Replacement refs: The story the NFL wants to keep quiet

I do...and I think they are by and large completely and totally ridiculous. Grates on me when they get questioned for a story they're simply aggregating which is what a majority of their content is.

People need to use a little more concrete thinking when they read news (not just PFT) to determine whether they are reading actual news or opinion. The two types of content need to be consumed differently.

Let me now unhijack this thread.

Why is the NFL taking such a hard line on this when they money they're fighting over is pretty small to the league?

I used to feel the same way, but now I think some of their content has merit and shouldn't be discredited simply because it comes from PFT. As far as this story goes, I probably would've been better served quoting the Chicago paper that PFT got their headline from, but I felt a story like this deserved attention regardless of the source.

Anyways back to the topic at hand as soon as I can find it I am going to link to an article that mentions an interesting reason why this whole situation might be going on. Something about the NFL might be interested in making some refs full time whereas the refs don't want to do it full time because for many being a ref is a part time gig (and they have full time careers).

Edit: Report: NFL could have replacement officials into the regular season | Shutdown Corner - Yahoo! Sports (http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/report-nfl-could-replacement-officials-regular-season-145603759--nfl.html#more-27359)

Replacement ref blunder in Bills-Redskins game was inexcusable | ProFootballTalk (http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/08/15/replacement-ref-blunder-in-bills-redskins-game-was-inexcusable/)

I'm usually ok with work stoppages when the stopping side has a decent motivation but in this case I can't understand for the life of me why the NFL thinks nickle and diming the refs is a good idea. The refs are asking for a pay increase in line with their last one and a continuation of their existing benefits. Seems pretty reasonable to me. The NFL wants to give them a lower increase and sunset their pension. Stop being cheap NFL. We're talking like just a few million a year. For a entity that makes BILLIONS. Its budget dust. And the refs are part of their product.

Replacement ref blunder in Bills-Redskins game was inexcusable | ProFootballTalk (http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/08/15/replacement-ref-blunder-in-bills-redskins-game-was-inexcusable/)it was ridiculous, has there been any word form them as to what was said? who called it? that was crazy

Wow...

The NFL would like you to believe that its current replacement officials are almost as good as the real ones it has locked out. But with 6:08 left in the second quarter of Wednesday night's New England Patriots-New York Giants game, we saw something that told an entirely different story.

After the Giants' Steve Weatherford punted the ball from his own 20-yard line, the flags were thrown, and there was a long conference between crew chief Donald King and two of his buddies. King then walked over to Bill Belichick and had a little talk with the Patriots' head coach, and King then prepared to make the call.

"We have fouls by both teams during the kick," King said. "We have illegal shift by the kicking team. After the kick ... "

King was then interrupted by one of his officials, who informed him that both penalties were on the kicking team. Whoops!

"After the kick, we have a 15-yard penalty, re-kick, 5-yard penalty," King said, after mistakenly pointing at the Patriots' side and eventually getting the teams right. Then, as the Giants prepared to re-kick from their 15-yard line, there was a whistle stopping the play, and there was a first in NFL history: a play stoppage so that the refs could figure out what exactly the heck they were doing. They also had to get the play clock started, which is kind of important. King then turned his microphone back on, and probably wished he hadn't.

"Correction on the reporting of the foul. Both teams were ... both off ... both fouls were on the kicking team. Five-yard penalty."

The camera then panned to Patriots players laughing and making fun of King on the sideline which seemed to be an entirely appropriate response. But, wait! King wasn't done butchering this one. After another interminable delay in which the replacements once again discussed just what the heck they were doing, we had this:

"Both fouls were committed by the kicking team. The first foul was an illegal shift by the kicking team. The second foul, after the kick, was a personal foul, face mask. We ... enforce the 5-yard penalty and re-kick."

This isn't a simple blown call. Most people understand that those will happen. The speed of the professional game makes perfection impossible. This is a crew of officials led by a man who doesn't understand which team should be penalized, how to get a game clock started or how to make a simple penalty call. NFL vice president of football operations Ray Anderson said in a Tuesday memo to all 32 teams that these officials are improving, which begs the question: If they're improving, how unmercifully bad were they before?

"No, we don't," Anderson told Scott Hanson of the NFL Network, when asked if the use of replacement officials compromises the integrity of the game. "We are going to deploy the best we have available out there, and we think they have gotten better, week in and week out. They will continue to get better. So, while there's no perfect world in officiating, and no one's going to be completely satisfied, whether it's our current officials who are out there working, or our regular officials who were out there working last year. There are always complaints, unfortunately and reasonably, about non-perfection, but that's our world. We're very comfortable that the group of officials that will be out there beginning next week will do a good job for us."

If the NFL is comfortable, it's safe to say that anybody watching the Patriots-Giants game is a bit more squeamish about the whole idea.

Adventures in (replacement) Officiating: The penalty that turned into a miniseries | Shutdown Corner - Yahoo! Sports (http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/adventures-officiating-penalty-turned-miniseries-140730407--nfl.html)

I'm not exactly sure where the negotiations stand, but if I am the real refs I keep on letting this clown show continue.

Got to be tough for a coach to just sit there and bit their tough.

I think the magnitude of the situation will increase once the games actually matter. It can only help the locked out refs' cause that the replacements will officiate week 1. Once they blow calls in front of packed stadiums and the media makes a larger deal of it, the pressure will increase on the NFL.

i'm scared

Petrified

Thinking I could never live without by my side