Ok, I was going to write this after last week's games, but I thought better giving the replacement refs another week to try and improve. Well, that didn't happen. It is now time to back down and give the locked out referees the money they want and deserve. The NFL is a 9 BILLION DOLLAR industry and you look childish and typical businessmen. You guys are refusing to pay these officials a few extra pennies to each dollar you make. Pathetic.
Well, the one thing that the real refs had going for them and that is the replacement refs screwing up. Sure enough, they are screwing up. Let's see what happened this weekend. The first big problem was the replacement referee Brian Stropolo had to be removed from officiating the Saints-Panthers game, since they found out hours before kickoff that he was a lifelong Saints fan. Yeah, I'm sure he'd be an impartial official in that game. Not to mention that Eagles running back LeShon McCoy claimed that a replacement official told him that he needed him to have a big day for his fantasy football team. That's going to lead to impartialness. This is a horrible disgrace to the foolish idea that you could take referees from Division III college football and throw them into the fast-paced NFL and expect there to be no dropoff is completely ridiculous. The only good thing that this replacement ref idea has brought was that it finally put a woman on the field as an NFL official, something that was long overdue.
Now, I'm not going to even talk about the missed calls. The replacement refs blunders have been well documented. What I am going to get into is the hypocrisy of the league and the team owners. How many rule changes have been made in attempt to make the game safer, yet, they have no problem throwing in a bunch of zebras who are hugely unqualified for the job. That is going to help with player safety. A bunch of guys who are trying to figure out how to do the job on the fly and you can see the uncertainity in their decision making process. The whistles are later, especially on fumbles and loose balls which allows for more dangerous hits that could injury players. One of the biggest miscalls was the hit on the head to 49ers quarterback Alex Smith as he was sliding feet first and took a hard shot to the head that even cut his nose open. How this was missed is beyond me. Once the quarterback starts his feet first slide; he is giving up and is considered down, the long time officials would have been looking for any kind of hit to the quarterback, but these guys don't have the experience. Imagine if Smith would have gotten a concusison, the injury that the NFL fears the most from all the lawsuits that have come up.
I've seen false starts missed, holding penalties, illegal blocks misses, touchdowns not being given and this is supposed to help the game. I don't even want to talk about the fact that these officials have no idea what a pass interference call is supposed to be. Last night, was absolutely ridiculous that Denver coach John Fox had to use a coach's challenge to get a pass interference call overturned because the referees didn't have a clue that once the ball is tipped the defender can hit the receiver. Shameful.
Like most businesses, the NFL's success relies on one thing and that is putting asses in seats. The NFL is not a nine billion dollar a year industry because it has no consumers. Well, it's time for the customers to start really getting angry, because this is not the game we love as fans. It's turning the sport into a mockery of itself. It is time to stop the posturing and give the real refs the money they deserve. Get over it, those few pennines you owners lose is not going to bankrupt you or force you to raise prices on anything, but if you keep sticking to your guns, you are going to lose fans. We see the game that you owners are playing and your bluff is not working out with the game and the people who love it. Remember, the fans make the NFL money, if we don't watch or go to the games, then the owners will lose money. Maybe that's what the NFL needs for it's wakeup call. last year, the players were locked out. This year the referees were locked out. Maybe next season, we the fans lock the NFL out of our lives for a year. This experiment has failed and the NFL is the brunt of all jokes right now, that is not good for business. It is not out of the realm of possibility for the NFL to lose fans, because it will happen, if this nonsense continues.
Mr. Godell, do the right thing and step in and get these sides to an agreement. Otherwise, you are going to be looked at in a very negative way. You are at a crossroads, after your suspensions for the saints players got overturned, you are in a position that could hurt your legacy as Commish. This is a PR nightmare for you, get the deal done. Especially, after that disasterously long Monday night game because of the delays in calls and replays. You need to get the real refs back on the field. I know that it is an impossibility for that to happen by Thursday or even Sunday; but it can happen by next Thursday. I am at the point of boycotting games, and this is coming from someone who lives for the games, but I will hold to my principles because it is not the game I love. I would also plan on starting a petition from fellow fans to boycott watching the game we love, until you fix this problem. The game still drives it's revenue from us the fans, and if we go away, we all lose. Listen to the critics, but more importantly listen to the players and the coaches who are dealing with this situation and are demanding a change. It's time for the old refs to be paid and back on the field where they belong. Are the old refs perfect, no, but they are God-like in comparison to what we are enduring right now as fans.
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