I’m sure glad that the president is taking time out from fixing the economy and the Middle East in meltdown to deal with the critical issue of football officiating. But I guess it’s a big issue for the swing state of Wisconsin.
[Update a while later]
More from Katrina Trinko.
Actually, it is relevant to the economy – the owners are locking out the unionized (and competent) referees because they want to cancel pension benefits.
Thank you Chris. I made a bet with myself when I saw the thread title that you (or Jim) would make the “but it’s related to the economy” argument, and now you have.
As to the substance of the issue of substitute refs, I’d have to say it’s a bad deal all around. From what I’ve read, some of these guys couldn’t even make it in the Lingerie League. I mean how bad do you have to suck at officiating to be fired from a game where no one is watching the scoreboard. So the owners aren’t doing themselves or the fans any favors with this.
A strech of Wickard proportions.
With the Community-Organizer-in-Chief’s packed schedule of golfing and celebrity fund raisers, you gotta admire Him for finding the time to address the pressing issues the country faces.
I’m not much of a football fan, but I was under the impression that the replacements are college referees. Is officiating really that bad at the college level?
I saw the field goal on Sunday night. It looked like it sailed over one of the uprights. Like a home run ball that passes over the foul pole, that’s a tough call to make.
I wonder to what degree the number of controversial calls are a statistical fluke, like a “cancer cluster”.
From what I’ve read, those scab refs aren’t from the top college division (Division I) but from the lessor Div 2 and perhaps even lower divisions. There are some significant rules differences between the college and pro games and it appears they’ve muffed the calls several times for that reason. In addition, the NFL players are often faster and run more sophisticated offenses and defenses. Those refs just aren’t up to the level. One more thing, there’s a lot more at stake in the NFL. Careers are on the line and so are millions of dollars per team.
Which I suppose goes to show how hollow and asinine it is to worry about the outcome of a game based on the officiating of said game. Key word in all of that: “game”.
While I understand and appreciate that a number of municipalities have exhausted their bonding authority on the hopes that they will attract and/or keep a particular sporting team around, and that there are billions of dollars of taxpayer money thrown at the spoiled and rich owners of some of these teams, the stupidity of taxpayer decisions with regards to sporting teams doesn’t equate to a national tragedy.
What’s more telling is that most of the focus seems to be on “fix the game, these refs suck”, while Obama’s actual words indicate his sympathies for the unionized referees that Gerrib refers to.
As with almost all union disputes, it takes two parties to cause a lockout, and Obama’s loyalties have been fully exposed through this incident, the Chicago teacher’s strike, and just about every other current union dispute. The only thing left to do is for Obama to weigh in on the ongoing NHL lockout. I can pretty much guess which side he’s on, even if he doesn’t care about hockey because “it’s a Canadian sport.”
And the speak Canuck there. Or is it Canadian? So he doesn’t understand the language.