Getting the ice skating rink ready downtown. Can’t wait (Taken with Instagram)
Me and the Pope of steeler country. Man I love steeler Sundays (Taken with Instagram at Jerome Bettis’ Grille 36)
BREAKING: NFL & NFLRA REACH 8 YEAR AGREEMENT
The agreement includes the following key terms:
- Eight-year term covering the 2012-2019 seasons.
- The current defined benefit pension plan will remain in place for current officials through the 2016 season (or until the official earns 20 years of service). The defined benefit plan will then be frozen.
- Retirement benefits will be provided for new hires, and for all officials beginning in 2017, through a defined contribution arrangement, which will have two elements: an annual league contribution made on behalf of each game official that will begin with an average of more than $18,000 per official and increase to more than $23,000 per official in 2019, and a partial match on any additional contribution that an official makes to his 401(k) account.
- Apart from their benefit package, the game officials’ compensation will increase from an average of $149,000 a year in 2011 to $173,000 in 2013, rising to $205,000 by 2019.
- Beginning with the 2013 season, the NFL will have the option of hiring a number of officials on a full-time basis to work year-round, including on the field.
- The NFL will have the option to retain additional officials for training and development purposes, and may assign those additional officials to work NFL games. The number of additional officials will be determined by the NFL.
The Refs will vote on Friday to pass the deal, however, Commissioner Goodell has temporarily lifted the lockout so that a regular crew can work the Thursday night match between the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens. Per Pro Football Talk:
A crew is being assembled to work Thursday night’s game between the Browns and Ravens. Then, on Friday, the officials will travel to Dallas to retrieve their equipment and receive their game assignments for Sunday and Monday, with the same crews working together as last year.
Oh Happy Day!
Rejoice NFL Fans! Ed Hochuli and friends will be back to work soon.
The NFL and NFLRA struck a tentative agreement.
“If you’re sacrificing time away from my family and myself for the benefit of winning championships, then winning a championship should happen every single year.”
- Vanessa Bryant, on being married to NBA star Kobe Bryant, to New York magazine
Really is this bitch stupid or something Every year my ass
I hurt deep inside my soul knowing that I will never look as rad ass as Macho Man sitting by the pool.
I’ve caught pieces of a few preseason games and I have one main takeaway — these replacement officials need to go.
Last week Shannon Eastin became the first female referee by working as the side judge for the Packers-Chargers game. I think it’s fantastic to get a female official in there. This is not what I am complaining about. I’m talking about replacement officials as a whole. Currently, NFL officials are locked out due to their bargaining agreement battle with the league. While they are sitting out the NFL is using officials from 1-A schools and various other professional sports. Here’s the problem, you can tell.
During the Hall of Fame game the officials messed up the coin toss. That’s normally pretty straight forward, a kind of heads or tails type of thing. Thursday night I caught some of the Falcons-Ravens game and heard the official refer to Atlanta as Arizona time after time. Messing up the name of the city you are in is embarrassing but it doesn’t really hurt the product. The issue is be unavoidable with close calls. This game moves so fast, how are these replacement officials going to get these calls right? That’s a ton of pressure. I saw quite a few questionable out of bounds calls this week. It really looks like this is going to be a problem. At least we know they’ll review every scoring play.
