Bid for "Most Reviled Thread:" Rant AGAINST piling on replacement refs

[DCthomahal]

The argument against the replacement officials that works for me is that they are engaged in a form of union breaking. I would go further and hurl random abuse at them, except I have never been in a position like them and come out with my virtue intact. Would I decline a major payday because I understood the need of unions to have leverage in disputes with management? I hope I would. Am I going to get up on my soapbox and claim I would behave more honorably without having been faced with the choice to deny my family some much need resources or work at the pinnacle of my profession for however brief a stint? I personally don't feel comfortable making big claims of what I would do instead of what I hope and expect I would do. Given that, I'm going to point out my disagreement and pretty well leave it at that –not a lot of room for yelling and screaming in my particular case.

The complaint against these guys that makes a lot less sense to me is that they need to be pilloried for the job they are doing once they decided to cross the picket line. What the heck kind of job are they POSSIBLY GOING to do?! The pro game has to be radically different for officials as well as for players. Seems to me that the speed/scale of the game simply HAS to affect the decision making involved in officiating right about as much as it affects the play making ability of the players --and that doesn't even touch on the differences in the rules (written AND unwritten) that they have had virtually NO time/opportunity to come close to grasping. Does it excuse them from marking off 20 yards for a personal foul against Kyle Shanahan at the end of the last game? Excuse, no. But if I was as out of place and overwhelmed as they are, I cannot come close to guaranteeing that I could do better. So, again, I'm not going to scream bloody murder at these guys or grab at them, etc.

So my question is this: Isn't it possible that Kyle ran after the wrong people?Should he have run down the tunnel and hurled abuse at some schlub looking for a quick buck ...or should he have run up to the owner's booth and screamed at Snyder? Or maybe even just addressed the issue in a more level-headed way later on. In any case, all this vitriol for a bunch of people with (from my perspective) poor ethics but simply doing the best job performance they can reasonably be expected to do given their level of utterly inevitable ignorance and inexperience. Should the player, coach, fan, and media outrage be directed as much as it is at them ...or should we be directing it squarely at the owners for (again, simply IMO) fumbling the negotiations primarily out of arrogance and complacency. Maybe the regular refs are partly to blame for their negotiating stance, as well –no idea, I'm completely on the outside looking in.

But my sense is this is a case of a “mob culture” response of jumping to the quickest, easiest target of outrage rather than directing it where, IMO, it on the whole belongs and it has at least SOME chance of promoting effective change.

Alright, lot more words/hot air than the argument deserves, probably, but ...rant finally over.

[KCClybun]

Doesn't matter. Kyle was fined. Regular refs are coming back and we can complain about them. So yeah, this rant was a little late.

[wildbill1952]

So my question is this: Isn't it possible that Kyle ran after the wrong people?Should he have run down the tunnel and hurled abuse at some schlub looking for a quick buck ...or should he have run up to the owner's booth and screamed at Snyder? .

Ding!Ding!Ding! We have a winner!

Is it the prostitue or the John that commits the bigger crime? You can't have one without the other.

This is just more money-grabbiing by the multi-millionaire owners. They obviously aren't wealthy enough and need more money/ The cities pay for their stadiums, and they take 110 million of their 500 million a year income to pay their football players. With 30 million max for coaching and other team staff (10 million of which is checks paid to themselves) they need to hold back the pension fund form the refs. What's next? Force the concession workers to work for free? How much money do you need Mara, Jerruh, Snyder?

Get the real refs out there before someone gets hurt by the replacement refs incompetence.

[Koolblue13]

These guys I'm sure gave it their best shot to be good Refs, but just couldn't, because it's a hard job to do well.

The ref lockout is another in a long line of crap on Goodell.

[DCsportsfan53]

I don't think I've heard any fan or media member say anything other than the refs are in over their head, shouldn't be there and have been placed in a terrible position by the arrogance and hubris of the owners and their mafia leg breaker masquerading as a commish.

That said, I fully believe that the coaches and players have abused the situation to take the opportunity to disrespect and berate the officials whenever they can but that's to be expected, honestly. This all falls back on the owners at the end of the day.

[Chew]

These guys I'm sure gave it their best shot to be good Refs, but just couldn't, because it's a hard job to do well.

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That's my feeling as well. I never blamed the refs themselves. They were clearly in over their heads from the jump. I'm sure they did the best they could.