Monday’s night’s NFL matchup between Green Bay and Seattle is going down as the worst blown call ever. Trailing late in the game, Seattle threw a Hail Mary pass that just about everyone in America could see was an interception by the Packers, expect for a replacement official who saw a Seahawk receiver wrap his hand around the ball and awarded a game-winning touchdown.
This is what outsourcing does for you. Are you paying attention in Costa Mesa?
Replacement officials are causing longer games, NFL records for numbers of first downs by penalty, and losing 80 percent of coaches challenges to plays. The 49ers got a challenge late in their loss to the Vikings while they were out of time outs.
All this because the NFL got tough with the NFL Officials Union over what really amounts to a drop in the bucket for NFL revenue.
From this AP story:
The NFL locked out the officials in June after their contract expired. The league has been using replacement officials, and through three weeks of the regular season there has been much criticism over the way some games are being handled.
Earlier Sunday, the NFL players’ union sent an open letter to team owners calling for an end to the lockout.
On Sunday, there were more suspect calls during several games.
Replacement officials admitted making two mistakes in Minnesota’s victory over San Francisco, while a few other games included questionable calls that could have affected the outcomes.
Referee Ken Roan said he twice granted 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh video challenges after Harbaugh called timeout in the fourth quarter. Neither challenge should have been allowed once Harbaugh asked for time.
“What I told him was, ‘Well you challenged it not knowing what the result of the play was going to be,'” Roan said. “So I granted him the challenge and we went and looked at it. That was wrong. I should not have.”
What’s hysterical is noting OC politicos who detest unions being critical of these low cost private sector replacement employees officiating NFL games:
Here’s Allan Bartlett: “From the NFL Rulebook….”if a pass is caught simultaneously by two eligible opponents and both retain it, the ball belongs to the passers. It is not a simultaneous catch if a player gains control first and an opponent subsequently gains joint control” and “That is the worst ending involving the NFL since OJ was acquitted” and “Even Scott Walker and Paul Ryan are pro union at this moment.”
Fullerton school board member Chris Thompson: “I don’t know man. The book is silent on actually catching both the ball and your opponent. This is just sort of like an appellate court decision.”
Aaron “Sgt. York” Park: “they have already declared the messiah the winner of the 2012 election. Too bad there is instant reply available to the voters.”
Nice for some of these non-union fans to acknowledge the competent work of trained professionals who do they job so well that you only notice them by the poor work done by their outsourced replacements.
Being a member of a union isn’t a bad thing. If only the city council in Costa Mesa got that.
Unions are sufferable when you have the money to pay them. Costa Mesa can easily pay for twenty year old pensions, but does CM have the revenue stream to pay for two year old pensions and pensioners that will live nearly FOURTY years after they retire?