NFL's Substitute Officials Are a Joke

According to Bill Plaschke, at the Los Angeles Times, "NFL losing credibility with each blown call by replacement refs":

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.

Give it up. Settle this labor dispute. Settle it now. Your power play didn't work.

That's a great piece. RTWT.

Plus, I guess it's no surprise, but the despicable progressives are trying to score political points on this, and over unions too. Amazing. See the consistently dishonest Steve Benen at Maddow's blog, "Scott Walker discovers the value of union workers." And at the anti-Israel, Soros-backed hate-site Think Progress, "Paul Ryan Demands Return of Unionized NFL Referees: ‘It Is Time to Get the Real Refs’." (At Memeorandum.)

For some reason I don't think there's an accurate comparison between the NFL officials' union and, say, public sector teachers unions. But then again, folks like Steve Benen and the Think Progress anti-Semites probably back public teacher sexual predators over abused children and their parents. Because that's what's happened to the public unions these days. They've been horribly denuded of any basic decency from the constituency they ostensibly serve. They're completely unaccountable, and they're literally harming children. It's the other way around with the NFL's temporary referees. They're harming the game and they're on the way out.

But the idiot progs don't care about excellence. They only care about union power. Screw 'em.