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The replacements NFL's decision to use part-time zebras is silly
So, the NFL apparently is going to go with replacement referees due to its ongoing labor dispute with the part-time zebras who normally work the games. Put me down as one of the people who think this is a silly idea. A very silly idea. Go to the big safe, Paul Tagliabue, spin the dials and take out all the money these boys want. Hand it over in a hurry. This dispute isn't about the quality of play or injuries or a living wage or any of the other publicly cited reasons both sides are throwing around the conference table. This is about the unspoken foundation of your game, big fella: gambling. I know, I know, gambling on games doesn't matter to the league. Sure, sure, the league pays no attention to the fact that half the country is backing a Lions-Dolphins parlay or a fat over-under number in Cincinnati. Sure. Gambling is only the major reason that the NFL has become our national pastime, the reason that pro football is the only sport that can make a viewer in Baltimore watch a team from Seattle play another team from Kansas City at 4 o'clock on a gorgeous September afternoon. All it takes is for one of these disgruntled welders by day, line judge every weekend, to make a small financial arrangement with a Las Vegas sharpie to send the entire NFL tumbling. The fixed game in pro football -- more than any other sport -- would be lethal. The easiest way to stage a fixed game would be through buying the services of a couple of officials. Pay the boys, Paul. Pay 'em in a hurry. Leigh Montville appears regularly on CNN/Sports Illustrated. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the writer.
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