reversed.

2) An immense, shadowy organization dedicated to the furtherance of Alabama football has bought off the SEC office from the commissioner on down. This organization pays the refs to make calls in favor of Alabama, but only at the most key moments of games. The refs are carefully instructed that they are to actually officiate the games in favor of Alabama’s opponents in non-key moments in order to cover their tracks. This organization also pays off all 13 other member institutions to keep them quiet and subservient. These payments have been so effective that even though this enterprise has involved many, many people over many years, not one of them has ever stepped forward to tell the truth about what they’ve done. This also assumes that Texas A&M and Missouri were willing to join the conference under this system and never complained or said a single word about it, even though the primary reason they left the Big 12 was because they believed it unfairly favored one institution over the others.

Occam’s Razor clearly tells us that the first is far more likely than the second.