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.

[painekiller]

Originally Posted by Joshua

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.

I can fault the owners on one major issue, the ref requested to work this season under the old agreement while they continue to negotiate, but the owners chose to lock them out and bring in the unqualified replacements. Then the owners refused until the last week to have talks. They made an offer and said take it or we lock you out.

That is my complaint. The owners as a group do not care about the shield, they do not care about the game, they do not care about the players, they only care about the bottom line. And this has been a public relations back fire.

And I am for the most part pro business.

[barrett]

I don't have to be pro-union to say the owners are wrong here. Goodell tried to negotiate with a gun just because he thought he could. I don't care how much leverage the owners have, all that leverage has not helped them one bit to avoid ruining the first 3 weeks of the season. And if anyone thinks that since ratings have not gone down, the owners don't care, then I ask why the owners immediately caved following Monday night?

The NFL could have had a partial victory over the refs months ago. Or they could have negotiated while games were being played. Instead they chose to go the lockout/scorched earth route for no apparent reason other than because they could.

The rhetoric from both sides (players and owners) and the willingness to turn every issue into a death struggle (refs, bounties, head trauma, etc...) is really starting to turn me off of the NFL. Not in a way that I'll voluntarily stop watching (I'm an addict and could never quit), but in a way that I almost wish they blow something so bad that there is nothing for me to watch. Like maybe the players 'win' a giant lawsuit and it bankrupts the NFL model and all the players who 'won' the lawsuit are out of a job and we're all watching the Arena League.

[HPF Bob]

Well, it sounds like the end may be soon and we can go back to the refs giving every close call to the Steelers and Patriots, just as we are conditioned to expect. It should be noted that the Steelers and Patriots are now a combined 2-4 without the union refs around to bail them out.

[chuck]

Originally Posted by HPF Bob

Well, it sounds like the end may be soon and we can go back to the refs giving every close call to the Steelers and Patriots, just as we are conditioned to expect. It should be noted that the Steelers and Patriots are now a combined 2-4 without the union refs around to bail them out.

Too bad they didn't let that Saints fan officiate, the Saints might have actually won a game.

[Joshua]

Originally Posted by painekiller

I can fault the owners on one major issue, the ref requested to work this season under the old agreement while they continue to negotiate, but the owners chose to lock them out and bring in the unqualified replacements. Then the owners refused until the last week to have talks. They made an offer and said take it or we lock you out.

Agree that this was both a selfish and ultimately disastrous decision that blew up in their faces.

[WMH]

Judy Battista (@judybattista) tweeted:
One official has been told to expect a deal tonight. Officials would vote to ratify on Friday, work this weekend. Unclear about tomorrow.