NESN

2012* NFL Season Officially Dead After Just Three Weeks of Embarrassment, Disappointment

Stick a fork in it, football fans.

The 2012* NFL season is officially dead, and it was not fun while it lasted.

The season, may it rest in peace, lasted just three short (long?) weeks under the guidance of what folks call “replacement refs.” To refer to this group of glorified fans, lingerie league castoffs and fantasy football insiders as “referees” is where it first went all horribly, horribly wrong.

What was relatively humorous in the preseason is now making the 2012 NFL season the most disappointing and embarrassing season to date. And it’s only Week 3. Even if we make it to the final horn in Super Bowl XLVII, the 2012* NFL season will be tattooed with the sporting world’s most-feared glyph: the asterisk.

Not only are the “refs” blowing calls, placing balls in incorrect areas
and even taking out players in the end zone, they’ve lost all respect from players, coaches and fans.
The sad thing is, they haven’t improved since calling teams by
their color — which may or may not be worse than calling them the wrong
city.

At first, I was one of the few critics to ask the masses to cut these guys a little slack. After all, it’s not their fault that this unqualifed group of scabs was placed in this mess. They weren’t qualified to take the reins but, hey, they gave it the old college try — or, should I say the old high school try, depending on what level the league found these guys in. But what started off as silly calls and “rookie mistakes” have soon turned into flat-out dangerous circumstances. Players were nearly killing each other in the years leading up to the 2012* season, before the “refs” took over. Now that there’s no respect for the officiating, what will happen now?

So what can be done? Pretty much anything, at this point. But the answer is, unfortunately, nothing can be done to save the season. Nothing. If it were up to me, my first recommendation would be for everyone to just put down their playbooks, headsets, equipment and scouting reports and just slowly … walk … away. The season is over. The integrity of the league and respect for the officiating crew is long gone. It’s time to close down the shop and wait for Roger Goodell and his band of merry men to figure out when the real refs are ready to come out of whatever laugh shack they congregate in each Sunday and Monday night and begin working again.

Maybe that isn’t the best idea — or even possible — but given the current state of the NFL, there isn’t anything anyone can do now to save the season. Let’s pretend that the real refs do return this week and work until it’s all said and done in New Orleans in early February. My reaction to that: too late, Hoss.

We could always make the most of it and turn this bad thing into a good thing. Let’s raise some money for charities and raffle off “ref for a game” spots each week.

Maybe Tim Tebow can officiate while Mark Sanchez quarterbacks and vice versa — hello, ratings!

Is there a referee bikini out there that fits (make that: “fits”) Kate Upton?

We have replacement refs — how about each team must use a replacement quarterback for the fourth quarter decided by Princess the Camel at halftime?

After a wild ride through just three weeks, there have been too many ridiculous calls on game-changing plays that resulted in crucial wins (and losses) that will come back to haunt or help a team when it counts down the stretch. And it’s getting worse. With 14 weeks remaining before playoffs, the NFL season is going to turn into a bigger joke by the week. Everyone likes a comedy, but this is just out of control. Ask yourself this: Would pulling the plug really be that much worse than going on with the rest of the 2012* season?

All in favor of an NFL lockout say “aye.”