I was with this episode pretty well... until the last act. The idea of recreating the championship game was a "hu-wha??" moment when it was first mentioned, and the more it was executed, the sillier it got. Strangely, it would have been less silly if, for example, Bart had some amount of memory loss after his fall from the water tower, but only marginally. A sensible idea might have been to explore the idea of coddling children in sports or what-have-you; maybe this was meant to take that idea in an absurd direction, but the fact that the whole town (and parts adjacent) went out of its way to make Bart feel better by changing events would seem to go against such a message (or would it?). It also didn't seem correct that Bart wouldn't cotton on to this (why did he think they were playing another game, anyhow?). The mattress subplot was interesting; I enjoyed the fight between the Simpsons and the Lovejoys for the special one, but the saw-in-half ending seemed about as silly as the rest of the third act. Favorite joke this week: Homer's rabbit-burying timing.
DYN: ...Homer doesn't wear socks (when he kicks off his shoes in Costington's)? ...the matching "Abel" in Lovejoy's "raising Cain" mention? ...Homer seems to be issuing a store refund from his own checkbook? ...this is the second sports-related episode in a row (both in production and airing order [and you guys know my thoughts on *that* part])?
Previous episode references 5F01 and HABF09 (I believe): Spanish-speaking soccer announcer 9F19: Vin Scully (character here, Gabbo impression there) talking about Farmer Dan's (link, pure pork respectively) sausages CABF22: Homer and Marge in black heist outfits 1F01, 9F03, 9F16, GABF09, HABF22 (others?): Future coda used
Goof Flanders refers to a "bicep" warmer; it may be used a lot, but bicep is still not a word (biceps is already singular).
Meta-reference corner Homer, who pretty much hasn't been at SNPP this season, is reminded that he has to get to his job as a mattress salesman. Also, he says "let's see where that goes," as it's near the beginning of the subplot (i.e. let's explore this idea) but is the first time we are coming back to it (thus, don't forget that we're doing it).