1
Just about every mistake the replacement refs are making in NFL games have been done by the experienced refs.
The major difference is we are seeing the mistakes more frequently.
Well, duh.
It’s a bunch of guys who have never officiated at this level of competition. We should expect more mistakes.
While just about all agree that the game will be better when the experienced officials are back, we’re not sure we buy the argument that the replacement officials are making the game more dangerous.
We believe human nature is making the game more dangerous.
The players are taking advantage of the situation, crossing the line because they believe they can get away with bending the rules.
Kind of like the behavior of middle-school students when there is a substitute teacher.
But when it happens on the football field, tempers flare. If the defensive players breaks the rules and gets away with it, the offensive player takes offense, for example. The next play, there might be retaliation.
It escalates.
That’s not the fault of replacement refs. That’s the fault of the league and the established refs who cannot come to an agreement.
And it’s the fault of human nature. People, especially professional athletes, will always look for an edge.
2
The NHL lockout is serious now.
It seems that the Florida Panthers had to lay off some employees.
The biggest casualty: Stanley C. Panther. The team’s mascot is now unemployed.
Hopefully this will be the catalyst to get a deal done soon.
We cannot have a 6-foot tall, fuzzy Panther holding a sign on the freeway offramp, telling us he will shoot T-shirts into our cars for food.
