TheOak

Just heard on NFLSirus.
An official was pulled from the officiating crew because it was found out he was a Saints fan.

|Mitch|

NFL Network just said the official had pictures on his Facebook wearing Saints gear...

Roger will probably replace him with a Panthers fan

Halo

ESPN just reported that they trolled facebook and stalked this guy who is from New Orleans and is a replacement ref.

The ref had photos of himself in front the Dome as a Saints fan. I'm sure he had no idea he would become one of Goodell's scab officials.

ESPN said they took this information and reported that he was a fan of the NFL. The NFL has suspended this replacement ref for the Saints/Carolina game.

I agree that it looks bad that he was a fan of the Saints, then again they are paid to be objective and one hopes that was the job he would deliver.

ESPN - the DO-GOODER'S OF SPORT

Joker

How many others (officials) are fans of the team that their calling on Sunday, that don't have Facebook accounts

Halo

Don't think ESPN was investigating other teams and officials...

Joker

ESPN is always looking for a story, regardless of it's content or it being true

SaintsBro

Or officials who are fans of the players -- like you can stand there and watch Tom Brady or Revis or Peyton Manning play the game up close and not be impressed with him every week. Like that doesn't happen, that they like certain players....

This is NOT good, though, folks. The other refs will be aware of this, and will call more stuff against the Saints than normal today, just to show Goodell and the ESPN audience that they are not Saints fans.

TheOak

This is such BS!

If professionals can't be professional and have integrity then where an the heck do you find a ref?

I'll use me as an example... Using this precedent and stating some truths I wouldn't be able to officiate many games.

I'm a Saints fan
By that nature I despise Atlanta, SF, and the Vikings.
I also have deep dislike for Dallas, Denver.

hagan714

dam i gotta get to the bank and cancel that freaking check. brb

SaintsBro

Well this gets into the whole classic thing of, the old-school NFL ref thing, the REAL refs. In the old days, even up to recently, the real refs were actually attorneys, successful businessmen, Fortune 500 executives, even judges -- really wealthy and mainstream society type guys,usually from small town middle America. And that way they're very divorced from any organized gambling interests, they're not susceptible to bribes or outside influence. Because they don't NEED the money of a bribe. In the old way, it was you had these dudes who were refs on Sunday, who were well-known pillars of their communities, they couldn't afford a scandal because of the hit their integrity and their names would take, it would destroy their real life and careers and family names...now you have these shady types coming in to referee, from the lingerie football league, from pee wee leagues and small division colleges,with almost NO checks on their background or integrity...

One of the scab refs was recently revealed to be a player in one of those big national poker tournament in Vegas...Mike Herrera had a cow about it, and I agree with him, you can't let that type of person be a referee, it's really scary stuff. Again Goodell is botching this whole thing up. The "integrity of the game" my ass.