NFL's Replacement Referees

This very well could be one of the saddest years that the National Football League has ever experienced in it's very long history. Officiating is a very important factor in a football game, and everyone is aware of the consequences of what a bad or wrong call can eventually mean in an NFL football game.

One single solitary bad call from a referee can mean the difference in points in an NFL football game. That difference in points, regardless if it's more points or less points, can be the difference between a win or loss. When added up those wins and losses mean something towards the end of the season, which might just be the difference of a team getting into post-season play.

The last time there was a strike in the NFL it was the players who went out, and this time around it's the referees in the National Football League who are unhappy with their contract agreement. I guess one hundred and forty some thousand dollars a year isn't good enough for them. So this now means with the start of the regular season now upon us, that the games are going to be officiated by replacement referees. As if things weren't bad enough already in the NFL when it comes to officiating.

The replacement referees are going to be recruited from college level football, and even high school level football. Yes you read that last line correctly, I said high school football. I suppose when both of these two outlets are exhausted they will next be recruiting out of the Pee Wee football leagues. I mean they can't do no worse of a job, and it just might put some character back into the game.

With all of the problems that the NFL is already having with botched calls causing teams the game, this is just adding more fuel to the fire. This may be a replay and return to the dark days of the NFL, like the eight game season when the players in the NFL went out on strike back in the early 1980s.

With the start of the 2012/13 regular NFL season ready to begin any day now, I find the timing in this whole situation totally unacceptable. All of the parties involved in this dispute need to start thinking about all of those dedicated football fans who are the ones who are really paying their salary.

The fans have always hung in there through the thick and thin of things for their teams. The fans are the ones who are paying those high ticket prices at the stadium gates. The fans are the ones who are expected to pay those highly inflated premium prices to watch the NFL Sunday Ticket and other NFL programming on both cable and satellite television. The NFL doesn't care about the current state of the economy, and those people who can't afford this luxury. Don't forget about all of the high dollar NFL merchandise like football jerseys, hats, footballs, and shirts that the fans shell out big bucks for either.

Hopefully there will be some sort of resolution in this on going dispute before the regular season gets underway. However that doesn't look very likely at this point in time. I have always found it very interesting how something as important as sewing up a few loose ends in a contract has to drag out all the way up to opening day of a sports season.

If the National Football League can't work out the petty differences within their own ranks soon, then they might just find themselves alienating more fans who are already disillusioned by the greed of the sports business. The NFL ought to be ashamed of themselves. Hopefully this won't be another one of the NFL's darkest moments. Also "FYI" - I'd like to point out that most likely those referees pictured in this hub won't be apart of the replacement referees this season.

These are the thoughts of one angry NFL football fan.