Former referee says Roger Goodell ‘doesn’t care’
AJC Sports News Now
7:10 am September 19, 2012, by Joel Provano
http://blogs.ajc.com/atlanta-georgia-sp ... esnt-care/
Fresh off what many are calling the replacement referees’ worst performance of the season, a former referee tore into NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and said the [hil]officiating will get worse before it gets better[/hil].
“It’s obvious to me that (Goodell) just doesn’t even care,” said Jerry Markbreit, a fixture in the NFL for 23 years before retiring in 1998. “Otherwise, how could they replace professionalism with unprofessionalism in a game that’s so tough to work, even for the best officials in the land?” he said on ESPN Radio’s The Mike Lupica Show. “How could he care about it?”
[hil]Markbreit scoffed at the notion the replacement refs will get better as they gain experience[/hil].
“The management of the games gets tougher (in the coming weeks),” Markbreit said. [hil]“These guys have relied on competent, top-notch, terrific officials all these years. And now they have a bunch of amateurs out there and it’s going to fall apart.
“It’s not going to get better, as the commissioner said … It’s going to get worse.”[/hil]
Criticism of the replacement refs reached new highs after Monday night’s Falcons-Broncos game in which the officials seemed to have trouble controlling the game, took too much time to decide calls and even marked off an 11-yard penalty for what should have been a 5-yard defensive holding penalty.
In addition to doubts about their competency, [hil]questions have been raised about the new refs’ impartiality[/hil].
A side judge, Brian Stropolo, was yanked from the New Orleans-Carolina game just before kickoff after it was discovered he had pro-Saints messages on his Facebook page.
And Eagles running back LeSean McCoy told a Philadelphia radio station that [hil]a referee told him that he needed him to do well for his fantasy team[/hil].
“I’ll be honest, they’re like fans,” McCoy said. “One of the refs was talking about his fantasy team like, ‘McCoy, come on, I need you for my fantasy.’ Ahhh, what?”
Here’s what some fans had to say in a recent AP video.
[flv]http://admin.brightcove.com/viewer/us20120911.1533/BrightcoveBootloader.swf?playerID=712435031001&playerKey=AQ%7E%7E%2CAAAAAFAsZ1c%7E%2C8MkVRvW0DmaRS3bJkvd2n2q14YiyTqCr&%40videoPlayer=1847782231001&autoStart=&bgcolor=%23FFFFFF&debuggerID=&dynamicStreaming=true&flashID=myExperience1847782231001&height=344&isUI=true&isVid=true&startTime=1348090160274&width=610[/flv]
Direct link to Video: http://admin.brightcove.com/viewer/us20 ... &width=610
AJC Sports News Now
7:10 am September 19, 2012, by Joel Provano
http://blogs.ajc.com/atlanta-georgia-sp ... esnt-care/
Fresh off what many are calling the replacement referees’ worst performance of the season, a former referee tore into NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and said the [hil]officiating will get worse before it gets better[/hil].
“It’s obvious to me that (Goodell) just doesn’t even care,” said Jerry Markbreit, a fixture in the NFL for 23 years before retiring in 1998. “Otherwise, how could they replace professionalism with unprofessionalism in a game that’s so tough to work, even for the best officials in the land?” he said on ESPN Radio’s The Mike Lupica Show. “How could he care about it?”
[hil]Markbreit scoffed at the notion the replacement refs will get better as they gain experience[/hil].
“The management of the games gets tougher (in the coming weeks),” Markbreit said. [hil]“These guys have relied on competent, top-notch, terrific officials all these years. And now they have a bunch of amateurs out there and it’s going to fall apart.
“It’s not going to get better, as the commissioner said … It’s going to get worse.”[/hil]
Criticism of the replacement refs reached new highs after Monday night’s Falcons-Broncos game in which the officials seemed to have trouble controlling the game, took too much time to decide calls and even marked off an 11-yard penalty for what should have been a 5-yard defensive holding penalty.
In addition to doubts about their competency, [hil]questions have been raised about the new refs’ impartiality[/hil].
A side judge, Brian Stropolo, was yanked from the New Orleans-Carolina game just before kickoff after it was discovered he had pro-Saints messages on his Facebook page.
And Eagles running back LeSean McCoy told a Philadelphia radio station that [hil]a referee told him that he needed him to do well for his fantasy team[/hil].
“I’ll be honest, they’re like fans,” McCoy said. “One of the refs was talking about his fantasy team like, ‘McCoy, come on, I need you for my fantasy.’ Ahhh, what?”
Here’s what some fans had to say in a recent AP video.
[flv]http://admin.brightcove.com/viewer/us20120911.1533/BrightcoveBootloader.swf?playerID=712435031001&playerKey=AQ%7E%7E%2CAAAAAFAsZ1c%7E%2C8MkVRvW0DmaRS3bJkvd2n2q14YiyTqCr&%40videoPlayer=1847782231001&autoStart=&bgcolor=%23FFFFFF&debuggerID=&dynamicStreaming=true&flashID=myExperience1847782231001&height=344&isUI=true&isVid=true&startTime=1348090160274&width=610[/flv]
Direct link to Video: http://admin.brightcove.com/viewer/us20 ... &width=610