Disagree, I thought it was that bad. It's going to sound worse when you find out that the ref who signaled an interception has Big 12 and NFL Europe experience while the ref who signaled touchdown is a Juco ref.

Refs who have been sackd by the Lingerie Football League are currently scabbing in the NFL deadspin.com/5946112/the-lingerie-footba...ause-of-incompetence (credit where credit is due both reed and FF have just shared this on fb, which is where I have taken it from)

Sometimes I have to remind myself that I really don't care about the NFL. If the owners won't give the officials what they want, then they deserve this outcome. Considering what they pay for players' salaries, and how much the inevitable injuries will cost them if this is allowed to continue, $3.3 million doesn't seem like a lot of money.

I find that I don't really care. I missed last night's debacle (because my satellite dish is currently down because the only place on my property where it can work is being taken up with a pile of dirt as part of a big project going on.) But I have trouble caring, largely, I guess, because I really don't have any strong connection to any of the teams. Watching a single game is very hard - too many commercials, too many delays. Too many meatheads like Tony Saragusa.

These replacement refs are going to push more people past their breaking point of patience. I've read a number of people claiming that the NFL doesn't care about this replacement ref situation because as long as people are talking about the NFL, it's all good for them. That's bullshit. ESPN, etc, would be talking about the NFL most of the time now regardless. As baseball found out in 1994, America's patience with this league is astounding, but it's not infinite.

The Lingerie Football League angle is almost too good to be true. You can't make this stuff up.

On a more serious note, I become more and more concerned every year about the deleterious physical effects of the NFL on the players, and hiring incompetent referees doesn't just lead to blown calls like last night, but puts players at greater risk of injury.

Obligatory Dave Zirin piece on the issue.

Scott Walker (the union busting governor of Wisconsin) is whining about the result on Twitter with the hashtag "return the real refs".

Karma is a bitch.

What a putz.

Reed John wrote:


the NFL is an arrogant institution. Their comeuppance will come. I might be an old man when it happens, but it will come.

The 32 owners and Roger W. Goodell have treated fans, players and referees like shit for years, it will happen eventually.

Agreed. The anger with football is growing slowly but it's out there. It's a strange day in sports in the US when baseball and soccer both appear to be in much better shape than football.

One of the great things about baseball is how relatively infrequent the officiating cock ups are. Yeah, there have been some blown calls over the years, but really not many, and they were all close calls. Even with the real refs, I see more dubious or clearly blown calls in one college football game than I've seen in 20 college baseball games, and college baseball umps are way lower on the ladder than college football refs.

Part of it is, I think, that baseball does a better job training it's officials, but most of it is just the nature of the games. The rules a lot less complicated and less open to bad judgement. Also, because each game means less, less turns on any one call.

Hockey and soccer seem to have a similar level of officiating shortcomings, but hockey has done a much better job of embracing appopriate technologies and hockey doesn't have as much of a mismatch between the penalties and the offenses. A single card in soccer turns the game much more than a 2 minute penalty and as much as I love soccer, I'll always think the penalty box is way too big. A questionable foul on the edge of the box shouldn't lead to a free shot directly in front of the goal. But still, in practice, I think the referees in soccer are better trained and do a better job of keeping the game sensible than their football counterparts on any given level.

Basketball is a whole other problem.

Reed John wrote:
I think the standard of officiating in baseball might be better because there is less for the umpires to moderate and half the number of players on the field. Also, the game is played at a much more pedestrian pace, in contrast there is so much going on in a concentrated 15 second burst of activity in football that its hard for the refs to catch everything.


Try telling the fans that! For the most part I think soccer refs are pretty good, especially when you consider how willing players are to dive cheat. Its a continued source of annoyance to me that whilst referees get lambasted by the fans and in the media for their errors footballers are allowed to cheat with impunity. Also, soccer refs have less access to technology/video replay than officials in just about any sport and we moan when they get calls wrong based on what the naked eye could see in a split second, ludicrous!

Orange County Pop Warner team operated bounty program.

America! Fuck yeah!

Welcome to the O.C., bitch!

My college girlfriend was from Tustin. She had horror stories.

I was running a practice, when I saw this kid in the P.A.L football practice next to me stumbling and bumbling until hitting the dirt when running laps.

I went to the coach and screamed "coach !!! COACH !!!" He kept looking out around, so I kept screaming "COACH !!! COACH !!! " He finally looked down at me and screamed "WHAT ?!!"

I said "your player collapsed. He's over there."

It's over. The regular officials will be back in the game tonight.

www.weei.com/sports/boston/this-just-in/...ls-agree-end-lockout

I'm really, really bad when it comes to interpreting court and/or labor decisions, but does this...

The agreement hinged on working out salary, pension and retirement benefits for the officials, who are part-time employees of the league. Tentatively, it calls for their salaries to increase from an average of $149,000 a year in 2011 to $173,000 in 2013, rising to $205,000 by 2019.

Under the proposal, the current defined benefit pension plan will remain in place for current officials through the 2016 season or until the official earns 20 years' service. The defined benefit plan will then be frozen.

Retirement benefits will be provided for new hires, and for all officials beginning in 2017, through a defined contribution arrangement. The annual league contribution made on behalf of each game official will begin with an average of more than $18,000 per official and increase to more than $23,000 per official in 2019.

Beginning with the 2013 season, the NFL will have the option to hire a number of officials on a full-time basis to work year round, including on the field. The NFL also will be able to retain additional officials for training and development, and can assign those officials to work games. The number of additional officials will be determined by the league.

...mean the refs mopped the floor with Goddell's head ? Or did the owners punt the pension down to the next generation ?

They make more at their part-time jobs than most of us do at full-time jobs.

jasoñ voorhees wrote:


It looks like the current refs will keep their pensions, but new hires will be switched to a 401k (defined contribution) plan, if I'm reading it right.

Woo! Redzone is working this week!
Saints@Packers is a blackout, though. As is the Pats game - sorry, FF.

Man, Fitzpatrick's throwing like Cutler did against the Packers.

Wow, what a finish from the Falcons. And is nobody else watching this week or what?