Apparently, the NFL and their regular officials are still in a deadlock over wages. Nothing new there, as labor disputes are as much a part of professional sports now as halftime shows and the wave. But left with nobody to officiate the preseason games, the NFL has turned to rookie referees—some of whom have done little more than call a few high school football games—for help, and the results have been spot-on. In a game between the Washington Redskins and the Buffalo Bills, one of the new referees said a punt had landed in the endzone when it had barely cleared the five-yard line. A punt returner for the New York Giants was called for holding, which would be quite a feat for a punt returner. Officials have made calls with their backs to the camera, called teams the wrong names and mixed up which team won the coin toss. It’s good comedy for the preseason, but as the first official game of the season nears with no agreement between the League and their officials in sight, people are getting nervous. DeMaurice Smith, executive director for the players’ union, told reporters, “I’ve said before that on a scale of 1 to 10, I think this is a 12. With the regular season approaching, my level of concern is only increasing” …
