NFL Lockout – Should You Work?
Posted by Karl Richins on Jun 6, 2012 in Blog
With the declared Lockout of the NFL Officials, is this your big chance to work an NFL game or two? You’ve dreamed about it for years and have always wanted your chance, even if it is for a single game, so is now that opportunity?
On June 4th, the NFL announced the lockout and to move forward with its plans to hire replacement officials. In essence, the league stated it would be looking to hire recently retired officials or perhaps current ones who would be qualified to work professional games. The league will look to hire officials from anywhere but the BCS conferences because those officials are run by NFL officials, and the NFL doesn’t want to put the BCS officials in an awkward situation. Ya think?
Now, I’m no expert here, and I plainly admit, I do not know all the details of the negotiations with the NFL and NFLRA (nor do some of the NFL officials I spoke with), but I will say, historically lockouts are about posturing. It will eventually work itself out and life will return to normal. I’ve always thought of unions to be “Big” and powerful, meaning “thousands” of workers, not between one and two hundred workers (not counting retired NFL officials). How much strength is there in that number? Another thought I have had about unions and negotiations, do the union leaders represent “their” agenda, or the agenda of everyone they are appointed to represent? There is NO way possible those two agendas are identical. So, what do they do? This post is not about their negotiations because I don’t know the facts and what is more important, I DO NOT CARE!
What this post IS about, is you, the potential replacement official. I remember back in 2001 when there was a lockout and I was a new official in the Mountain West Conference. I received that letter in the mail from the NFL asking if I was available. I also remember public veiled threats from current NFL officials including Ed Hochuli, and I remember attention and pleas of solidarity from other NFL officials. All of a sudden, that “college guy” was important to the NFL guy. Back then, there were very few NFL officials working as Coordinators of Officials in college conferences. Now, it is becoming increasingly the trend and the relationship between the college officials and the NFL officials has become a bit cozy. There is that aspect of awkwardness for replacement officials working for current NFL officials, but I think more than that, I think the NFL will stay away from looking at BCS officials to become replacement officials because that is where the majority of their candidate pool is and they don’t dare muddy that water.
In 2001, I declined the opportunity for a “one and done” NFL experience and have no regrets. So let me now give you my 10 reasons why I feel you should decline the offer as well, if you are requested to work:
1-If the NFL is not going to look at BCS officials, that probably means the league considers BCS conferences to contain the majority of its candidates. So isn’t it a little insulting to basically say, “You’re not a candidate to be a real NFL official”, so will you come “pretend” to be one?
2-Ask most of the officials that worked as replacements in 2001 and if they have the courage to admit it they will say you will likely never get that stain out of your shirt for the remainder of your life. Some of them were my friends and still are, but that particular stain never washes out.
3-If you are currently retired and you are asked to work, whether you went out on good terms or bad terms, do you really want others to put an asterisk next to your name when your name is brought up? Ever tried to repair a reputation? Try putting that toothpaste back into the tube.
4-”I’m bitter that the NFL didn’t hire me so I’m working.” Come on, really? By working you are rewarding the league that didn’t hire you and pooping on fellow officials with whom you likely did work at one time.
5-”It’s my chance to work a ‘big’ game.” So that’s what your career is all about? Not lifetime friends, colleagues, mentors, players, others, etc. So you choose to stand on the mountain top and admit, “It’s all about me!” Boy, I’ll bet you are or were fun to have on a crew.
6-”Think of the guaranteed money I can make.” I honestly cannot believe there are still people in this business that see officiating as a way to make money. Now, I will admit the NFL officials have that unique opportunity to make that statement, but they earned it to get there, they earn it to stay there, and those of us that do not get that opportunity need to look beyond the money aspect and give something back to this sport rather than always trying to see what we can get.
7-”I’m retired, or I’m never going to work in the NFL anyway, so why not?” Because we are a family. When you find out someone else in the restaurant or wherever you are is a fellow football official at whatever level, admit it, you want to say hello and share “hey, whats up?” And if we are family, and you have to admit that we are, do you think any NFL officials right now who have sons or daughters officiating at the NCAA level, that their son or daughter would work as a replacement official? Put me down for “I don’t think so.”
8-When we have that bizarre play in a football game and it has several fouls, momentum, impetus, illegal touching and an inadvertent whistle all rolled into one play, what do we do if we can’t figure it out? “Just do the right thing.” If you choose to work, you will likely not enjoy the experience because the entire time you know it’s not the right thing to do, plain and simple.
9-Ask yourself, if you were a current NFL official, what would you want a fellow college official to do? You may be bitter or felt you were wronged by one or two current or past NFL officials. But becoming a replacement official doesn’t settle the score, you’re not getting even; you’re becoming what you hate, a non-team player.
10-And finally, the above are just rationalizations, pointless justifications, self-absorbed excuses. Do you really think you can pick up the turd by the clean end? My advice to you is the same as what I use to tell passerbys when I was a police officer years ago and working a bad traffic accident scene, “Look away there’s nothing to see here, just keep moving.”
Let’s let “them” work this out. We don’t have a horse in this race. All I hear from the officials I speak to that work in the NFL is that all they want to do is work. Let’s not stain our hands on this issue, instead let’s be fans of the NFL and it’s officials, and let them work it out without our outside influence.
