[JMN]

Originally posted by PeteBooth
The Officials in the NFL have taken some real heat lately.

There was the "blown call" in the Niner / Giant Game (Jim Fassel received a call from the League Office Stating such) and a very questionable running into the kicker penalty at the end of the Steeler / Titan Game. Also during the Steeler / Titan Game the officials did not know what was Challengeable or Not.

>> Kicker penalty was right. And, I applaud the officials that set their egos aside and admitted that they didn't know if a play was reviewable. Getting it right was more important to Blum (I think Hantak may have asked for help on a play regarding reviewability as well) than receiving the fan's ire and subsequent criticisms of his action to ask for help. How many of us ask for help on Friday nights? Also, the NFL rules are chock full of exceptions and these guys are under a microscope. Good call.

In Baseball, Umpiring is a FULL Time Profession. I'm not saying these men don't have anything else "on the side" but they are paid as FULL TIME Employees and get paid well at least the umpires who make it to the "show".

NFL Football Officials are Part Time and IMO with all that money in the NFL one would think that the Commissioner's Office would take a good look at the officiating and make NFL Officials a FULL TIME Position with a certain amount of schooling.

>> I don't think full time would help much. These guys already treat this as a second job. In fact, during the season, I believe it becomes their primary job!

Perhaps with Full Time Officials with more training there wouldn't be a need for instant replay.

>> Training is not the issue. The unrealistic demand for perfection is the issue. I was against instant replay from the beginning. Not that it doesn't reverse some calls and get them right. I just believe that it reinforces the kind of absurdity occurring in the last few weeks. Anyone can watch 150 replays from 10 angles and get the call right. But why don't we just have the coaches review every play on a monitor until they're happy with all the calls and then we'll start the next play! I prefer to have real officials call the games to the best of their ability and everyone lives with the results, flaws and all. We're not perfect...then neither are the players, coaches, fans, etc.

Being an Umpire myself, I sympathize with the officials in that the Giants have no-one but themselves to blame for blowing a 24 point lead. The Steeler / Titan call is a tough one to swallow especially at the professional level.

>> We can't compare football with baseball, hockey, or basketball. It's apples and kiwis! There are less games, less plays, and the intensity is stronger on each snap. I'm not sure if the rules are any more or less complicated between sports, but their are a ton of exceptions in the NFL that make the task that much more difficult. (Like reporting eligibility at the beginning of the game, and the tuck rule. Who came up with these?)

My view is that I yearn for the old days when players stayed on teams for thier careers, stadiums had names like Candlestick, and officials did their best, warts and all. This includes blown calls! It's OK to demand a lot from officials, but you'll never get perfection no matter what changes you make!

p.s. I would love for someone to do an analysis on the number of plays, number of non-controversial calls made (if any exist), and the # of calls that are controversial. This probably does nothing but to show how good the NFL guys really are.

What's your view? Should NFL Officials be FULL TIME?

Pete Booth