Those who lost the most Monday night in Seattle weren’t the Green Bay Packers. That was bad enough. The ones who lost the most were the fans who love the game and have made it the premier sport that it is.

They lost thanks to the ineptitude of replacement referees who don’t understand the rules of the game and can’t see an interception when it’s right in front of their noses. More important, they lost to NFL owners who spout platitudes about the integrity of the game and then trade integrity for a few nickels by using replacement refs who can’t do the job.

We’d like to hear what the Packers front office has to say, especially President Mark Murphy. But so far, we’ve heard nothing. Murphy should pressure owners and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to end this display of incompetence.

There have been plenty of bad calls in the first three weeks of the 2012 season that could have determined the outcome of games. There will be more screwups as long as replacement refs remain on the field. Monday night, Green Bay fell victim to that greed and incompetence.

Monday Night Football commentator Jon Gruden said after Monday’s bad call that he was left with a bad taste in his mouth. That bad taste should be in the mouths of anyone who cares about the integrity of the game and the safety of players.

But apparently, the owners haven’t gotten that taste yet. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has been steadfast in his defense of the replacement referees. He has called these three weeks “exciting” and “great.” Only if you’re a fan of the Keystone Kops and the NFL as slapstick comedy.

Goodell said early on that the refs were doing “a very credible job, and they’re only going to get better.” Maybe in the fantasy football world where Goodell lives, but certainly not on the field.

Jerry Markbreit, who refereed 23 NFL seasons before retiring in 1998, said recently on ESPN 98.7 FM’s “The Mike Lupica Show” that “The management of the games gets tougher (as the season moves along). These guys have relied on competent, top-notch, terrific officials all these years. And now they have a bunch of amateurs out there, and it’s going to fall apart. It’s not going to get better, as the commissioner said. ... It’s going to get worse.”

Affecting the outcome of games is bad enough, but worse is the increased potential for player injury. In some cases, the refs have missed flagrant fouls such as helmet-to-helmet injuries. If players feel the refs aren’t controlling the games, they will take more risks.

The owners don’t care because they don’t need to care. As former NFL quarterback Steve Young has pointed out, the demand for the game is inexhaustible. Fans are angry about the refs, but they’ll keep watching. Owners know that and know there is no economic reason for them to settle their labor dispute with the professional refs.

Fans, coaches and players always complain about bad calls, and even professional refs make plenty of them. But the replacement guys, try as they might, simply weren’t ready for prime time.

Still, don’t blame them. Blame the NFL owners who value money _ mounds and mounds of money _ more than player safety, the integrity of the game and the fans who pay the bills.

On the field Monday night, the score was Greed 1, Fans 0.

(Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
(MCT Information Services)