Aug 9, 2012; San Diego, CA, USA; NFL referee Shannon Eastin jogs to her position during the first quarter between the San Diego Chargers and Green Bay Packers at Qualcomm Stadium. Eastin is the first female referee to ever ref a game in the NFL. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-US PRESSWIRE

So after watching all the weeks highlights and being kind of bored I decided to see what this NFL referee strike was all about and I was surprised by a few things. The biggest surprise was  that they average $149,000 a year! That’s nice coin for a part time job. Most of the officials have primary jobs, lawyers, teachers, etc. I don’t want to get into taking sides in this labor dispute or about how much money the refs make or why they make it. I have been watching football for a long time, and like all of you I see the refs making bad calls regularly. While it does give us something to talk about, let’s see if they can take this situation and figure out how to  make the refs better on the field.

The NFL refs are part time. Though it seems to me that with the game moving as fast as it does maybe the refs should be full time and devote a whole week to each game they ref. They can watch film and look for tendencies that a player may have or look at  calls blown from last week and how to be better. Could  anyone argue against full time refs making the game better and safer?

After watching the Giants first game against the Cowboys I did notice the replacement refs kept the flags in their pockets for the most part. They missed some calls, but what refs don’t? Overall, I can’t say they were awful or  the worst I had ever seen. The NFL should not rest with just being good enough, and don’t they think that full time refs would make it better?

“There’s a short-term issue which we obviously would love to be able to get the best officials on the field,” Goodell told ESPN’s Darren Rovell in an interview Thursday.

Reports have indicated that the sides are anywhere between 40-50 million dollars apart and cannot agree on what percentage of the officials will become full-time. However, given the horrific showing of the officials in the Giants-Patriots game along with numerous other preseason games this year the league is in a tough spot (just search YouTube for many hilarious video tributes to them)

Jerry Jones has been quoted as saying that he doesn’t believe the replacements officials will impact the game as long as their consistent. However, Wednesday is a day long party for the NFL and they cannot have the crown jewel of that party, the game, come out looking like  cubic zirconium instead of a shinny diamond.

It would appear, that as of right now all of the leverage is with the NFL officials . The replacements have been horrific and the league,

November 14, 2010; San Francisco, CA, USA; NFL referee Ed Hochuli (85) during the second quarter between the San Francisco 49ers and the St. Louis Rams at Candlestick Park. San Francisco defeated St. Louis 23-20 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Jason O. Watson-US PRESSWIRE

no matter what they say, does not want their multi-billion product to look more like the XFL then the NFL. My gut still makes me believe that come Wednesday night at 8:27pm EST, when the coin flip takes place we will see Ed Hochuli in his way too small shirt on the field. If so, expect a standing ovation from the crowd.