replacement refs

[Joshua]

Originally Posted by chuck

WTF are you people talking about? No one is accusing the replacement refs of throwing the games. They can't call a game much less organize themselves to throw a game. They couldn't organize a lay in a brothel. Of course they're doing the best that they can but they are a motley assortment of junior high castoffs and people they rounded up in line at the plasma collection clinic. The NFL is a multi-billion dollar enterprise and the mind-boggling greed and mean-spiritedness of the owners has turned the league into a national joke.

How a bunch of hourly employees, people that survive paycheck to paycheck, dirt farmers, cube jockeys, fast food eaters, hell, fast food workers, how these people can see their way to side with billionaires over employees is absolutely astonishing to me. Not just here but everywhere that I've seen this discussed.

Seems to me like most people have sided with the refs and expressed their displeasure with the league/owners. Most of the comments I've heard on TV, radio, etc. have revolved around telling the owners to make a deal and get the real refs back. In fact, I've heard virtually no discussion of the real refs' demands and whether they are reasonable and should be conceded by the league.

As I understand it, one of the biggest sticking points was the refs' demand for a full blown pension. Foremost, pension benefits have largely been phased out of most compensation packages in favor of defined contribution plans. The league has apparently done this with its employees and didn't want the refs to be the exception. I can certainly understand this stance, particularly considering the refs are generally considered part-time employees with most having full time jobs, often as doctors and lawyers. I certainly wouldn't fault the owners for drawing a line in the sand here and wouldn't hold it against them for refusing to give this concession.