Replacement Refs [merged x2]

[Fins4ever]

I am willing to be dollars to donuts they spend more than 8 hours per weekend on airplanes/at the airport.

Maybe if we had full time officals who each week flew  to a central location and spent Tue and Wed reviewing every play of all 16 games for both missed and correct calls we would have better (and more consitant officiating).  Then they could either have Thur and Friday off before heading out Sat for Sunday's game.  Folks who ref Thur would have Sat Sun off.   

I think that is an excellent idea and I still like the idea of "referee schools".  Would like to see them rotate "ref teams", so they don't get complacent or chummy.

[Phishfan]

Preparation. They have to constantly review the rules and make sure they know them. They review all the games and the calls that were made and why and whether or not they were called correctly or not, etc. There is plenty for them to do.

They already do game reviews. I don't know how in depth they do this but watching every single game seems a bit overboard.

[Dave Gray]

I would like to see the refs get paid as full time employees, because I think that what Dan says is true -- they should be getting together to review calls from other games and try to add consistency.  Also, travel must be brutal.  I think they should also have to review rules regularly.

[Spider-Dan]

My conclusion was unions served a purpose long ago when working conditions were unsafe and wages were not fair. In the last 40-50 yrs. however, unions have caused inflationary business environments and unsustainable pensions. GM is the perfect example. Even with the bailout, it is only a matter of time until they either...A. get further concessions from the union in order to compete with cheaper labor, or B. Fail, or C. get another bailout from Joe Taxpayer (courtesy of China).

This would be as opposed to corporate management, which has:

- laid off record (and increasing) numbers of employees, all while exploding CEO compensation to cartoonish levels, even when the CEO does a horrible job
- outsourced jobs at a breakneck pace to facilitate the same
- lobbied for taxpayer bailouts after their unsustainable, corrupt business model inevitably imploded, while insisting that their useless executives retain their bonuses

PS. You would not believe the lavish life the union reps and heads live at the expense of the union members.

I'm guessing that it's significantly less lavish than the life that CEOs live after downsizing and outsourcing.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but you are not the first person to reflexively blame labor in a dispute.  Ultimately, if your response in a lockout is to blame the unions, there's really not too much left to argue.  It's the economic equivalent of "she was asking for it."

Speaking for myself, I begrudge neither the owners' prerogative to lockout nor the unions' prerogative to strike; if it's in the game, it's in the game.  But I have very little tolerance for the culture of corporate worship, where every labor dispute is automatically the fault of the unions.

[MikeO]

Where did you get this? I'm not sure it is correct. The reason they don't have big time college refs is because (and this is assumption) they know this situation is temporary. Who would leave being a regular SEC/Big 12/ Big 10/etc. position for a temporary time in the NFL. I'm sure their league will not guarantee their return.

The regular refs who run the refs for the Big East (Terry Mcallough), Big 10 (forgot the dudes name),...etc was on SIRIUS NFL RADIO and said such. Straight from the horses mouth.

[MikeO]

I appreciate you pointing out the difference between a strike and lockout. I was aware of that. What you have to understand is the NFL made the refs a "more than fair" offer before the lockout. IMO, the refs locked themselves out.

You can't lock yourself out!

[masterfins]

Maybe if we had full time officals who each week flew  to a central location and spent Tue and Wed reviewing every play of all 16 games for both missed and correct calls we would have better (and more consitant officiating).  Then they could either have Thur and Friday off before heading out Sat for Sunday's game.  Folks who ref Thur would have Sat Sun off.   

I hope you are making a facetious statement there, 16 games @ 4hrs a game would take 64 hours to watch.  I'm sure the officials must have some method of relating errors on calls that occur weekly.  With current technology they should be able to view a weekly presentation over the internet from anywhere in the world, no need to travel to a central location.

[Phishfan]

The regular refs who run the refs for the Big East (Terry Mcallough), Big 10 (forgot the dudes name),...etc was on SIRIUS NFL RADIO and said such. Straight from the horses mouth.

OK you came up with two. That is no where near the majority of referees as you mentioned (mathematically there aren't even enough conferences to say most of them work in that role).

[Pappy13]

You can't lock yourself out!

You can't be locked out if you have a contract! What's your point?

[Spider-Dan]

You can't be locked out if you have a contract! What's your point?

Um, you most certainly can be locked out if you have a contract.  That is exactly how lockouts work!  If the employees didn't have currently existing contracts, there would be no need to lock them out.

Are you somehow under the impression that every player in the NFL was scheduled to be a free agent at the conclusion of the 2010 season?  That LeBron James and Chris Bosh signed 1-year deals with the Heat?

The existence (or lack thereof) of a collective bargaining agreement does nothing to affect (or rather, nullify) the employment contracts that individual employees signed.  Management can lock employees out in the middle of a CBA term, or at the end, or at the beginning, and labor can strike during the same.

[MikeO]

OK you came up with two. That is no where near the majority of referees as you mentioned (mathematically there aren't even enough conferences to say most of them work in that role).

Those are the only 2 that did interviews I heard. But other NFL refs run other conferences like the SEC, ACC, Big 12...etc. I just didn't hear them interviewed if they were interviewed. But odds are there is some solidarity and they are all doing the same thing.

[MikeO]

You can't be locked out if you have a contract! What's your point?

I love ya Pappy but I don't think you fully understand what a "lockout" is.

Look at the NHL for instance, they are gonna lockout the players and maybe cancel ANOTHER season like they did some 7 or 8 years ago. Those players have contracts!

[Brian Fein]

I hope you are making a facetious statement there, 16 games @ 4hrs a game would take 64 hours to watch. 

1- A football game includes less than 1 hour of actual playing time.  They don't need to watch commercials and halftime shows, so they could bang through the entire game in a little over an hour, with time to review any interesting plays.

2- They wouldn't need to watch the entire game if a film crew extracted the interesting elements for demonstration purposes.

They could probably watch all 16 games in 20 hours or so over the course of 5 days.

[Spider-Dan]

1- A football game includes less than 1 hour of actual playing time.  They don't need to watch commercials and halftime shows, so they could bang through the entire game in a little over an hour, with time to review any interesting plays.

While it is accurate to say that the clock is only running for 60 minutes, there are plenty of things that would need to be reviewed that happen when the clock is stopped (e.g. kickoffs while the ball is in the air, any pre-snap infractions after a clock-stopping play).

Furthermore, if you're only reviewing the plays "of interest," why do you need to go through all 16 games?  Essentially, if you're talking about calls which are questionable or just plain wrong, I'm sure they review those as a matter of course already.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

I hope you are making a facetious statement there, 16 games @ 4hrs a game would take 64 hours to watch. 

Only if you watch all the beer commericals.  If you only watch when the clock is running it is an hour.  If you cut out when the clock is running and the guys are in the huddle you are down to 35 mins.