The NFL 2011 Lockout Labor Mess

The 2012 NFL season officially kicked off this week under the cloud of a referee lock-out.  Back in 2011 Reason covered another NFL labor dispute, this time between players and team owners, with a bit of government interference to make things interesting.

Here is the original text from the Feb. 14, 2011 video:

Now that the Super Bowl is over, it's time for the really big game: the labor battle between National Football League owners and players.

The NFL's collective bargaining agreement, which governs how much players can make, what teams can spend on payrolls, and much more, is set to expire in March. Despite sweetheart deals with publicly financed stadiums and hefty national television contracts, owners say they are being bled dry by runaway salaries and tight economic times. They're looking to extend the regular season to 18 games and for players to forego $7 billion in potential pay increases over the next seven seasons. The players, represented by the federally certified NFL Players Association, want to see the owners' books, more pay for extra games, and other concessions.

Given the amount of money in play, Vegas oddsmakers are betting heavy that the owners will lock out players for the first time since 1987, when a work stoppage shortened the season by a game. In 1982, similar problems led to just nine regular-season games being played.

But don't mistake this for a classic showdown between management and labor hashing out differences on an even playing field. Given the amount of public money in play through stadium deals and the fact that individual players must negotiate collectively through the government-certified NFLPA, federal regulations have almost guaranteed a nasty, sudden-death battle.

How things will shake out is far from certain, but this much is a lock: If the 2011 NFL season is scrapped in part or in whole, the real goal will be government meddling in what should be a purely private negotiation among millionaires and billionaires.

Approximately 3 minutes.

Produced by Austin Bragg.

Comments

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Football kicks off today! I'm already sick of Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth.

[Fist of Etiquette]

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL?

[Suthenboy]

For fuck's sake, it is a game. Govt has no business sticking it's incompetent nose anywhere near this.
Honestly, I have never watched a football or baseball game all the way through in my life. Ten mins is all I can stand.

Now this, I could watch;

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sp.....otogallery

[Randian]

I think the Stupid Bowl contingent is way louder and more obnoxious than any football fan.

I don't know if it's for attention or to be a fashionable non-conformist or what, but the hate is strong on this board, and I don't get it.

[Tulpa Doom]

There seem to be a disproportionate of soccer people here for some reason, who are resentful of the attention gridiron gets.

Soccer is a great game to play, but watch? Yes, even in the common 0-0 game there's constant movement for 90 minutes, but for a casual fan nothing is happening.

[Auric Demonocles]

I am continually confused at the love of soccer at Reason. People here are in love with watching running I guess.

[Res Publica Americana]

Fuck no. Soccer blows.

[Palin's Buttplug]

The offsides rules are anti-liberty.

"Hey, you can't run past their defender!"

[darius404]

And yet no one is forced to play the game, or even play it that way. Seems pretty free to me.

But heck, you may be right. Might as well just get rid of all the rules of the game. More freedom! Just rename it Calvinball, and we're all set. No more rules!

Seriously though, remaking football into Calvinball would be an improvement.

[Tulpa Doom]

Unlike gridiron, with "illegal motion", "illegal snap", "illegal use of hands", "illegal contact", "illegal procedure",...

[Randian]

Soccer live, at a stadium, is great.

It translates into terminal boringness on the television, though.

When you can see the whole field, you can instinctively tell what is going to work and what isn't.

[Tulpa Doom]

It's also easier to focus on a soccer game when you don't have the option of changing the channel to watch something more interesting, like HSN.

[Heroic Mulatto]

*shrugs*

ADHD is vastly under-diagnosed. Give me a nice series of test cricket any day.

[sloopyinca]

I don't even think Terry Schiavo could sit through an entire test match without getting up and leaving.

ODI's are where it's at.

[Apatheist ?_??]

I watch soccer and football (though more college than pro). I would watch baseball too if the lastros weren't so godawful. Some 0-0 games can be boring but others aren't it really depends on the game. Plenty of football games can be boring too, not to mention that most of the coverage is guys standing around. Also advertisements. When I dvr an early morning EPL game I know that it is going to be 1.5 hours +/- a few minutes.

[Brett L]

The freakin Pirates even rose to the top of the Central at one point this season. Fuck the Lastros.

[Tulpa Doom]

Good news is, it's the last time the Astros finish in 6th place.

As a Cubs fan I'm grateful for the Astros, since they're preventing us from finishing last even though we'll probably lose 100+ games this year.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

People here prefer American NASCAR to F1. Also inexplicable.

[sloopyinca]

Is anybody on here going to Austin?

[Archduke Pantsfan]

My pal who was going to go with me decided to have his wedding that weekend.
UH HUH

[SIV]

In NASCAR you don't know who is going to win until the race is over (unless it is a boring road race). In contemporary F-1 whoever gets out ahead usually wins unless there is a mechanical breakdown.

[Almanian's Evil Twin]

As I get older, I care less and less. But I still watch some. Every once and a while I get a nice surprise and see a good game.

As for you others, the stupid surrounding the Stupid Bowl IS stupid, so live with it. And soccer? Srsly? No.

[C. S. P. Schofield]

On the other hand, the more time they spend screwing around with sports the less time they spend interfering with things that matter.

[Auric Demonocles]

I need to soak up the next couple hours while I am tied for first in the pick 'em league.

[Dan's brother Jeff]

Jewish and Muslim organisations have staged a joint protest in the German capital Berlin over a regional court's ruling that the circumcision of young boys constituted bodily harm.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19535090

[Tulpa Doom]

You know who else committed bodily harm against Jewish boys...

[Ice Nine]

Black September?

[sloopyinca]

Every single non-Jewish kid that ever played a sport in middle school?

[Heroic Mulatto]

Well, it does cause bodily harm. That's why the kid, you know, cries.

Question is, does it cause permanent bodily harm?

[Tulpa Doom]

Do foreskins grow back?

[sloopyinca]

That doesn't answer the question.

[Tulpa Doom]

I was being clever. The answer is yes, it obviously causes permanent bodily harm to have a non-diseased part of your body cut off.

[sloopyinca]

I'm gonna sue the doctor that removed that benign mole then. I never asked him to do it.

[Tulpa Doom]

You had a mole removed without realizing it?

[sloopyinca]

Yep. I went in and had a doctor look at one mole that was looking funny and he removed two moles, neither of them malignant. But I only asked him to look at one of them.

[Tulpa Doom]

Were you knocked out when he removed the second one? When you're talking about a grown man, silence gives consent.

[sloopyinca]

When you're talking about a grown man, silence gives consent.

So a woman isn't raped if she's passed out and doesn't say "no"?

Sorry, but that may have been the dumbest thing I've ever read from you.

[Tulpa Doom]

Were you passed out when he removed the mole?

Oh wait, I already asked that and you dodged.

[Tulpa Doom]

To clarify: if you were unconscious and he removed a mole you did not consent to remove, he should be incarcerated.

If you were conscious, and allowed him to remove an extra mole, silence gives consent.

[sloopyinca]

Just because you're conscious doesn't mean that you are aware of everything going on behind your back.

Sorry, but if he's doing something and I can't see it, he should have to ask consent before altering my body.

[Heroic Mulatto]

So a breast reduction for cosmetic reasons also causes permanent bodily harm, in your view?

[Tulpa Doom]

They don't do cosmetic breast reduction on minor children. And if they do, they shouldn't.

If you want to amputate parts of your own body, I'm cool with that.

[Heroic Mulatto]

They don't do cosmetic breast reduction on minor children. And if they do, they shouldn't.

They do. Especially for cases of virginal breast hypertrophy. Why do you think they shouldn't perform that operation?

Besides, we're discussing the definition of "permanent bodily harm," not the issue of consent, which I agree with you about.

[Tulpa Doom]

VBH is a painful disorder. We were talking about cosmetic surgery.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I didn't say it was the only reason for breast reduction. Ask Punky Brewster.

[Tulpa Doom]

I answered the question you asked. If you change the question, my answer will be different. (of course, sloopy, sarcasmic, et al. will still accuse me of goalpost moving because they're int-dish twerps)

[Heroic Mulatto]

Ok, so we're on the same page, you define "permanent bodily harm" as the surgical removal of a non-diseased part of the body?

[Tulpa Doom]

No, PBH is broader than that. You can definitely inflict PBH without removing any body parts.

Also, sloopy's nitpicking below requires me to be more precise about exceptions. Surgically correcting a condition that impairs normal body functioning is OK with me, as well as removing strictly-defined diseased parts.

[Heroic Mulatto]

So anything that changes "what you're born with" is "harmful" in your view?

[sloopyinca]

No I'm not. I just think you shouldn't move the goalposts when your initial argument is sound. It's unnecessary in this case for you to change the subject.

[Tulpa Doom]

The argument is the same. I didn't move any goalposts, just made my position more precise.

[sloopyinca]

I'd take exception to this since the woman voluntarily consented.

A better example would be if a baby is born a hermaphrodite, does his/her parents have the right to pick a sex and have the child's anatomy corrected?

(Please, no Jamie Lee Curtis jokes)

[Tulpa Doom]

I'd need details. Would this be purely cosmetic or to restore reproductive function?

[sloopyinca]

Either way it's removing a non-diseased part of the infant's body. Or are you moving the goalposts?

[Tulpa Doom]

Loss of reproductive function would constitute disease in the broad sense.

[sloopyinca]

So you are moving the goalposts then.

[Tulpa Doom]

No, I'm clarifying my words. The original topic, circumcision, is unaffected by this clarification, as is the underlying rationale for my position.

[Tulpa Doom]

And you should realize you're making a mountain out of a (benign) molehill. That type of thing occurs in what, 1 out of every million live births?

Also it's a tad dis

[sloopyinca]

So it's ok in that case because it doesn't happen as often?

What about a baby born with an omphalocele? It's less rare (1/2500 births) and the organs outside the body at birth aren't diseased. Is it OK for a parent to let the doctor remove small portions of those organs so the remaining parts of them can be put back into the baby's abdomen?

[Tulpa Doom]

I know you're having fun trawling through the list of birth defects on Wikipedia, but the point is that the conditions you're describing all negatively impact the functioning of the body, so surgically correcting them is OK.

The presence of a foreskin does not.

[Heroic Mulatto]

That takes care of sloopy, but I'm asking you about purely cosmetic procedures; breast reduction, rhinoplasty, tongue lengthening (popular in Korea), etc. All of them involve cutting non-diseased tissue. By your definition, they cause permanent bodily harm.

[Tulpa Doom]

Yes, as does ear-piercing and tattooing. For older children I might relax my position a little bit. If a 16 year old wants to get ear piercing I probably wouldn't apply coercion to prevent it.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I don't agree with you with your definition of harm. I posit that the above procedures may cause pain, which is temporary harm, but no permanent pain or disability. Indeed, they may increase quality of life, which is a positive psychological benefit.

[Tulpa Doom]

And I'm not moving the goalposts there because the issue is when a minor is able to make the decision for him or herself, not whether parents should have the authority to make it for them. Parents should not be permitted to have their children permanently bodily harmed.

[darius404]

Why is anyone here wasting their time on an argument based on the notion that removing foreskin and removing a mole is the same thing?

[sloopyinca]

What makes them different? Both are non-essential, non-diseased parts of the body. And both are being removed without the person's consent.

[Tulpa Doom]

You're an adult, sloopy. Plus, moles are not really a differentiated part of the body anyway.

[sloopyinca]

I'm not trawling through the list of birth defects on Wikipedia you stupid bastard. Our baby has a grand omphalocele and we're going through that as we speak.

BY the way, for those who care, we went back to the doc Friday. After the scare with the geneticists, the docs are really confident that she's not going to have any life-threatening issues after she is born. They plan on having her in the hospital for about 4 weeks to get her liver (most of it) back into her abdomen and the remaining organs look to be intact. Apparently, there's less of the other organs outside of the body that initially expected. They still don't know the extent of the development outside the abdomen, and the placement of the placenta will make determining it before birth pretty difficult. They're basically gonna have to bring her out a couple of weeks early and then send her to Children's Hospital in Fresno, where they'll put her in a NICU unit until her body is capable of receiving the liver and parts of the other organs developing outside. There are still huge risks to be sure, but we all feel so much more confident that she's gonna be fine through her fetal development.

That won't get us out of the woods because the post-birth risks are still pretty great, but we are feeling so much better every time we see the doctors. We'll meet the pediatric surgeon in 4 weeks and start getting more details about that part of things once we do.

[sloopyinca]

Sorry for calling you a stupid bastard there. I just got a little upset.

[Tulpa Doom]

understandable. I had no idea about your connection to the disorder.

[Tulpa Doom]

I had no idea, sloopy. It just seemed like you were reaching into a grab bag, what with the hermaphroditism before that. I wish the best for your child, of course.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Glad to hear things are looking up, Sloop.

[Francisco d Anconia]

JESUS H. FUCKING CHRIST! WHO FUCKING CARES?

I like my aesthetically pleasing cut dick. I'm glad my parents did it. I don't fucking feel othered in the slightest (except sometimes I think they may have taken too much). I'm glad they took the initiative to do it at a time I wouldn't remember it rather than waiting for me to give my consent. I'm glad I don't have an ugly glob of flesh hiding my nearly perfect bulbous knob.

If you feel otherwise...fucking FINE...don't do it to your kid and shut the fuck up about it! FUCK I'm sick of this stupid debate.

...rant complete.

[Tulpa Doom]

It's only aesthetically pleasing because you're used to it. If you were in the Amazon jungle they'd laugh at your penis.

[Heroic Mulatto]

But that's the point of cosmetic surgery, yes? Aesthetics?

[Tulpa Doom]

Which is why everyone should be allowed to make their own decision on it.

[heller]

You're right Tulpa, parents shouldn't be allowed to make aesthetic choices for their kids, only important choices, like where they go to school, what they eat, what experiences they are allowed to have and don't have, etc. should be made by parents. But god forbid parents should decide something aesthetic, that would be a travesty!

Oh, and thank you for educating me on how I've been "permanently harmed." I never even noticed until now! Oh the pain!

You stupid fuck.

[heller]

And you don't know jack shit about football either.

[Tulpa Doom]

Digging in to the grab bag of insults again, heller? Do you and sloopy share the same bag, because he's trying to make the same ridiculous claim below.

I dominated the H+R FF league last year outside of the first playoff game. So if I don't know jack I must be the luckiest guy on the planet.

[sloopyinca]

My insult bag is really a joke bag. You do know that, don't you?

By the way, have you seen the Green Bay Packers 2011 Regular Season Championship rings yet? They're a lot cooler than the ones the Giants got for winning the postseason tournament.

[Tulpa Doom]

My parents had my sense of humor circumcized.

[sloopyinca]

No, they cut off the end of your sense of humor's penis.

[heller]

How's that regular season going for you this year Tulpy Poo?

[Tulpa Doom]

The way I see it is that I won't have to deal with the pressure of maintaining a perfect season again.

[sloopyinca]

If you were in the Amazon jungle they'd laugh at your penis.

[citation required] Maybe they'd think I was their God.

[Tulpa Doom]

Personal experience probably doesn't count for citation?

[Tulpa Doom]

"All hail the Wielder of the Flayed Penis"

[Francisco d Anconia]

If you were in the Amazon jungle they'd laugh at your penis.

They wouldn't be the first.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Very, very soon, they will.

[Tulpa Doom]

If Jews have such a boner for circumcision, they should have to go to Mexico to have it done. Like an abortion.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Don't be an ass. We were having a perfectly pleasant discussion.

[Tulpa Doom]

Just heading off anyone claiming I'm anti-Semitic at the pass.

[Heroic Mulatto]

By the numbers, Muslims are the ones who circumcise their children the most. Not to mention the Oriental Orthodox, like the Ethiopians, the Syriacs, and the Copts.

[Tulpa Doom]

1982 and 1987 were strikes, not lockouts.

[sage]

Tulpa's right. I remember reading about that in Who Gives a Crap magazine.

[Res Publica Americana]

Union faggotry is union faggotry.

[Tulpa Doom]

Lockouts aren't union initiated. Which is why one should give a crap about the distinction.

[The Late P Brooks]

This looks like a job for the Senate Committee on Government Reform!

[sage]

They're too busy sniffing jockstraps.

[Heroic Mulatto]

In other news, Iraq is failing apart at the seams.

[Tulpa Doom]

Yep. Maybe we should have gotten the inevitable result of pulling out over with 8 years ago.

[darius404]

You know who else should have pulled out....

[Tulpa Doom]

I just realized Mike Vick is playing in the Dog Pound today. Woof!

[Tulpa Doom]

WTF, he's wearing a military-grade flak jacket under his uniform?

[sloopyinca]

Maybe it's SPCA Day at the Dog Pound?

[Tulpa Doom]

A tase for a tase?

[sloopyinca]

Then the fans won't be surprised that he already has two turnovers.

[sloopyinca]

If the Eagles lose to the Browns today, I've got to think Andy Reid will not be employed for the entire season.

[Tulpa Doom]

Dead son = at least one more year.

[sloopyinca]

Maybe they'll use that as a reason to let him go: "Andy and his family need time to heal. We'll always consider him an Eagle but his family needs him too much for us to take him away from them right now."

[Tulpa Doom]

Might not work if his family publicly complains about him being fired.

[Tulpa Doom]

OK, that guy on the ads for NFL fantasy football and Thurs. night football is a spitting image of a professor I know. I wonder if he's desperate for extra money on the side.

[Francisco d Anconia]

So, the foosball umpires want moar money?

Foosball is the Devil!

[sloopyinca]

You can do it! Cut his fucking head off!

[Tulpa Doom]

Way too close to the circumcision subthread for this.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

NFL Redzone Channel is the greatest invention of the 21st century.

[sloopyinca]

Agreed. If only it existed for the college game plan.

[sloopyinca]

What are everybody's thoughts on this?

Recap: Man pulled over and arrested for riding a stolen motorcycle. Man ID'd, handcuffed and put in back of cruiser. Cop leaves his car to attend to something else. Man gets out of cruiser (still cuffed) and runs. Cop shoots him in the back. Cop given paid vacation.

[Tulpa Doom]

That's crap if they let him get away with it. We'll see the results of the investigation.

[sloopyinca]

FTA: Court records show that Riley, who has been on the police force for eight years, was sued in 2010 by a North Carolina woman who accused him of assaulting and pepper-spraying her while she was visiting relatives in District Heights.

Kimberly Eatmon, a 44-year-old substance abuse counselor, said that when Riley pulled her over in May 2010, he initially refused to say why he did so, instead demanding her driver's license. She said that Riley eventually accused her of losing control of her vehicle and not wearing a seat belt, and when she disputed the accusations and refused to sign the tickets, he pepper-sprayed her and pulled her violently from her car.

"He's like a ticking time bomb," Eatmon said.

Daniel Karp, the lawyer representing Riley and the city of District Heights in that case, said that Riley maintains he was acting as any police officer would. He said that Riley had pulled over Eatmon because she "almost ran him off the road" and pepper-sprayed her because she "grabbed the steering wheel and fought him." The tickets and the criminal charges against Eatmon were later dropped, and the civil case is scheduled to go to trial in November, court records show.

Sounds like a model police officer.

[sloopyinca]

Also FTA: Karp said he could not comment on Thursday's shooting. Brantley, the District Heights deputy police chief, said he could not comment on previous incidents Riley was involved in because it would violate personnel rules.

Funny they were able to comment on the history of the guy he shot.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Thank goodness that officer was armed. Otherwise, he might have had to run after that man, and perhaps he would suffered angina or something.

[Tulpa Doom]

Article on the dangers of homemade guns using 3d printers

On the physical side, the ABS printing plastic might not be strong enough to make a stable enough weapon.

No duh!

[Francisco d Anconia]

Life will find a way.

[SIV]

I wrongly assumed with 100+ comments everyone would be discussing today's NFL games. Naaaa, circumcision again.

[sloopyinca]

We're all zombified that Vick still has 16 points after throwing 4 interceptions.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Tebow recovers an onside kick!

[sloopyinca]

Vick just got a gift of a call. Those people get all the calls.

[The Late P Brooks]

Cop shoots him in the back.

You cannot possibly believe the cop should have just chased him down and used some form of nonlethal restraint, do you Shirley? Running from a cop can only be dealt with by summary execution. Resistance is fatal.

Officer Safety must be maintained.

[sloopyinca]

Did you catch this part: Kyle's family members said they hope that Riley will be kicked off the force and face criminal charges. They said they cannot understand why Riley did not simply tackle Kyle ? who walked with a limp from the previous police shooting ? or shoot him with a Taser.

Animals.

[sloopyinca]

Fucking Banjos is about to be the only one to pick all of the games correct so far this week.*

*She and Goldwater both inexplicably picked the Dedskins to beat the Saints.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

I didn't play your little game, but I only got Buf and NO wrong

[sloopyinca]

How are you looking in the J sub D this week? I'm down by 38 pts to Goldwater but I've got a bunch of players left and he's done.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Not looking good for week 1. Down by 50 with 2 players to go.

[sloopyinca]

You better hope they're both named Aaron Rodgers.

[generic Brand]

Rodgers is having a Christian Ponder kind of game.

[sloopyinca]

What's fucked up is that he's gonna rack up about 10-12 more fantasy points in mop-up time.

[AuH2O]

It's called karma sloop. I ain't going against it.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

NFL redzone using the Spanish audio for the Seahawks game.

[The Late P Brooks]

Even if you don't walk with a limp, it's unlikely you can cover a lot of ground in a hurry with your hands cuffed behind your back.

Maybe the cop heard about the quick-draw contortionist who committed suicide while seated in a car with his hands cuffed behind his back, and just didn't want to take any unnecessary chances.

[sloopyinca]

If I end up losing in my money league because Brees threw that slop-time interception, I'm gonna be pissed.

[sloopyinca]

Cam Newton is officially killing me.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

I picked them in my surivior pool at work. Damn.

[Tulpa Doom]

I want a do-over. I was clearly intoxicated when I started Isaiah Pead and Greg Little.

[heller]

STEVE SMITH NO WANT RAPE TULPA ANYMORE. TULPA TEAM ALREADY RAPE TULPA GOOD.

[sloopyinca]

David FUCKING Akers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Speaking of lockout:
The NHLPA says the NHL cannot legally lock out Montreal Canadiens players since NHLPA is not a union certified by Quebec Labour Board...

[sloopyinca]

See how that works out when the league is incorporated in Toronto and New York City.

Also, will the players not walk out in solidarity with the players that have been locked out in other cities? If they do, will the stupid frog government force them to go back to work?

Actually, nevermind. I don't care because hockey players have killed the goose that laid the golden egg once. For all I care, they can do it again.

[Tulpa Doom]

The NFLPA always sues the NFL in Minnesota, so it seems like forum-shopping is common in these matters.

[sloopyinca]

You seem to know a lot about the administration of sports, but little about the games themselves.

Are you Jewish?

[Tulpa Doom]

You are addressing the regular season fantasy champion, friend. Recalibrate your words accordingly.

[sloopyinca]

regular season fantasy champion

Sorry, but there's no such thing.

[sloopyinca]

Oh, and don't call me friend, buddy!

[Tulpa Doom]

We're not arguing about circumcision anymore. No need to get snippy.

[sloopyinca]

**golf clap**

[AuH2O]

And you are addressing the actual fantasy champion. Who won. Because of a kicker. From Washington.

MY WORD IS THE LAW!

[sloopyinca]

MY WORD IS THE LAW!

It was until I beat your ass in Week 1 of the 2012 season.

Boom!!!!!!!!

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Finally here's the story
http://www.montrealgazette.com.....id=7215111

[sloopyinca]

That's awesomely fucked up. The union says the ALB doesn't recognize them so they are going to petition the QLB to block the league from locking out their members.

This is absurdity that can only be rivaled by milk being sold in bags.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

3 drops on key plays now for Finley.

[Tulpa Doom]

Refs missing calls is bad enough ... refs overruling each other's correct cals is even worse. Harbaugh is going to burst his aorta on the sideline after that travesty.

[sloopyinca]

And he's usually such an even-keeled guy.

[sloopyinca]

Jesus Christ, the 49ers are getting screwed on every call. That spot was bullshit as well.

Who's referring this game, NASCAR?

[Tulpa Doom]

Still better than FIFA.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

What would Mike Singletary do?

[sloopyinca]

What would Mike Singletary do?

Cry after the game while wearing that cross big enough for Jesus himself to climb up on.

[Tulpa Doom]

Pull down his pants.

[generic Brand]

The worst thing about these replacement refs isn't the calls necessarily being that bad, but that the flags are thrown so late after the play. Green Bay is getting some FAVORABLE calls against San Fran. I guess the Goodell-anointed Packers can't lose in the first week.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Yet still they are.

[sloopyinca]

I had a conspiracy theory that the NFL would fuck the Saints over as bad as they could. I thought they'd use the refs to do so, but I guess they just put something in their water instead.

[sloopyinca]

Holy shit. The Packers are gonna have a chance to tie this game up. And if that was Rodgers that got hit like that as he was sliding, you can bet your ass there would have been a flag thrown.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

And Seattle just got a 1st down

[sloopyinca]

Sketchy interference call there.

[sloopyinca]

Ha! I could have wrote that comment twice. That call on Gay was absurd.

[Tulpa Doom]

You know who else made absurd calls on Gay...

[Tulpa Doom]

How hard is it to count three timeouts?

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Bizarro world

[sloopyinca]

Apparently they didn't notify the officials that the injury in the end zone should have resulted in a TO being used. Those stupid bastards just fucked the Cardinals pretty bad.

Then they should have called offensive pass interference on that next play to make up for the two bad ones they called on Arizona in the last minute and a half.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

I think Seattle can fuck themselves just fine without the officials help.

[Tulpa Doom]

Yeah, that was a lame explanation by the "ref". What he really meant was, "we fucked up but don't want Arizona fans to throw tacos at us on the field."

[sloopyinca]

Arizona fans to throw tacos

Holy shit. RAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCIIIIISSSSSTTTTT!!!!!!!

[Tulpa Doom]

Sheriff Joe would agree with me, and the DOJ certified that he's not a racist.

[Banjos]

What the hell do you throw?

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Fajitas?

[sloopyinca]

And fried chicken?

[sloopyinca]

Fucking Banjos and Goldwater are winning the pick-em.

[heller]

It looks like no one is going to be 100% in our pick-em. I'm right on all but two.

[Tulpa Doom]

New Faith Hill intro for SNF sucks ass. Seriously, why do they have to change it every year?

[Tulpa Doom]

Has Anheiser Busch completely lost their minds? If my Bud Light got me Isaiah Peed on my FF team, I'd switch to a different brand of fermented urine.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Hah!
Dennis Miller ?@DennisDMZ
Liking replacement refs. Beats having Hochuli out there all jacked up like he's going over the Zapruder film w/ a jeweler's loupe every play

[sloopyinca]

Rapelisberger forgot how to throw a lob? He just fucked up twice.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

SHUT UP COLLINSWORTH

[sloopyinca]

It's like you read my fucking mind.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

I'm starting to long for the days of Joe Theismann

[Almanian's Evil Twin]

YOU SHUT YOUR MOUTH GODDAMNIT!

[sloopyinca]

Agreed, Almanian. That's just going too far.

They should lock Kenny Albert and Moose Johnston in a room with an 8-ball of coke and make them announce every game that is being played.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

bring back Gus Johnson!

[Almanian's Evil Twin]

Wow, the Lions didn't deserve to win today. But they did.

Next week, the receivers will try to catch the ball, and the secondary will wake up and realize they're not in high school any more. Gonna be a harder year than last year with that fucking secondary....

[sloopyinca]

And it gets worse...you have to live in Michigan too.

[Almanian's Evil Twin]

Well, I don't HAVE to.

Which kind of makes it worse, in a way....

[sloopyinca]

If I was on the board of directors at Toyota, I'd kill the person responsible for the ad campaign they are running during the game. It's fucking awful.

[Tulpa Doom]

Looks like something Lou Ferrigno and Aubrey O'Day would come up with.

[sloopyinca]

**ding-ding-ding**

We have a winner!

[Almanian's Evil Twin]

You know who I'd hit even harder with a baseball bat than Chris Collinsworth? Michelle Tafoya.

SHUTYOURWHOREMOUTH YOUSTUPIDFUCKINGSIDELINEPROWLER YOUCONTRIBUTENOTHING!!

[Tulpa Doom]

So, Emmanuel Sanders misses the ball and then hits a defensive player helmet to helmet... and the defender gets a 15 yard penalty.

Plus Cris and Al tut-tutting about how they are such better referees than the people in the crowd who booed the call.

[sloopyinca]

I think it was a good call, but it should have been a late hit, not helmet to helmet. He knew the ball wasn't in the receiver's hands and he plowed into him anyway.

And if you actually watch a game on NBC with the volume on, you're an idiot.

[Tulpa Doom]

It was a bang bang play in real time. He didn't have time to stop.

[Tulpa Doom]

If I didn't have the volume on I wouldn't have been able to hear Peyton Manning screaming "We ran a fucking play!" next to the ref's mic.

[sloopyinca]

Was it subtitled? That's the only way I can understand Manning's gibberish.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Speaking of crap ads: If I had to choose between skipping breakfast and having only McD breakfast, I'd shoot myself.

[sloopyinca]

The first thing I thought was:

why are those my only two choices? If I'm so busy I have to skip breakfast and I live where the only fast food place is a McDonalds, I would have become friendly with a diner I could call an order in to and run in and picked up a biscuit or breakfast sammich from them (faster than going through a McDonalds drive in) on my way to wherever the hell I was going.

[Tulpa Doom]

Yeah, I can totally see Sen. Casey, Jr hanging out in motorcycle bars.