Vikings Message Board.Com

Cliff wrote:I think it's a crappy thing to do to the refs but I don't think the game will suffer much from it. Which is probably why this is happening. In America when someone else is willing to do your job for less money and your company doesn't feel like they'll lose much value in switching, you'll get fired.

PurpleMustReign wrote: There are a few really good refs, but most of them are not very good and miss some very obvious things. I am thinking replacement refs won't be as bad as the Ref's union thinks.

Cliff wrote: The qualifications for being a ref basically amounts to knowing the rules, understanding your role on the ref team, and having eyes. Certainly having experience actually watching the games makes a difference, but other than experience I can't see a huge difference from one ref to another. Even then, the current refs had to start somewhere.

Pereira said he has seen the current roster of replacement officials. They are mostly Division II and III men or Division I castoffs, including three fired Pac-12 officials, with some high school referees.

In recent years, the NFL has in the name of player safety broadened penalties and supplemental discipline for helmet-to-helmet contact, roughing the quarterback and hits on defenseless receivers. Pereira expects replacement officials to overcompensate regarding player safety because league supervisors will beseech them to "throw the flag when in doubt."

No amount of training, however, can compensate for knowing what to look for and how to react when the strongest, fastest football players in the world collide, he said.

"NFL officials are the best 120 at what they do -- and they make mistakes," said Pereira, now a Fox Sports analyst. "At this level and at this speed, you cannot substitute over 1,400 years of experience with no experience and not expect the integrity of the game to be brought into question."

Pereira said first-year officials typically are assigned to veteran crews to help integrate them into the NFL. Rookies are not eligible to work playoff games, and a minimum five years' experience is required to earn a Super Bowl assignment.

While Commissioner Roger Goodell downplayed the situation during a Friday appearance on The Dan Patrick Show, former NFL V.P. of officiating Mike Pereira has been sounding the alarm. On Wednesday’s Dan Patrick Show, Pereira reiterated his view that the situation could threaten the integrity of the game.

Pereira, who as Goodell pointed out actually took the striped shirt out of mothballs and got back on the field during the 2001 lockout, explained that the decision of Division I conferences to prevent their guys from moonlighting this time around means that the pool of replacements includes high-school officials, a pair of guys who were fired by the Pac-10 for poor performance, and officials from the Lingerie Football League.

NextQuestion wrote:Hochuli is awful and his explanations for calls are novels. Bill Leavy's crew should be fired.

NextQuestion wrote:Hochuli is awful and his explanations for calls are novels. Bill Leavy's crew should be fired.

Eli wrote: Just a couple of the more visible examples. I have little doubt that if you really wanted to, you could replace 90% of the 'real' officials with someone better. Calling them the best in the world is a joke.

It's a part time job that has always paid poorly and attracts job candidates accordingly.

Mothman wrote:Former officials say that during the season, the NFL officials work 40+ hours a week. They definitely don't just show up on Sunday, officiate a game and then head off to their "day jobs" for the rest of the week.

Eli wrote: No? How do you think they do their day jobs then?

Mothman wrote:I'm still wondering: where all the officials superior to the NFL refs working? If it's a joke to refer to the NFL crews as the best, that obviously implies the best are officiating football somewhere else, (and doing it so well that they are clearly superior).

Eli wrote: It doesn't imply that at all. It means that you could find better officials if the job were full time and paid better. Do you realize what percentage of the U.S. population is able to perform their day job on part-time basis for six or seven months per year? It's infinitely small. Which means that the potential number of job candidates is extremely small.

The reason that it's not a full time job with better pay is exactly the same reason that the officials are out on strike right now. The NFL is too cheap to pay what the position should be paid. They don't care to find the best possible officials, either now during the strike or when the regular bunch is on the field.