Into the Fire

Passionate thoughts about the world of writing and the Power of God

 

              
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Okay, I'm a bit amazed at all the caterwauling about the replacement refs in professional football. It absolutely stuns me how the horrific bad calls that the "real" refs made through their years of officiating in the NFL are now suddenly ignored and instead they've become the creme de la creme of refereeing football games. In spite of game-changing wrong calls they made on any given Sunday, Monday, or Thursday games, not to mention the Super Bowl(!). It's absurd. When former Raiders' and Buccaneers' coach Jon Gruden in the most somber of tones decries the "Touchdown" call in Monday Night Football's game as "tragic" for the Packers, I stood there with my jaw-dropped, dumbfounded expression and realized how pompous the NFL icons have become.

Let me tell you what's "tragic": Children with cancer and other fatal diseases, USA soldiers getting killed by the Afghani police they're instructing, our embassies being torched by Jihadists after murdering and violating our ambassador and three others, innocent civilians and children dying from bombs lobbed into Israel by their "neighbors". You get it?

When the union demands exceed what is reasonable – as they so often do in this country nowadays – they should not be rewarded with contracts from businesses. That includes the NFL. Get over yourselves. You're part time employees who officiate a game! A. Game. Greed isn't pretty no matter who's dressed in it.

Unbelievable.

 

God, sometimes I don't know what to say. I'm sorry for my own wrong perspectives, my own sins, my own "blown calls" in my life. And may your perspective be the one that's most important to me. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. 

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8 responses to “Division, Perspective, and Reality”

  1. dayle Avatar
    dayle

    Agree with you all the way.
    What’s lost is that Seattle played a heck of a game. Stopped the “great” Aaron Rodgers who can’t even admit that they were outplayed.
    sidenote: I like Wilson, but I think Flynn might be a better option short term.
    I know it’s a solidarity thing, but from the start, the broadcasters were anti-replacements to a very unfair level.

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  2. Nicole Avatar

    I agree with you, Dayle, on all counts.

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  3. Karin Kaufman Avatar
  4. Nicole Avatar

    Appreciate you, Karin.

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  5. Jim Avatar
    Jim

    I posted on facebook about being there, it was an insane experience. My only thought about the refs (and I am in no way, a union guy), is that the league could end this tomorrow if they wanted to. I don’t know all the details, but from what I have heard, the refs are simply trying to stop the NFL from taking things away, not asking for an increase. If that is the case, the NFL is a multi-billion dollar machine, and they could end it easily, but fans still come, and the money is still pouring it, so they have no incentive to settle the issue. Either way, I don’t really care because whether or not the refs come back tomorrow doesn’t mean anything to me in comparison to all the other important things in life (like you state above). However, while the regular refs are far from perfect, I believe they are better than what we are seeing now, and I wish they would end the lockout.

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  6. Nicole Avatar

    Jim, I’m so glad you got to go! I love it – or I used to in the Kingdome – when it gets crazy loud and wild. It’s the only time you can scream and yell with abandon. 😉
    You make valid points, Jim, but it doesn’t really matter to me what they’re asking for because they’re part time employees who have had other occupations in their lifetimes. It’s a lucrative part time job as it is. I’ve been told they want guaranteed pensions. Seriously?! Give me a break. And I do think they favor some teams over others after watching them calling games for years. One of the “demands” of the NFL is a “bench” for those refs who make bad calls. They would be “sat down” for making really bad game-changing calls. Yeah, baby. And if they don’t like the contract, they’re doing what they’re entitled to do. It really doesn’t matter to me how big an enterprise the NFL is, how much money they make. Nobody has to contribute to what they’ve made/built if they don’t want to do so. I repeat: it’s a game.

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  7. Jim Avatar
    Jim

    Valid points, I have no argument your honor 🙂

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  8. Nicole Avatar

    I know: sometimes I should just tone it down. But, alas, you know me. 🙂

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