Big Problems Just Got Much, Much Bigger

We all saw the disaster at the end of the Packers-Seahawks game last night. The replacement officials are destroying the credibility of the NFL while creating an unwatchable on-field product at the same time.

For several weeks, the typical media response to the sorry state of officiating has been "thank goodness it didn't affect the outcome of the game(s)." Of course, that was a load of BS - bad calls were affecting nearly EVERY game; they just hadn't happened at the END of a close game to decide the final score.

Until last night.

It had to happen at some point; that it occurred during a nationally-televised (and highly-watched) broadcast was poetic justice. The league can't hide from this, can't sweep it under the rug, can't pretend it didn't alter the result of the game. Everybody saw it. Everybody knows.

Naturally, the league itself is taking most of the heat for this situation. Many feel that the replacement officials aren't really to blame - they're in over their heads. However, the replacements should share as much of the guilt as the league because they willingly signed up for this, arrogantly thinking that they were qualified to officiate an NFL game after working in the lower ranks of collegiate and high school football levels. They decided to become scabs and grab a little glory.

Well, now you have your glory and everybody can watch you on TV for the next 48 hours. Congratulations, scabs.

The league is in shambles this morning, all because of a financial dispute that's less than the total revenue generated during one Super Bowl commercial break. This is a crappy week for all NFL fans, but if you are a schadenfreude fan, Christmas just came three months early.