It’s pretty disgraceful the first week of NFL games will be officiated by scabs. These guys will be intimidated by the players and will have a hard time working up the nerve to call holding on the line of scrimmage and pass interference.
Some of the big college conferences wouldn’t let their guys officiate NFL games, so the scabs are not even from the elite college pool. Here’s what I wonder. What if a player gets hurt on a blown call by a scab? Are we talking lawsuit? We should be. The league has the obligation to provide the best officials for the safety of the players, among other things.
A former NFL coach sent me the following email.
Here is one for the record books……….
One of the replacement officials who will be working this first week of the NFL season has spent the last 4 weeks alternating between refereeing six-man football games at small Texas high schools and then working pre-season games in the NFL on weekends.
Wayne Bernier is his name, and he told the Amarillo Globe-News “that it’s not as big a difference as you might think.”
Holy smokes……not only does he have to adjust to calling games involving bigger, stronger and faster players but also adjust to a game with 22 player, opposed to 12, on the field.
Also, I imagine 6-man rules are slightly different than NFL rules.
Come Sunday, it will be a different world.
Stan
The replay machine better have a backup. A good chance they will be used like never before…
September 4th, 2012 11:20 am
Dave T
I do not know the issues at hand between the NFL and Officials Union, and I won’t pretend to know. But two things come to mind. First is that it is frustrating to thing that the two parties involved could not come to an agreement far in advance of the NFL season to avoid such an issue. Second, and this is where I may differ with many people, the NFL has every right to do as they are doing. It is a league, an organization, a business. And if you want to do business with them, you have the right to do so, but you will ultimately have to agree to do business with them and have a contract to do so. In as much, they can negotiate with any group that they like and hire whom they choose to be the best overall value. If you take out the “players” in the scenario (NFL, Officials, etc) and simply apply business principles in a capitalistic society to it, the situation has far more clarity. Is it more complex than that? Yes, of course it is, but hopefully the parties involved can come to a swift conclusion and provide the best possible product for everyone.
September 4th, 2012 11:30 am
Jeff from Colfax
That ref is living in a fantasy world. Yeah, I bet it’s pretty much the same too. Lol.
September 4th, 2012 11:38 am
Tiburon Dave
Clearly the NFL believes that the 160 odd people they have calling games every year are easily replaceable.
We’re about to find out if they’re correct…
September 4th, 2012 11:39 am
Arizona Niner Fan
Sir, I believe your political views may be peeking out of your prose. The five letter word you used to describe replacment officials is a word loaded with very strong piolitcal imagery. I imagine that as a reporter you are a member of a Newspaper Guild or Union. Thast word is the first refuge of a Union Member and it is the word that betrays your objectivity.
On another subject. I don’t appreciate your use of the diminutive for of his first name when you write about Jim Harbaugh. No one else I have read uses the form “Jimmy”.
It is one thing when it is the univerally used form but, coming from your keyboard it seems to clearly be an attempt to belittle or minimize the man. It is the stunt of someone who cannot stand on equal fooring and thus attempts to reduce him to their size. It should be beneath you.
September 4th, 2012 11:42 am
lameduck
Where do I apply? My wife is retiring and this might be a good gig to make a few extra bucks!
Both sides need to work this out, because as you say, someone could get hurt for life. Football is dangerous enough. The college’s are criminal as well in this for not letting “THEIR” officials help out.
As Forrest Gump said, “Stupid is as stupid does.”
September 4th, 2012 11:46 am
CohnZohn
Arizona Niner Fan, When Harbaugh acts like a child I refer to him as Jimmy. And yes I am a member of the Newspaper Guild and I am entitled to my opinion about the fraud officials. No one ever said this blog is objective. Heaven forbid. It’s loaded with my opinions and prejudices, proudly.
September 4th, 2012 12:07 pm
Dennis
“When Harbaugh acts like a child I refer to him as Jimmy. Come on Lowell, you are better than that. Calling someone a name to get your point accross says more about you than it does them.
As for the refs, how does someone get hurt from a blown call? I have never seen that happen before. Not even with the Union refs. And we can all agree that the Union refs have been known to make some bad calls. I believe that is why we got replay, no?
September 4th, 2012 1:28 pm
Stan
Speaking of suckers..I’m watching another “Vampires rule the world” type movie and we peeps are wanderers killing them. But,if society is now overrun by zombie like Vampires Lowell…who’s running the electric plants? The water systems..as we humans drink right out of the tap,water pumped like it was pre Vamp days. And what are the street lights on?..gas station pumps?..and no spoiled food. All the QUIKIE marts food is good as the day it was stocked two or ten years ago.
I bet-even the golf courses are mowed. Amazing.
September 4th, 2012 1:34 pm
Streetglide
Scab. S-c-a-b. Scab…
September 4th, 2012 1:57 pm
Steve
I’m with lameduck; I just took early retirement and can use some extra cash, too. I don’t know, nor am I interested in, all the facts of this dispute. But every time I watch a game and the refs’ regular job is disclosed, it always seems as if they’re a banker, attorney, corporate bigwig, etc. In other words, a member of the 1%. I don’t like the idea of replacement refs, but just as I felt during the players’ lockout, it’s hard for me to sympathize with anybody in this disagreement.
September 4th, 2012 2:07 pm
Hank
I actually hope that something really, REALLY bad happens to the league this weekend as a result of an out-of-control game… like, say, Brady/Brees/Manning suffers a life-altering, career-ending injury. The owners and players comprise the league as we know it, but it’s the owners alone who dictate this labor mess. I really hope a marquee player is ruined so all 32 owners, AND their hypocritical mouthpiece, Goodell, face us fans with some humility. It’s disgusting, especially with all the BS about injuries and protecting players. What a crock!!!
September 4th, 2012 2:17 pm
Stan
..better,but not much. I blame the cold Lowell.
September 4th, 2012 2:25 pm
gary
I am not seeing how having replacement officials would lead to a players injury—by a blown call.
Last season, some of the most violent helmut to helmut hits resulted in no personal fouls, but a later, hefty fine, was placed by the NFL “after further review”.
Having said that, the enormus industry that is American football, being officiated by obviously undertrained officials, is just nuts.
September 4th, 2012 2:58 pm
Dave T
*Please post edited version, apologies*
Lowell,
Quick question. Do the players have a right to choose not to play with the currently employed officials? I choose not to say “replacement officials” because to replace something, the original has to be there in the first place, which at this point in time is not the case. I am sure the players have to sign some form of waiver in regard to injury in relationship to the rules of the game and how they are or are not enforced as well. No sporting business in their right mind would not have something in player contracts regarding this issue. But if they simply choose not to play, do the players A: Have that right? and B: What is the penalty if they exercise that right? Not that I see that taking place, but just wondering what the parameters involved in that situation might be.
September 4th, 2012 2:59 pm
CohnZohn
Hank, I really hope no one gets seriously injured this weekend. I’m sure you feel the same way.
September 4th, 2012 3:44 pm
CohnZohn
Dave T, this is beyond me.
September 4th, 2012 3:45 pm
Dave T
Unless I am mistaken, most major injuries in the NFL have been the result of “freak” accidents. Theisman, Tim Krumrie, Tom Brady (ACL), Rod Woodson (ACL) and Mike Utley to name a few, have all been through the course of play and not the lack of enforcement of rules of play. I can see the arguement from a pure human standpoint perhaps, the whole, well if that was ok that time, I can do that again because it was not called. Which would occur even with the regular officials in the game, right?
In the end, I think that the sloppiness of the games will be the biggest issue. The players all have the same officials calling their games. Long as no game fixing takes place, then there will be mistakes for both treams and, the players will adjust. Biggest change will be when it does get settled and we will see which teams are in fact the most disciplined and ready to go when the rules are more stringently enforced.
September 4th, 2012 3:57 pm
loneraider78
Are these replacements part of the same union?
September 4th, 2012 5:40 pm
loneraider78
The reason I ask is because “scab”, by definition, is someone working in spite of a strike against the will of the other employees.
If these replacement refs are not in the NFL Officials Union, then they are not strikebreakers and not “scabs”.
Personally, I couldn’t care less who is wearing the black and white. Obviously, as a Raider fan, my team has seen far too much of those guys.
I have no problem with anyone who’s trying to make a paycheck doing what others refuse to do.
Why should they be called a name?
I remember a post where I called you and your “colleagues” that name and my post was conveniently deleted.
Obviously someone didn’t like it. So why do it to these guys just trying to work?
Feel free to delete this.
September 4th, 2012 8:40 pm
KauaiRobert
Interesting that one of the so-called ‘scabs’ will be enshrined in Canton as the first-ever female to officiate an NFL game.
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No real point here…just think it’s interesting.
.
.
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*ALOHA*
September 5th, 2012 12:36 pm
russell
I mentioned in a previous post that I am a manager, so I must admit I am not a fan of unions in general. That said, it should be obvious that the league will suffer without the regular officials, and as a result the fans will suffer also. Injuries? Not likely, but I do suspect a whole lot of crying from fans, players and coaches. We all do so with the regular officials, why would it be different with less qualified ones? As to the “scab” comment, whatever…Would that make the regular guys the gaping, open wound?
September 5th, 2012 8:19 pm
Joey Blair
LC-
You are way out of line here and are listening way too much to the officials union. The officials will NOT hurt a player, or cause them to get hurt. These are grown men, and I highly doubt that they are going to be stabbing people in the pile ups, hitting helmet to helmet or any other out of contol thing just because the substitute teacher is on duty. Get real. I really thought you would be on the other side of this, Lowell. Who tunes in to watch the officials? They are being greedy..
Lowell, are you familiar with the name Richie Phillips? How about the Major League Umpires Association? Google those. This is a great time for the NFL to get any official they dont want, for any reason, and who’s to say this guys from Texas is not a great official?
Quit buying into union rhetoric!!!
September 5th, 2012 11:16 pm
Johnc
I am about to attend an SEC officiated football game this Saturday (Georgia vs. Missouri), and after having read your column I am feeling quite smug and superior knowing that the Zebras running around the field in this land of profound heat and humidity will be better grade than what is being served in the NFL this weekend.
September 6th, 2012 1:09 am
Joe H
After the first set of week 1 is concluded and howls of protest begin, then labor negotiations will pick up steam.
After the disaster of week 2, the NFL will defend its decision by using lawyerly weasel words to describe the meltdown.
After the botched work of week 3 and resultant howls from the ticketholders, coaches, players and owners, negotiations with the union resume.
The old refs return to work for week 4.
September 7th, 2012 11:21 am