so long replacement refs, i hardly knew ya

i for one am gonna miss the replacement refs in the nfl. sure, they were pretty bad at their job, made a ton of mistakes, and were absolutely responsible for fucking up the final outcome of a few games along the way. as far as the art of refereeing goes, they were hard to watch... kinda like that sucky band your friend is in who always guilt trips you into going to see them live and you go cuz you know it means a lot to your friend but boy does that band suck. yea, it's a lot like that. these were the kinda referees that only their own mothers could love... unless their mothers had money on the green bay packers three nights ago.

so if the replacement refs sucked so much, why do i suddenly find myself a fan of theirs now that i know they won't be around anymore? mostly it's cuz i'm a fan of chaos. i love watching things not go as planned. and who plans harder than the nfl? there's a time limit and boundaries, and rules.... so many rules. it's such a big show and the expectations are so high and everyone expects the nfl to deliver on a consistent, never-ending basis. up until this whole replacement ref debacle, i'd dare say that as far as packaging a sports product for tv goes, no one runs a tighter ship than the nfl. so watching replacement refs fuck it all up brought me a certain kind of joy. it's the same thing as watching people fall down staircases (or the ever so rare falling upstairs). it's a train wreck. it's watching explosions. who doesn't, on some primal level, enjoy the fuck out of that sorta thing?

i also take into account that these refs were thrown into a situation they couldn't win. there was no way they were gonna be able to keep up with the speed of the game and deliver the goods. and yet the nfl stuck by them hard for three weeks. they defended them publicly and fined coaches for disrespecting them. players trashed them on radio shows and twitter accounts. i found it kinda hard not to sympathize with the poor bastards. the nfl fucked up by not taking care of the "real" refs in the first place before the season started. these replacements took the fall and were subjected to being boo'd by thousands. imagine how shitty that feels?

or how great, who knows? they were villains, whether they liked it or not. and if you're gonna be labeled a villain no matter how hard you try not to be one, why not flip the script and enjoy it for what it's worth? as it stands now, these replacements will have this story to tell for the rest of their lives. they'll be able to say that they were the ones who tarnished the infallible nfl. up until three days ago, the nfl thought they could do whatever they wanted and the fans would always blindly stick by their side. but by messing up one certain game so bad, there was no way the nfl could stay the course any longer.

these replacement refs may have been a scourge to the purity of football. but they may have also helped the nfl evolve. for once fans were outraged enough to start saying things like, "i'm not watching that anymore." i don't know if most fans would've followed through at first, but this was just the beginning. people were just starting to say it. if bad things kept happening, fans would've eventually followed through on the tough talk and stopped watching.

and if you don't believe it, the nfl surely did. it's no coincidence that talks with the "real" refs intensified the day after the infamous seahawks/packers debacle. an agreement was finalized in two days.... TWO DAYS! the nfl went three weeks deep into the regular season talking tough and in the end, all it took was two days to totally deflate and admit defeat.

if this were a battle, the replacement refs won. sure, they won't work in the nfl anymore, but their impact will be felt for many years to come. it'll be some time before anyone... fans, nfl brass, the "real" refs, players/coaches, etc forgets what happened this season.

way to go replacement refs. you're gone but won't be forgotten.