All the talk today has been about the LAST PLAY of the Green Bay-Seattle football game. All the people ‘in the know’ have cried foul over the final call by the referee. All the buzz has been about how the ‘NFL franchise’ is being tarnished by these ‘unprofessional’ replacement refs calling the games.
That got me to thinking.. watch out folks when this bird-brain starts thinking.
Whoever enters an athletic competition wins the prize only when playing by the rules. 2 Timothy 2:5 (GW)
Anyway I only have a few things to say about the replacement refs, the tarnishing of the franchise, and the result of the last play of the Packers and Seahawks game.
Tarnishing the brand?
Well if wearing PINK SHOES and PINK gloves does not tarnish the brand then I think the NFL can survive a few weeks or even a season of ‘unprofessional’ referees. If the sissification (my made-up word for the kid-glove tackle policies of the NFL) of game play does not tarnish the franchise of the NFL neither will unprofessional referees.
Apparently the team owners are not concerned about tarnishing the brand since they are the ones who are supposedly behind the lock-out of the regular referees over defined pension benefits packages. (Those costly unfunded benefits that are drowning cities and states in red ink.)
The NFL referees only work part-time averaging about 20 games a year and hold down other jobs as their main career. Yet they are paid on average around $149.000+ a year. And want more of course.
We Are All Professionals Here
The players are crying about safety issues and fairness in officiating and yet they all are paid pretty handsomely to play a “GAME”. In addition they refer to themselves as PROFESSIONALS and as such I would think they could behave PROFESSIONALLY with or without professional supervision. Hey just saying.
Everyone on the field and on the sidelines are familiar with the rules of the game and yet, as I have been observing, it is apparent to me that the players and the coaches are taking advantage of the ‘unprofessional’ staff officiating thus showing a total disregard and lack of respect for the role of the officials on the field and the rules of the game.
You would think PROFESSIONALS would conduct themselves with more PROFESSIONALISM. Or could it be that FOOTBALL is at the core a brutal sport played by brutal men, who enjoy rough-housing on Sunday’s?
As a point of perspective I recall, in my younger days, the pick-up football games we would play at the local school yard after school and on weekends. There were no officials, and we all played for the love of the game. Yes there were a few who would ‘play dirty’ but even as kids we all knew this was wrong and would police ourselves. If the game got too out of hand we simply quit playing and went home. BUT WE WERE NOT PAID MILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO PLAY.
Was it Really a Bad Call?
Finally to address the last play of the Packers/Seahawks game that seems to be causing all the controversy today I have only one thing to say. Why did Jennings CATCH THE BALL? All he had to do was BAT IT DOWN and the whole thing would be a non-issue.
So now I have to ask who really made the biggest bone-headed decision in that game? The referees calling it or Jennings who caught the ball? By Jennings catching the ball he put himself into a position to get a simultaneous possession call which he should know would be called for the offense. AND YET he held on to the ball… or could it have been that Golden Tate was the one who was actually holding onto the ball since Jennings would have every reason to let go of the ball?
Hummmmmmmmmm perhaps the replacement refs made the right call after all?
In the end though it is ONLY A GAME get over it already!
But what do I know I am only a bird-brained commentator.
This has been a view from the nest. And that is the way I see it. What say you?
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