Anyone watch the NFL game last night? In case you missed it, the Green Bay Packers were screwed by the replacement refs, losing a close game to the Seattle Seahawks due to a blown call with no time left on the clock.
Although I feel for the Green Bay players and fans, I thought it was poetic irony that non-union NFL officials ended up snatching defeat from the jaws of victory for Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's team. I wonder what he'll say today about the painful and unfortunate loss.
The fact is the last two weeks of NFL football have been a nightmare when it comes to officiating. It has become clear to all those involved -- players, coaches, fans, broadcasters, etc. -- that the replacement personnel are not up to the job. They have either blown one call after another, like last night, or they're not calling penalties when they should, like in the Patriots/Ravens game when it was obviously getting overly amped-up with skirmishes and fights. There's even data indicating these refs are favoring home teams by calling more penalties on the visitors, perhaps due to intimidation by the crowd or even even getting caught up in the home environment euphoria. Oh, and now there's talk the NFL hired some refs who were fired from the Lingerie Football League due to incompetence!
If anything, the start of this year's NFL season is turning into an Exhibit A for what can happen when management decides to go with less experienced, less trained, less professional employees during a labor dispute. Admittedly, I'm not aware of where things stand with current negotiations, but all you have to do is listen to sports radio to realize how out of control things are getting. Calls are mounting to boycott games, to not attend stadiums or refuse to watch the games on TV. It's not only that NFL's "product" has become a laughing-stock and its brand is fast eroding, but more importantly players are increasingly exposed to serious harm and injury. Something horrific is likely to happen, it's just a matter of time.
But again I ask, what will Scott Walker say today? Wisconsin State Senator Jon Erpenbach, a Democrat, already tweeted his feelings. What say you Gov. Walker??
UPDATE: By now you know, Walker responded with a plea for union refs to return. Since hypocrisy is the GOP's middle name, this shouldn't shock you.
4 comments:
What does "loosing" mean?
I hear that Walker personally guarenteed that his owners, the Koch Borthers, will pay for better refs as long as they make more calls for the cheese-eating team so Scotty can celebrate as he's having sex in a men's room with a strange black man like all GOP politicans do. The Koch boys will gladly pay for new refs by killing a few hundred coal miners and tossing their loved ones out on the streets to fight over who gest to eat what's in the trash cans outside the Walker home.
I've always assumed that Walker would cast off any claims of hypocrisy by saying that he isn't against unions, just public sector unions. And that will probably fly with most people. Of course, there is that little video that shows otherwise. What's more, the only reason conservatives are focused on public sector unions is that they've already castrated the private sector unions.
Hey verу nicе blog!
Feel fгеe tο vіѕit my
page: payday advance
Post a Comment