Report: NFL Replacement Referee Pulled From Assignment for Being Saints Fan (Photo)

by Benjamin Klein on Sun, Sep 16, 2012 at 10:59AM

If you're a fan of an NFL team, you probably shouldn't be
officiating that team's game. The NFL appears to agree.

A replacement referee named Brian Stropolo, who was scheduled to work the
Saints-Panthers game on Sunday, has been pulled from his assignment after it
became known that he was a New Orleans fan, according to ESPN's Chris Mortensen.

NFL replaces replacement official after ESPN notifies NFL that side judge assigned to Saints game has pictures online … say.ly/uFa4bhU

— Chris Mortensen (@mortreport) September 16, 2012

The last-minute referee substitution is the first known conflict of interest with the replacement referees, who have mostly come under fire for poor calls in the preseason and mismanagement of the clock and timeouts in Week 1.

Props to the NFL for catching this before the Panthers committed 45 penalties for 1,000 yards
en route to a massive blowout at the hands of the Saints.

Check out a photo of Stropolo showing off his Saints loyalty below, courtesy of his now-defunct Facebook page.