| These Refs are scaarrrrry |
Sat, 18 August 2012 19:30  |
 benfranklinsports
Messages: 277
Registered: October 2011 |
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2 weeks now and the calls are getting worse. Den/Sea game has been real chippy and ref calls unecessary roughness right before the half when they've been letting stuff go all night?? Pass interference calls appear to be their worst. Come on you two, step up to the plate and get this stuff fixed!!!!!!!!!
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| Re: These Refs are scaarrrrry |
Mon, 20 August 2012 15:47  |
fortunaught
Messages: 238
Registered: January 2011 |
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I have always been amazed that the league didn't ever think it was necessary to have these guys be year round full time employees. And I absolutely agree with Teddy when he begs the question of how competent the guys that everyone is pining for actually were in the first place. Clearly the game happens at a pace that requires an astute knowledge of the game, and a familiarity that allows them to not be phased by the speed of it. The fact that the league has been of the opinion that men who were settling estates and doing accounting for a living could fly in on the weekend and deliver consistently good results has baffled me to no end for longer than I care to discuss. Wouldn't it be far preferable in a sport that inherently contains catastrophic career ending injuries, to employ former players who know what it means to committ a hold or pass interference or an illegal chop block, than a band of confused old men who can't get it right when they have the benefit of replay? Instead of forcing your former athletes to be linebacker coaches at Abelene Christian, why not train them to do a job they were a part of for most of their lives. I'm even recalling the whole Charger/Bronco forward pass debacle that one of the league's best in Ed Hochuli botched like it was half price to cost a team a game. Shouldn't a guy that's been at it that long simply inherently know which of the two real time rulings he could retreat from in a replay overrule and which he couldn't? These guys should be like ninjas that you could blind fold and describe a scenario, and they could render a decision based on experience and training. And yet we still have a league where their baffling ineptness is rightfully questioned by Midwestern housewives and casual fans alike. I might point to the NHL and it's officials who have to make some of the most subjective split second decisions that any sport has to offer, and the job they tend to do in not interfering with the outcome of the game. Which isn't to say there isn't a human element to it and they have their version of what is a 3-0 strike vs. an 0-2 count, but for the most part, particularly in the playoffs, they know their role is to dole out justice only when necessay as a last resort. And that leagues replay system of having everything go back to a centralized league office to ensure consistency and competence would behoove the NFL tremendously. I think some day we will see guys in their late thirties and early forties who were nearly contemporaries of those they are overseeing, but for whatever reason, whether it be size or injury just couldn't be the games elite, being the ones who have dominion over the officiating process. And the game, the fans and the betting community will be better served as a result.
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| Re: These Refs are scaarrrrry |
Wed, 05 September 2012 13:18 |
Marty Otto
Messages: 7716
Registered: April 2006 |
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NFL punter Chris Kluwe weighed in on the replacements on Deadspin:
From: Chris Kluwe
To: Tommy Craggs, Tom Scocca
The replacement refs are bad. There's no way around it. None! Whether it's the pressure of live television on the sport's largest stage, or just an inability to do the job, these guys are making football increasingly painful to watch as a player, and I'm certain it's just as frustrating for the fans. It's like watching a Lamborghini roll around on eight-inch spare tires. Not good.
The comedy of errors this preseason has ranged from calling a touchback on a punt that was downed at the 4 to a guy standing with his back to the camera when making a call. And then there's my personal favorite, the conferences.
Oh, the conferences.
It seems as if, after every call, all 35 refs come sprinting in to discuss the merits of Kafka's Metamorphosis as it relates to the economy of Bangladesh, and just when you think they've finally figured it out, they reconvene for Round 2. Then Round 3. I saw a baby born in the stadium reach full walking status during one ref conference, and at the end of it, when they finally announced something, no one had any idea whether it was even the right decision or not. We didn't care at that point; we just wanted to move on to the next play so we could finish the game before the Mayan apocalypse. I am slightly curious how the TV networks are going to handle eight-hour games. I bet we get cut for Heidi.
The conferences aren't the worst of it, because after they've finished rewriting War and Peace, you get to find out what the ruling is. And boy, there have been some doozies. I get that it's not easy to see everything that's going on, but we've gone past the line of "Oh, hey, that's kind of a bad call" and moved on to "I don't ... what ... even ... that's not [epic facepalm]."
One of the perks of my job is that I get a lot of opportunities to watch the refs in action, since punting doesn't exactly take up a lot of time during the game. The following are things I have personally witnessed this preseason. I swear that all of this stuff happened.
1. A quarterback was punched in the head during the course of a sack—it happens, all good so far. The refs respond by calling a dead-ball unnecessary roughness penalty despite it being a live-ball play—uh oh, we're on shaky ground now. Then they walk off the penalty—and, for unknown reasons, they decide it should be eight yards. I realize that the penalty system is quite complex, with its multiples of five and all, but an eight-yard penalty? Really?
2. We walked out for a punt, and my long snapper didn't feel like going over to the other hash. What did he do? He told the ref, "No, you have the ball in the wrong place. Move it over here." And what did the ref do? HE MOVED THE BALL. No! Bad ref! Have some confidence in your abilities—you tell us what to do, not the other way around. (I absolutely murdered the subsequent punt by the way, so that was cool.) I haven't personally seen it, but I've heard of coaches berating the replacement refs in other games and getting penalty flags picked up. I'm sure that won't be a problem in a real game, though. I can't picture Belichick or Harbaugh losing his shit at a ref if he thought it would give his team a tactical advantage. Totally out of character.
3. They missed a call so badly that the replay official called down from the booth and made them review the play so they could assess a penalty. That's not really allowed in the rulebook, but I guess we're just winging it, at this point. I can't wait for the NFL to put drones over every stadium so they can call in penalties in real time and turn the replacements into glorified meat puppets. I can totally picture the commissioner sitting in front of a video screen, grainy crosshairs zeroed in on James Harrison, rubbing his hands with glee as he waits to hit the big red "PENALTY FINE" button. (If it also fired a Hellfire missile, I think that would really liven the game up.) Naturally, though, they'll need a conference first.
Unfortunately, it looks as if we're stuck with the replacement refs for the beginning of the season since the NFL and the NFLRA can't play nice with each other. It will be interesting (in the Chinese-proverb sense of the word) to see what happens when the games start for real. I mean, it's not like this is a multi-billion dollar business that derives its entire revenue from fan satisfaction with the product. Plus, I'd say we got off lucky that the first real game will be between a couple small-market teams like the Giants and Cowboys. Nobody will be watching, I'm sure. Go get 'em replacements!
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| Re: These Refs are scaarrrrry |
Wed, 05 September 2012 23:56 |
ER_Sports
Messages: 3011
Registered: July 2005 |
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I agree, I thought they did a pretty good job, considering... There will for sure be some bitching and some bad calls coming Sunday, which would happen with the regular refs as well...
Follow Erin Rynning on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ersports1
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| Re: These Refs are scaarrrrry |
Thu, 20 September 2012 12:54 |
ER_Sports
Messages: 3011
Registered: July 2005 |
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Finnegan likes them. Pretty much known as a dirty player...
Cortland Finnegan: Replacement refs 'just let you play'
136
By Dan Hanzus
Around the League Writer
Published: Sept. 19, 2012 at 06:14 p.m. Updated: Sept. 20, 2012 at 04:25 a.m.
One St. Louis Rams player recently referred to an NFL with replacement referees as "lawless country."
It's unclear if he meant that as a good thing or bad. At least we know where cornerback Cortland Finnegan stands on the issue.
"They just let you play football," Finnegan said Wednesday, via the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "They let you play football out there, and that's one of those things you enjoy.
"I admire the old-school players. The (Jack) Tatums, you know, the "Mean" Joe Greenes. Those guys played football. ... It's been watered down since, with the commissioner and the rules."
If you're familiar with the stylings of Mr. Finnegan, this all checks out. He's built a lucrative and successful career combining physical ability with psychological warfare.
We were reminded of this on Sunday, when Finnegan essentially sealed a Rams victory by getting Washington Redskins receiver Josh Morgan to lose his cool. There was probably one cornerback in football that could've caused that reaction.
And now he's thrown his support behind the replacement refs. Congrats guys.
Follow Erin Rynning on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ersports1
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. At least the regular refs got it right, if they threw 30 flags it wasn't all one sided. A Luck didn't even score when he slid into end zone vs. Pitts according to the "real rules", a spead cover or loss depending on what side you were on, just want it fixed so we can get on w/ the wagering and remove a potentially ugly unknown variable.
