James+L’s+OpEd+Article

__**Fail Mary**__

Never before has such a wicked fury burned within my soul as the night of September 24, 2012. The entire night felt corrupt with bad omen and ominous vibes. The stormy Seattle night set the scene perfectly as the visiting Green Bay Packers took the field to battle against the host Seahawks. Three months before this sinister night, a dispute took place between the hard-working NFL Referees Association and the monopoly man himself, Roger Goodell. The commissioner of the NFL declined the opportunity to increase the wages of these officials, and instead hired inadequate, unqualified replacement referees to take their place. Every game leading up to this Week 3 matchup seemed rotten with poor quality officiating and tainted with crooked decisions. However, this labor dispute never reached the point of directly affecting the outcome of a game.

Back in the Packers/Seahawks matchup, each team is struggling to move into each other’s territory. As the final minutes of the game fell off the clock, the Packers lead the resurgent Seahawks 12-7 with 8 seconds remaining as Seattle was threatening to score. The following events, which pain me to this day, represent the epitome of the subpar officiating that loomed amongst the league in the previous weeks. In a last second attempt for success, Russell Wilson heaved the ball 50 yards, supposedly into the arms of Golden Tate to complete the drive and emerge victorious. Upon further inspection, the ball appears to land in the arms of Packer’s defender M.D. Jennings, and Tate doesn’t wrestle the ball away until after the play is finished. A very blatant offensive pass interference call was also missed by the side judge on the play, as Tate pushed defensive back Sam Shields to the ground.

This all occurred within a matter of seconds; enough for even the most qualified official to misconstrue the call; which is unfortunate because this type of ruling must be made on the field, and cannot be reviewed. However, as one referee signaled a touchdown, the other ruling official made the signal for an interception and touchback. The play went under the booth, and justice was delivered, correct? QUITE THE CONTRARY. Alas, the incompetent, blundering, mentally inept replacement official decided that to credit Green Bay with the interception would supersede his inadequate ability to produce an accurate result. Despite viewing every possible angle of the obviously intercepted pass, he determined that the correct outcome was not conventional and took it upon himself to personally present the victory to Seattle.

Initially, this caused quite the stir. The replacements were obviously amateurs not prepared for the main stage. Derrick Rhone-Dunn, who initially signaled interception, was the most experienced; but was overruled by Lance Easley, a banker from California. Additionally, the head referee, Wayne Elliott was a former realtor in Texas who had previously officiated in high school football. Fans of Green Bay demanded that the play be reviewed and changed, as the outcome of the game was //directly// affected by this false call. Nonetheless, the spawn of Satan himself, Roger Goodell, STOOD BY THE RULING MADE BY THE OFFICIALS. Yet just two days later, the NFL Referees Association and the NFL agreed to end the lockout, proving that Goodell felt the ruling was inaccurate.

The Packers were eliminated from the playoffs by the eventual NFC champion San Francisco 49ers. Green Bay finished their season 11-5, and just lost the second seed by a game. The second seed would have granted them a first-round bye week in the playoffs, and give them home field advantage over San Francisco. This entire situation was completely avertable if Goodell had not been a greedy, monopolistic pig. His billion dollar industry couldn’t shell out extra benefits for a key component to the game of football. He was willing to settle for unsatisfactory employees until he was ultimately made a fool of by the media.

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