Real Referees Get Standing Ovation From Baltimore Fan In First Game Back

As our long National Football Nightmare ends, and the replacement refs return to their gigs at the Lingerie League, your local Foot Locker, and the Bausch & Lomb Pepper Spray Test Lab, the National Football League’s genuine union referees returned to work for the first time Thursday night. They were greeted with a rousing ovation from the fans in Baltimore, a sight which, as NFL Network’s Rich Eisen pointed out, we’re not likely to see again.

You would think that, as a lifelong Jets fan, I might have a special place in my heart for horrible touchdown calls, but I’m so glad to have the real refs back that I’m not going to be one of those killjoy liberals who point out that, despite the attention this got from everyone from Paul Ryan to President Obama, there are union workers whose absence wouldn’t be readily apparent in an instant replay, or a regular replay, or to Mr. Magoo, but whose importance can only be measured in the 12 years it takes to teach a child, or the tense minutes it takes to pull you from a burning house, or the slenderness of the blue line between order and chaos, or the 3.4 ounces of shampoo you’re allowed to bring on an airplane with you. I’m just going to sit back and enjoy the games. And vote.

Here’s the clip, from NFL Network:

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This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.

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