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NFL losing credibility with each blown call by replacement refs
Los Angeles Times ^ | September 24, 2012 | Bill Plaschke

Posted on 09/25/2012 12:43:15 AM PDT by Zakeet

Monday's debacle only crystallizes what was already clear: NFL's substitute officials are a joke, and it's time for Commissioner Roger Goodell to end lockout.

Hail Mary. Holy hell.

On the final play of the final game of one of the most shameful weekends in NFL history, a last-gasp pass from the Seattle Seahawks fell from the sky into the arms of the Green Bay Packers on Monday night.

Touchdown, Seattle. Chaos, NFL.

Three weeks of gross incompetence by unqualified replacement officials crystallized in two moments Monday night that pushed the league's integrity to the brink.

In one moment, Packers safety M.D. Jennings clearly intercepted a final-play pass while falling upon Seahawks receiver Golden Tate in the end zone, preserving an apparent 12-7 Green Bay win.

In the next moment, the replacement officials ruled that Tate had made the catch, and upheld that ruling after replay review, giving the Seahawks a 14-12 victory.

Said Packers Coach Mike McCarthy: "I've never seen anything like that in all my years in football."

Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman tweeted: "These games are a joke."

It's finally happened. After three weeks of forgetting the rules, losing track of the ball, and haphazardly administering this country's national pastime as if they were salesmen on vacation from Foot Locker, the replacement officials have finally done serious, irrevocable damage. The arrogant NFL's middle-school and small-college substitutes for the locked-out regular officials have finally, actually, literally made one wrong call that decided the outcome of a game.

It was one of the worst calls in the history of the league, yet it might turn out to be one of the best calls if humiliated Commissioner Roger Goodell was listening to the message it sent.

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: chat; credibility; labor; nfl; referee; sports; strike
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Even our guys aren't that bad ... probably ... if you ignore most of our mistakes ... and give us some more time to really screw things up!

1 posted on 09/25/2012 12:43:23 AM PDT by Zakeet
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To: Zakeet

I could tell that this game was not going to end well, so I TIVO'd it for DrO to watch in the morning, but I stayed up to see the end and also the after game show and the interviews.

I liked Aaron Rogers' interview best. No nonsense and straight forward.

He came right out and said everything that had to be said.

Green Bay was robbed and this crap has no place in the NFL.

I don't care which team we root for. Players work too hard to have rightful wins stripped and unrighteous flags thrown and enforced by incompetent refs. The NFL is a multi Billion dollar mega business with too damn many commercials which already ruin the tempo of the games, and yet they won't pay the refs?

Everyone else from players, agents, announcers to owners and media talking heads are greedy. Why not the refs?

2 posted on 09/25/2012 1:01:12 AM PDT by onyx (FREE REPUBLIC IS HERE TO STAY! DONATE MONTHLY! IF YOU WANT ON SARAH PALIN''S PING LIST, LET ME KNOW)
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To: onyx

This bad call was very high profile but there were others that went against Seattle and helped GB. Who knows how the game would have gone if everything was called properly? All the games I saw this weekend had bad calls and bad no calls in them. As much as I griped about the NFL refs last season, the NFL needs to get the regular refs back ASAP. If they do not, I can see a franchise player getting injured because these replacement refs cannot control the games. I wonder how happy the sports books are with this situation?


3 posted on 09/25/2012 1:31:58 AM PDT by jospehm20
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To: jospehm20
I wonder how happy the sports books are with this situation?

LOL. I haven't thought to check the betting lines against the outcomes of the games, have you?

4 posted on 09/25/2012 1:36:57 AM PDT by onyx (FREE REPUBLIC IS HERE TO STAY! DONATE MONTHLY! IF YOU WANT ON SARAH PALIN''S PING LIST, LET ME KNOW)
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To: onyx

No. I haven’t either.


5 posted on 09/25/2012 1:39:24 AM PDT by jospehm20
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To: Zakeet

I’m more concerned about the blown calls by our White House.


6 posted on 09/25/2012 1:47:55 AM PDT by ryderann
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To: onyx
I hope the NFL doesn't make any decision base upon the opinion, pressure, or influence of sports bookies. This is just a union busting move that is not getting the same good press that Reagan got when he hung PATCO out to dry.
7 posted on 09/25/2012 1:55:58 AM PDT by carumba (The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you've got it made. Groucho)
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To: Zakeet

Florida chad counters ? ... is this whom the Democrats will hire to count the votes this year ?


8 posted on 09/25/2012 2:04:14 AM PDT by American Constitutionalist
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To: carumba
I'm sure the NFL doesn't give a rip about outside influences that don't pay the freight.

It's my understanding the dispute is about pensions. Everyone in a union is entitled to a pension.
9 posted on 09/25/2012 2:09:57 AM PDT by onyx (FREE REPUBLIC IS HERE TO STAY! DONATE MONTHLY! IF YOU WANT ON SARAH PALIN''S PING LIST, LET ME KNOW)
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To: Zakeet

I believe ref’s are graded after each game. How does the present grading compare with historic grading? If there really is a problem, it will be readily apparent.


10 posted on 09/25/2012 2:20:10 AM PDT by fso301
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To: Zakeet

Yeah it was a bad call, but I love it when Packer fans get screwed.


11 posted on 09/25/2012 2:30:11 AM PDT by catfish1957 (My dream for hope and change is to see the punk POTUS in prison for treason)
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To: Zakeet

I don’t get it. The call was booth reviewed, and the refs in the booth are the same guys who’re always there. They’re not on strike. It had to slip last them, too.

I have a feeling people are connecting stray dots just to have something to jaw about. Every week every season is “craziest week ever,” and every blown call the stupidest reffing ever. Had scrub refs called Tom Brady’s Tuck Rule Game or that Calvin Johnson “complete the process” fiasco we’d say ut was because the real refs were missing.


12 posted on 09/25/2012 2:32:14 AM PDT by Tublecane
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To: jospehm20
You make a good point there. The players and fans can complain all they want, but this situation will persist until one or both of the following happens: (1) fans start tuning out of the NFL, and/or (2) people stop placing bets on NFL games.

Item (2) is particularly important because once that happens, the NFL has effectively become the equivalent of professional wrestling. Personally, I don't care all that much either way -- because I think the NFL game is so contrived that it may as well be WWF wrestling anyway.

13 posted on 09/25/2012 2:48:12 AM PDT by Alberta's Child ("If you touch my junk, I'm gonna have you arrested.")
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To: Tublecane; All

OK, here is my view. Although it is a game, a high stakes one at that, it is still a game. After watching three weeks of as many games as I can, I made the statement to my wife last night that if and when the Professional Referees (which there are none) come back to the game, it will get boring.

I make that statement about the Professional Referees because whenever someone does a story about one, he does something else full time as his profession, or retired from a full time profession or has the liberties of that profession to be able to follow his passion for the game to call the games. Even at that, I do not say they don’t strive to do their job in a professional manner, which they and lots of other part time people do.

So there you have it, they are out on strike because they cannot get a pension for a part time job? Let’s get real now. Maybe some of them do nothing else, but I would wager they also have retied from a professional career just the same.

What we have here is some other refs of lesser experience of the quickness of the big leagues were called upon to keep the game going while the dispute is negotiated, and eventually it will be negotiated. Just as we do in racing, everyone loves to get the new guy official because he is not going to see or know all of the details that teams pull to gain the advantage. This is no different in that the players and the coaches are using the inexperience, and to some degree the intimidating factor, of all of a sudden being in the big leagues while not under the guidance and leadership to train under the “Professional Referees”.

The bottom line is that everyone is gaming the situation and it is mostly just the same as political theater and professionals just gaming the game. As I said, when they come back, it is going to be boring. What is the alternative, no games at all? What about all of the people who derive their livelihoods on the games going on? The players, coaches and staff will all get paid, the only ones who would suffer are the other part-timers, fans and advertisers and their employees. I’m sure there are more but that was just off the top of my pointed little head.

I see every coach and many players using their inexperience to intimidate these stand-ins because they know they can intimidate them. When these stand-ins are under the tremendous pressure they are, they will make mistakes and that is just human nature.

So I say to the NFL, get off the pot and negotiate in good faith with the regular refs and quit the stupid game of one upmanship. Good grief, if it is for the integrity of the game, you can afford it. The refs work extra hours to do the games because they love the game. The players and coaches love the game, the fans love the game as well as all those who profit monetarily. So do the right thing and cut the part timers in on the game as well. The brand of the NFL is suffering all the while you are nickel and dime stupid issue to begin with just to show how strong you are.


14 posted on 09/25/2012 3:17:34 AM PDT by mazda77 ("Defeating the Totalitarian Lie" By: Hilmar von Campe. Everybody should read it.)
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To: onyx
The NFL is a multi Billion dollar mega business with too damn many commercials which already ruin the tempo of the games, and yet they won't pay the refs?

BS! The Union thug boss for the REFS is trying to negotiate $10,000 each ref, each game...no way are the owners going to concede to that!

These guys referee these games as a hobby in their own time. They all have other jobs, some quite lucrative. I say Goodell break the union, tell these jokers to take a hike!

15 posted on 09/25/2012 4:09:46 AM PDT by sirchtruth (Freedom is not free.)
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To: mazda77

So there you have it, they are out on strike because they cannot get a pension for a part time job?
*****************************
Agree! Most of the union covered NFL refs have/or had other jobs. Why are they making an average of $70k a year for doing their work at 16 games (that’s $4-5k per game) and, if they are graded well, more games into the playoffs with an even higher pay per game.

The BIG question is: Why are NFL field officials even unionized? .......Doesn’t that just open the door to union corruption in the gambling industry, by impacting the games’ outcomes through crucial calls on the field?


16 posted on 09/25/2012 4:10:24 AM PDT by octex
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To: octex
screw the ref's let the American people know what the demands are and its over.

Like Ref's have not on their own blown calls? ,p> How do you think the public demanded instant replay?

Ref's blew so many calls

17 posted on 09/25/2012 4:38:46 AM PDT by scooby321 (AMS)
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To: Zakeet
One question... I no longer watch any nfl... have there been any incorrect calls left standing since the play review? I do know that an employee looked up previous calls that cost teams games and championships that would have absolutely been reversed upon review. Seems maybe the nfl stumbled upon a problem and is digging a hole to cover it with the dirt that came out of that hole.

LLS

18 posted on 09/25/2012 4:40:35 AM PDT by LibLieSlayer ("if it looks like you are not gonna make it you gotta get mean, I mean plumb mad-dog mean" J. Wales)
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To: Zakeet

It was bad enough for the end-of-game call to be made like it was.

It was even worse when it wasn’t overturned after review.

It was obvious that the GB player had control of the ball and the Seattle player only had his hands on the ball.

The ‘regular’ refs who are locked out are probably LTAO [laughing their rears off] and upping their demands with each blown call from the replacements.


19 posted on 09/25/2012 5:02:21 AM PDT by TomGuy
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To: onyx

Seriously?! “Everyone in a union is entitled to a pension.”

Just more entitlement mentality imho.


20 posted on 09/25/2012 5:08:19 AM PDT by BrandtMichaels
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