BakoSaint

I have been pondering a concept. Referees keep screwing the Saints. They keep getting more brazen. The “see no evil, hear no evil” strategy is not working and its only getting worse. Its been bad ever since the no call, but this year its at a new level, with a series of inexplicable calls in the 4th quarter with all the momentum in the balance in both our games so far.

What can we do? Just wait and be patient? Get a way better QB than Josh Allen and a way better defense the Rams so we can beat 16 men, despite our cap situation and lack of draft picks? Close our eyes, whistle, and hope it stops? Hope the refs just have it our for some certain player or member of management and will forget that our whole city blamed them for the no call? Forgive them and beg for mercy?

I had another thought. Could we go on offense? Sometimes you have to make a successful strike to get the opposition to back off. As fans we can do what we want, and maybe we do have power.

My premise is that many refs are screwing us and they know it. Maybe Goodell hints to them to do it because he has a grudge and we arent an important market, or maybe they hate us because we didnt respect their authority after the no call and in their minds we should thank them for the no call and apologize to them. Regardless, I think the majority of refs are screwing us, they are unethical in doing it, and if they are unethical in that, they are probably unethical in other areas of their lives, cheating on their wives, stealing stuff from their day jobs, gambling, soliciting prostitutes, taking bribes, using hard drugs, drunk driving, dating underaged boys or girls, etc. So what if after each game where we get abused by corrupt refs, we pick the ref most responsible, and a few hundred Saints fans contribute $10-20 each to hire a private investigator to follow that ref around a couple months later when they least expect it, maybe blow a whistle on them with some compromising photos on the internet that get them arrested or divorced? There must be tens or hundreds of thousands of Saints fans disappointed with recent officiating, so even a small percentage could make a difference.

This might seem like tampering, but I dont think fan activity outside the stadium can really be regulated by the NFL. Legally, I think anyone can put a PI on anyone. This could be structured as a journalistic endeavor publishing the findings, and the protections for journalism are strong. Refs would hate it and might make more bad calls against us, but then those refs would get PI’s on them, and if they wont let us into the Superbowl anyway, more bad call would just improve our draft picks while we solve the problem. We could structure it so that if a season happens where the clear statistical trends of biased officiating against us end, we pause the program. At some point refs might decide its not worth abusing our fanbase and team and its in their own interests and to call a fair game for us so nobody is keeping track of where they are at night on the road.

Has anyone ever tried anything like this? Could it work? How much would it cost to put a PI on a ref for a day or two or for a weekend road trip? Is there a law I am missing that could stop it? Maybe if we want to stop being abused, we have to fight back?