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NFL's officiating blues and Omar Vizquel's continuing quest for the Hall of Fame: The Donovan Live Postgame Show

Jim Donovan and Dave "Dino" DeNatale recap a busy holiday weekend of sports

CLEVELAND — My goodness, what a weekend!

There were no shortage of headlines for Jim Donovan and I to discuss on Tuesday's postgame show.

But first, we had to have a little fun.

Our director, David Hrvatin, was doing some cleaning during the course of the snow-filled weekend and came up with this gem on VHS. It was the Channel 3 newscast that aired on the day of his birth, July 22, 1992.

Some of David's father's co-workers at American Greetings thought it would be cool to record what was on WKYC on the day his son was born. Think of it like a time capsule. 

We showed this to Jimmy during Tuesday's show and realized that he actually was not in that night. In fact, he was in Barcelona, Spain, preparing to be a part of NBC's coverage of the Olympics for the first time. 

Officials and overtime

So what do we make of Sunday's conference championship games? 

I'm not sure the fine people of New Orleans are ever going to get over what happened to the Saints. A horrendous no-call of what should have been pass interference (or a helmet to helmet hit) meant New Orleans had to settle for a field goal and the Rams had time to tie the game and go into overtime, where they would eventually win after Drew Brees was intercepted

The headlines that have come out of the Bayou are unbelievable, even two days later: 

Louisiana Governor pens letter to NFL after New Orleans Saints loss

Can the 'no-call lawsuit' from New Orleans lawyers actually work?

Petition for Saints NFC championship rematch tops 600,000 signatures

Saints owner vows to pursue changes in NFL policies

'SAINTS GOT ROBBED' billboards pop up around Atlanta for the Super Bowl

New Orleans bakery lets fans take a bite out of the refs

Louisiana eye doctor offers free eye exams for NFL referees after Saints loss

Look, I get they're unhappy. I would be too. But at some point, don't you have to say to yourself if you're a Saints fan, 'why did we blow a 13 point lead?' Or 'why didn't we just stop L.A. from scoring at the end?'

In the meantime, I caution the league to consider very carefully whether it wants to go down the slippery slope of adding penalties to the list of reversible calls. 

Then, there's the AFC title game aftermath. 

How many sports talk show hosts, pundits, etc. have been arguing for a change in the league's overtime rules since New England won in Kansas City?

Too many to count!

If the Chiefs had won the toss and Mahomes and company had taken the ball down the field and scored a touchdown, none of this 'controversy' would be happening. However, it's Belichick and Brady involved so everything is a conspiracy. 

Look, I was one that never wanted the sudden death rule to go away in the first place. If you win the toss, go score. If you don't, stop the opposition and get the ball back to your offense. 

The high school and college overtime rule is great for those games, but let's leave them there. 

On a more important note, this was my thought after the Patriots knocked out the Chiefs: 

Why not, right? 

My colleague, Ben Axelrod, brought up an interesting thought today: Should New England win the Super Bowl, they would get the opening night game on a Thursday this fall. While it seems logical and likely that a rematch with Kansas City at Gillette Stadium would be the league's first choice, don't dismiss the idea of a Baker vs. Brady game. 

Another year for Omar to wait

As expected, former Tribe shortstop Omar Vizquel did not receive the requisite 75% of the vote for election into the Class of 2019 of Baseball's Hall of Fame. 

The good news is that Omar's vote percentage did go up from 37% to 42%. 

I still believe that the 11-time Gold Glove winner will get to Cooperstown one day. He has eight more chances with the baseball writers before moving over to the veteran's committee. 

We'll see if he can get that total from 42% up close to 50% next year. That will be the next benchmark. 

Congratulations to Mike Mussina, Edgar Martinez, Mariano Rivera, and the late Roy Halladay for their election to the hall. It should be a fun induction weekend this summer. 

If you want a moment to get emotional, catch this clip of Rivera getting the hook from his longtime teammates Andy Pettitte and Derek Jeter (who will be heading to the hall next year) for the final time. I'm not a Yankee fan by any means, but you can't help but be amazed by the bond of brotherhood that those players shared. 

Watch the Donovan Live Postgame Show in the player above

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