Dear NFL: Enough Is Enough

 Two refs standing directly over the play, one signaling Touchback, one signaling Touchdown. What. The. Fuck.

(Before anything else i want to link to THIS Charles P. Pierce article at Grantland.com about the Ravens-Patriots Sunday night game and the replacement refs. Great read.)

I actually had a completely different NFL article about 40% done, but its gone now. Deleted, scrapped, never to see the light of day. There is no way I can analyze, and by extension acknowledge any type of legitimacy for the NFL after the officiating travesties that occurred this past weekend, culminating with the clusterfuck in Seattle. 

Roger Goodell has destroyed every shred of legitimacy his league had, preaching about player safety and then locking out the regular officials and bringing in these scabs, who failed to even call a penalty on a helmet-to-helmet hit that put Oakland WR Darrius Heyward-Bey in the hospital. He talks constantly about maintaining the integrity of the game, and “protecting the shield”, and then hires the most inept and under qualified referees imaginable to officiate the most complex game in America, because the regular referees are asking for a raise that would cost the league less than 1% of their annual revenue. This situation is downright despicable, and I refuse to continue to be part of the problem. If the regular referees are not back working this weekend, then in my mind the NFL will cease to exist. I will not watch on TV, I will not listen on the radio, I will not check scores or fantasy lineups. Do I think my little protest will accomplish anything? Absolutely not. However, I will feel better knowing that I at least did not help Goodell and the league profit from this horrendous situation.

P.S. I have absolutely NO compassion for any of the replacement officials. First of all, they are scabs who crossed a locked-out unions picket line. As a union member myself I feel no sympathy for scabs in any profession. Secondly, the scabs CHOSE to referee these games, knowing they were severely under qualified. Even the most deluded person could not reasonably assume that refereeing 7-on-7 youth football is commiserate with officiating an NFL game. If you get fired for incompetence from the Lingerie Football League, you cannot possibly believe you have what it takes to be an NFL official. These scabs knowingly crossed a picket-line for a cash-grab at a job they know full well they were completely unqualified for. They don’t deserve any sympathy, and frankly deserve more vitriol than they are getting. You want to be on the big stage, now deal with the consequences.

You can follow Andy on Twitter @AMOhoop34