Open letter to Paul Tagliabue

[Favpack]

In light of the PR fiasco that was this year's Super Bowl - I have written an open letter to the NFL commissioner (for discussion purposes only), as follows:

Mr. Paul Tagliabue
NFL Commissioner

Mr. Tagliabue,

In light of the unquestionably horrid officiating at the Super Bowl this year, let me offer up three suggestions that will greatly increase the viability of the officiating for future games:

1) Make officials full-time, effective immediately, with competitive (to baseball and basketball) salaries and benefits. Moonlighting officials does not work in 2006.

2) Cap the age limit at 55 and begin a nation-wide search for our best college officials immediately and recruit them heavily. The average age of officials right now is 52, which is a borderline joke. It should be 40-50, max - and the full-time, competitive salary will help get that number down quickly.

3) Each crew will include a replay official and state-of-the-art replay equipment. An official will replay every single play twice for consistency during the 30-45 second delay between each play. If he spots a glaring error he will immediately buzz the referee - who will stop the play clock, game clock and wait for further instructions from the replay official. The replay official will then have 60 seconds to determine if the play stands or not.

Thank you for your consideration.

P.S. - Don't fine Coach Holmgren. He deserves a one day reprieve from the joke that was this year's officiating crew.

[yankee]

In light of the PR fiasco that was this year's Super Bowl - I have written an open letter to the NFL commissioner (for discussion purposes only), as follows:

Mr. Paul Tagliabue
NFL Commissioner

Mr. Tagliabue,

In light of the unquestionably horrid officiating at the Super Bowl this year, let me offer up three suggestions that will greatly increase the viability of the officiating for future games:

1) Make officials full-time, effective immediately, with competitive (to baseball and basketball) salaries and benefits. Moonlighting officials does not work in 2006.

2) Cap the age limit at 55 and begin a nation-wide search for our best college officials immediately and recruit them heavily. The average age of officials right now is 52, which is a borderline joke. It should be 40-50, max - and the full-time, competitive salary will help get that number down quickly.

3) Each crew will include a replay official and state-of-the-art replay equipment. An official will replay every single play twice for consistency during the 30-45 second delay between each play. If he spots a glaring error he will immediately buzz the referee - who will stop the play clock, game clock and wait for further instructions from the replay official. The replay official will then have 60 seconds to determine if the play stands or not.

Thank you for your consideration.

P.S. - Don't fine Coach Holmgren. He deserves a one day reprieve from the joke that was this year's officiating crew.
this is good, but doing this after every single play would not work. this is what challeges are for. the coach has an oppurtunity to look at the scoreboard several times, giving him enough time to decide. i think your "system" would work within a given time limit, say, under 5 minutes, or something like that. if this was done after every play, it would most likely slow down the game.

[Slim-Rob]

I agree with the ref thing, but the whole deal about reviewing every play is B.S. It just would not work. It would slow the game down, teams would lose momentum, fans would lose interest.


IT IS A GREAT IDEA THOUGH. At least there is one person that wants something done about it and is trying to communicate with the league, while the rest of us just complain or defend.

[Slim-Rob]

this is good, but doing this after every single play would not work. this is what challeges are for. the coach has an oppurtunity to look at the scoreboard several times, giving him enough time to decide. i think your "system" would work within a given time limit, say, under 5 minutes, or something like that. if this was done after every play, it would most likely slow down the game.

Agreed. It is already done under 2 minutes, and doing it for the whole game would definantly slow it down.

[Favpack]

Ok - you're probably right - but I'm talking a super quick review - like you're just an official watching the game - you only buzz the head referee if there is a glaring mistake.

I also hate the delays - but I also hate the coach's challenge. The coach's challenge is like...."ok, we suck, but it's up to the coaches to catch us being sucky". I just don't like that.

I say let the eagle eye official (and remember this is his "job" in life) monitor the game. The 30 second game clock is a built-in time for him to watch each play.

[Slim-Rob]

Ok - you're probably right - but I'm talking a super quick review - like you're just an official watching the game - you only buzz the head referee if there is a glaring mistake.

I also hate the delays - but I also hate the coach's challenge. The coach's challenge is like...."ok, we suck, but it's up to the coaches to catch us being sucky". I just don't like that.

I say let the eagle eye official (and remember this is his "job" in life) monitor the game. The 30 second game clock is a built-in time for him to watch each play.

Isn't the NFL game clock 40 seconds? But yes, I see what your saying now. Man that would be one helluva job, watching 22 guys run around twice in under 40 seconds.

[dragonfootballfan]

What they need to do is review every play, and not whistle any play dead if a ball comes loose. They need to review every single one of those plays therefore there are not "unchallengeable" plays. I also think that the coaches should hve two challenges a game just in case they do not agree with the officials they can challenge to have the play reviewed no matter what.

[jtk1519]

Dear fan,

Quit your whining and shut up. If you want to gripe, buy season tickets.

Sincerely,
Paul Tagliabue
Commissioner of the NFL

[wide-e-wide]

Dear Commish,

Give me a month to prepare and I can fix any problems you might have.

-Pete Carroll

[dragons08]

enough superbowl crap..tell me, if you care about any of the teams in there..hmmm nope

[pack0808]

I do d08. Tell me who cares about Illinois football like you do? :p Enough is enough. There are questionable called games made all year long. This one is just blown up because the whole world is watching and every single play is magnified 100 times.

[LoneRocket]

Dear fan,

Quit your whining and shut up. If you want to gripe, buy season tickets.

Sincerely,
Paul Tagliabue
Commissioner of the NFL
Thats pretty much what the following article states.

'Properly officiated' League defends the officiating in Super Bowl XL

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/football/nfl/specials/playoffs/2005/02/07/bc.fbn.superbowl.afterm.ap/index.html

[LoneRocket]

I do d08. Tell me who cares about Illinois football like you do? :p Enough is enough. There are questionable called games made all year long. This one is just blown up because the whole world is watching and every single play is magnified 100 times.
Hey Illinois has a pretty cool fight song.:rolleyes:

[dragons08]

I do d08. Tell me who cares about Illinois football like you do? :p Enough is enough. There are questionable called games made all year long. This one is just blown up because the whole world is watching and every single play is magnified 100 times.
well, i meant besides you..i know your a die-hard steeler fan

[dragons08]

Hey Illinois has a pretty cool fight song.:rolleyes:
damn straight :D

cool mascot, cool stadium..all they need is a good football team

[SVite]

All those replay views,would be a TV nightmare (programing).Replay was dropped once before when it first came out,because of the time factor.I`m not a seahawks fan,but that TD by Rothlisberger really angered me,just because they blew it,and in the Superbowl,in front of 130 mil. people watching! People around the world,that really dont understand the rules,were prolly saying "so you just have to get close to that white line?you dont have to touch it,or go over it?!:rolleyes: N.F.L. Not For Long...for that replay official!

[Favpack]

All those replay views,would be a TV nightmare (programing).Replay was dropped once before when it first came out,because of the time factor.I`m not a seahawks fan,but that TD by Rothlisberger really angered me,just because they blew it,and in the Superbowl,in front of 130 mil. people watching! People around the world,that really dont understand the rules,were prolly saying "so you just have to get close to that white line?you dont have to touch it,or go over it?!:rolleyes: N.F.L. Not For Long...for that replay official!

The siliver line is -- one would hope the idiots calling the Steelers/Colts and the Super Bowl will never do a big game again -- surely we get that out of it. But, yeah, for those of us with no dog in this hunt - it was just a real shock to see the officials simply not let the game play out - EVERY big play for Seattle had a flag. I've never, ever seen that in a big time event before.

[pack0808]

All those replay views,would be a TV nightmare (programing).Replay was dropped once before when it first came out,because of the time factor.I`m not a seahawks fan,but that TD by Rothlisberger really angered me,just because they blew it,and in the Superbowl,in front of 130 mil. people watching! People around the world,that really dont understand the rules,were prolly saying "so you just have to get close to that white line?you dont have to touch it,or go over it?!:rolleyes: N.F.L. Not For Long...for that replay official!


I watched that Rothlesberger play over and over like everybody else and i do not know how you can say that they blew it. Was not clear to me at all in slow motion. You could not tell if the ball broke the plane or not. Either way, i think we all agree that there would have been about a 99.9 percent chance of the Steelers scoring on 4th down and 1/2 inch. On the 130 million people watching. You are right that is a lot!! Do you think they would want to look bad in front of 130 mil? NO!! The refs are human and there were definitely some questionable calls no doubt. The NFL is by far the #1 rated sport in the world right now and the SB is the most watched event in the world. Do you really think they would risk everything and tell the refs to make calls for the Steelers because they like them a little better then the Seahawks while the world is watching analyzing every single detail? NO! The NFL is still going to be #1 no matter who wins. Suicide to risk that and it would make no sense at all. That is why i laugh at some of these conspiracy theorist claiming the game was fixed because of some questionable calls. Every call is just blown up that much more because you have that many people watching.

[Reaganrattler07]

The siliver line is -- one would hope the idiots calling the Steelers/Colts and the Super Bowl will never do a big game again -- surely we get that out of it. But, yeah, for those of us with no dog in this hunt - it was just a real shock to see the officials simply not let the game play out - EVERY big play for Seattle had a flag. I've never, ever seen that in a big time event before.

I wouldn't go all that far. Seattle scored ten points, and could've scored 6 more. Seattle blew this game and most all the penalties that went against them really should've gone against them - except the Hasselbeck low block.

There's a difference between bad calls and calls that don't go your way.

[TheDuke]

All that has to happen is we get Younger Refs with better vision who can RUN down the field. If we had that. they wouldn't have to review every play!

[Reaganrattler07]

All that has to happen is we get Younger Refs with better vision who can RUN down the field. If we had that. they wouldn't have to review every play!

I'll tell ya what...some of those refs can move though. But to be honest, I really don't see anything wrong with NFL reffing. I'd make a few changes here and there but it'll never be perfect. Some calls will get called and others won't.