I'm not a big football fan,(I do watch some games with hubby and watch the Tennessee Titans) but the uproar over the replacement referees and their apparent large number of bad calls seems to be all over the news. It appears that at least one replacement crew previously officiated for the Lingerie League, but were so bad they were fired. The Lingerie League folks.
"Due to several on-field occurrences of incompetent officiating, we
chose to part ways with a crew which apparently is now officiating in
the NFL," Lingerie League commissioner Mitch Mortaza said in a
statement. "We have a lot of respect for our officials, but we felt the
officiating was not in line with our expectations.”
Mortaza, a lifelong Washington Redskins fan, said the poor officiating is compromising the integrity of the league and if he were the NFL commissioner he’d hold a meeting with the owners to bring the union officials back into action.
"There are just too many instances where their incompetence has been on display," he said. "Someone’s going to get hurt."
At the same time, several lawmakers were chiming in, notably Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and GOP vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan, who both hail from the home state of the Green Bay Packers, who lost Monday night on a disputed, last-second call. (Fox News)
What's the big deal? What is keeping the official referees off the field? Why are they striking?
The NFL employs 121 full-time referees, who reportedly make an average of $149,000 a year for their Sunday afternoon services. Most have other full-time jobs. The two main stumbling blocks in the labor dispute are retirement benefits and the NFL team owners' desire to impose new accountability standards on the referees.
On the retirement issue, refs currently have a guaranteed pension that the owners would like to convert to a market-vulnerable 401(k) plan. The owners are seeking new accountability by gaining the ability to pull poorly-performing refs and replace them from what would be a new pool of backup referees. Although this would expand the number of referee jobs, the officials are against it.
The NFL situation was the headline on Dudge this morning:
REPORT: Players Consider Strike, Taking Knee On Every Play...
Obama makes time to weigh in on drama...
NFL DEFIANT...
FOOTBALL FOLLIES: Furor grows over more blown calls...
VIDEO...
REPORT: Call cost bettors $1 billion!
More:
NFL: We stand by the terrible, terrible call at the end of that Packers/Seahawks game
What say you on the subject? Some of you hard core football fans fill me in on this.
Personally, I never paid much attention to the issue of the officials being out until they made such a big deal about that woman officiating the first Lions game.
Everyone criticizes the refs, now they possess an excuse to do so. That's all.
All day I have been hearing about the 'blown' call made against Green Bay. Pfft.
Is this anything like the blown call in baseball in 2010 that deprived Armando Galarraga of a perfect game? No. The Packers will win more games but pitching a perfect game and having the ump call a player safe when the entire planet -- including the likes of Hugo Chavez -- saw that he was out by ~ 3 feet is a travesty. But life goes on...
My suggestion to the NFL? Stop having such ridiculous rules and maybe you won't need so many 'specialized' referees.
Posted by: R.J. Godlewski | September 25, 2012 at 05:49 PM
R.J.: As I said I'm not a big football watcher, and I don't watch any baseball, but...
We I have watched some close games, which does make them more enjoyable to watch than one-sided games.
Hubby is the one who is an avid football watcher and he thinks there have been many bad calls.
Football is big business, big money, for everyone involved - owners, players, sponsors, those who bet on the games,
Bad calls mess with everybody.
Posted by: Debbie | September 25, 2012 at 06:06 PM
Debbie,
Speaking of "bad calls", how about the Lions trying for a quarterback sneak on Sunday with the game on the line?
I would have given the ball to the biggest, most powerful running back and let him get up some speed. A QB sneak has no momentum to push the line forward. Plus it makes it hard for the refs -- regular or otherwise -- to see the forward progress.
I mean, we score two touchdowns in 18 seconds and then blow the game on a haphazard play at best. :(
Posted by: R.J. Godlewski | September 25, 2012 at 06:34 PM
My two cents (and Seahawk fans won't rate it that valuable): a blown call on the last play of the game took victory from one team and pathetically gave it to another.
Bad refs are hurting the game.
That said, good refs have blown calls as well: Ed Hoculi is one of the most respected of the professional refs, and his blown call in a Denver vs San Diego game a few years back quite probably cost SD a win. And no, I'm not a Charger fan; I'm 100% Bronco fan. Still a blown call is a blown call.
Replacement refs blew it and cost GB a win Monday night.
How does that rate against economic and political issues of the day? It isn't spit in the wind. It's just an integrity-of-the-game issue to an NFL and football in general fan.
Posted by: Skunkfeathers | September 26, 2012 at 01:20 AM
It is just a game!!!! The players are overpaid, the refs are overpaid, it is all just a joke.
If you don't like something, turn off the TV, don't go to the games, and speak with your wallet.
Posted by: Mystical Time Traveler | September 26, 2012 at 10:52 AM
"The players are overpaid, the refs are overpaid, it is all just a joke."
and yet, they make the big bucks! Capitalism at its best! Yeah Baby!
Posted by: Grouch at Right Truth | September 26, 2012 at 01:57 PM
Refs have spent years honing their craft and are irreplaceable, as we have found out over the past few months. They're held to a high standard of excellence that is clearly not matched by anyone else worldwide.
Some teachers are like this too. Others are lazy and do not add value to their students' lives.
Posted by: E5 | February 19, 2013 at 11:01 PM