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Just in case you were wondering how the NFL could hire two sets of replacement referees as incompetent as the ones the St. Louis Rams saw vs. the Washington Redskins in Week 2 and the ones the Green Bay Packers suffered vs. the Seattle Seahawks in Week 3—well, they couldn't! The referees who botched that last-second call on Monday night are apparently the same ones who nearly allowed Rams-Redskins to turn into a full-blown riot all of a week ago.
Whether you're pro- or anti-union, I'm not sure there's any way left to justify the NFL's extended experiment with replacement referees—they're simply incompetent, and the striking referees have the NFL more or less over a barrel here. Even if you think unions are largely irrelevant in contemporary society, professional football referees appear to be a weirdly perfect example of a group that can still gather up all its skilled practitioners, walk out, and not be replaced with equally talented, otherwise unemployed individuals.
But the NFL still hasn't budged, so I look forward to seeing which teams get their crack squad of game-ruiners in Week 4. At least the Rams have already had their turn...