Eagles running back LeSean McCoy said in an interview with SportsRadio 94 WIP in Philadelphia that a ref told him that he needed him for his fantasy football team.
"I'll be honest, they're like fans," McCoy said of the replacement referees. "One of the refs was talking about his fantasy team like, 'McCoy, come on, I need you for my fantasy.' Ahhh, what?"
Just hours before kickoff Sunday, the NFL removed side judge Brian Stropolo from the New Orleans-Carolina game because it was discovered he's a Saints fan.
Stropolo will not be allowed to return as an official until the league completes a review of the circumstances that dictated the action. He had displayed his unabashed passion as a longtime Saints fan on his Facebook page, which has since been disabled. He also posted Sunday's game assignment, a specific violation of league policy for its officials.
The article I saw about this mentioned the two incidents you cite and one other that I forget, but it didn't mention my favorite ref going off about it. I've always thought he should have been the NFL head of officiating, but never got the story on why he never got the job. Maybe he didn't ask for it?
At least the blunders have pushed the media circus surrounding Shannon Eastin away so she can just do her job....
SuperHornet's Athletics Hall of Fame includes Jacksonville State kicker Ashley Martin, the first girl to score in a Division I football game. She kicked 3 PATs in a 2001 game for J-State.
Eh, much ado about nothing. I think the bigger story is how the players and the coaches (and even the broadcasters) can't act like adults in all of this. They're like little kids in school that when they get a substitute teacher they try to misbehave to see how much they can get away with. I knew the average intelligence of a normal football player was fairly low, I just never realized that the average emotional intelligence was perhaps even lower.
What are they going to do when the regular refs come back and miss calls like they've always done?
It's basic game mgmt where they're falling short, and frankly won't get that figured out anytime soon (jump from JUCO to NFL is just to great) - but basically if they stop calling off-setting unsportsmanlike conduct penalties and instead penalize only 1 team (like the Skins' Josh Morgan at the end of the Rams game) then things will quiet down, at least on the field.
GannonFan wrote:Eh, much ado about nothing. I think the bigger story is how the players and the coaches (and even the broadcasters) can't act like adults in all of this. They're like little kids in school that when they get a substitute teacher they try to misbehave to see how much they can get away with. I knew the average intelligence of a normal football player was fairly low, I just never realized that the average emotional intelligence was perhaps even lower.
What are they going to do when the regular refs come back and miss calls like they've always done?
True..people forget the regular NFL refs were inept as well.
Goddell needs to either come to terms with the regular guys or make these guys permanent replacements for the season. Additionally these replacements need to set the tone early how the game is going to get called. The Eagles-Ravens game almost turned into a brawl with no repercussions multiple times.
I feel sorry for them. Actually think they are not that bad, just not used to the rules the way they have been followed prior to this year, and I can't blame them for being extra careful to a fault, and becoming terribly flustered.
In the end, everybody is playing the game with the same officials, and nobody really has an advantage. Losers will want to blame the refs maybe even more than in the past, but that is the game.
Former QB announcers wailing about possibility of injuries because of replacement refs are just showing their true colors as girly-men pissy pants pussies, fuck them.
Play the game boys, let the replacement refs do their jobs and worry about what you do have control over, just as always.
Rob Iola wrote:It's basic game mgmt where they're falling short, and frankly won't get that figured out anytime soon (jump from JUCO to NFL is just to great) - but basically if they stop calling off-setting unsportsmanlike conduct penalties and instead penalize only 1 team (like the Skins' Josh Morgan at the end of the Rams game) then things will quiet down, at least on the field.
I agree - they take too long to do some things and that stretches the games out, and they are reluctant to toss someone from a game, allowing tempers to continue to flair up until a fight breaks out (again, petulant children are the mental equivalent of many of these players), but beyond that, they've been fine. The WSJ had a good article today evaluating the refs - they agreed they were slower, but could even be more right than the normal officials are - in a normal season, plays overturned on replay hover around 40%-50% - this year only 31% of the challenges have led to a call reversal. It ain't that hard to call a football game, the hardest part is controlling the children on the sideline.
That's an unwarranted generalization, GF. We have FCS officials there, too.
FWIW, the media is screwing this up. There is only one referee present during any one football game, and the media tends to forget that. Just try getting the word "umpire" past them. I'd love to see how many sports writers have actually read a football rule book. Heck, I'd like to see how many of US have (and clenz doesn't count, because he's probably read the rule books for just about every sport played in the US).
SuperHornet's Athletics Hall of Fame includes Jacksonville State kicker Ashley Martin, the first girl to score in a Division I football game. She kicked 3 PATs in a 2001 game for J-State.
