By now it is all over the internet and mobile devices, the Green Bay Packers were robbed of a win in Seattle as the Seahawks' Russell Wilson threw up a hail mary as time was running out. The Seahawks won the game on what appeared to be a blown call by the referees giving Seattle a 14-12 victory over the Packers.
Golden Tate was awarded with the catch even though M.D. Jennings hauled in the interception and the referees missed a pass interference call on Tate as well.
Everybody is disgusted. The players, the television announcers, non-Packers fans and especially the Packers' fans.
Let's face it though. As much as the referees have been messing up, fans are really not going to stop watching these games. They have been starved watching replays of Tom Brady heaving a hail mary into the end zone at the end of Super Bowl XLVI.
Yeah, the referees are making the game completely painful to watch, but if anything, fans will learn to appreciate the job the professionals did prior to the lockout. They will appreciate it when the officials come back.
Fans will be returned to the regular speed of the game. Too many referees are taking too much time in between penalties to have correct ball placements on the field.
But the reality is that whether you have the real officials or the replacements, the referees will always get the blame.
Fans will applaud the refs when they return. They will be extremely happy and then BOOM! first blow call and it is over. No more love. No more affection. When their team loses people will want flags and say their team lost on blown calls.
It happens in the NBA. It happens in MLB. The real referees will make mistakes too.
Sometimes they will steal points away from the team that deserved it. Sometimes they might call a player out and steal gems away from a pitcher. Referees, officials and umpires will forever get the blame for the blown calls.
The fans never stopped watching then and by no means will they stop watching now.
In fact, the problem has been receiving so much national attention that fans might actually tune in to hear and watch what a live choked call looks like.
For the NFL purists this is really bad, but for anybody else who just wants to get a laugh or are simply diehard supporters, this will not change a thing.
What everybody does agree on, in fact, is that the Roger Goodell and the NFL should reach an accord with these real referees so that fans could at least have the peace of mind knowing that calls were blown by the true professionals.
