Two things give me reason today to ponder the line of thinking which holds that history is a construct formed by the winners — an agreed-upon narrative that keeps up from asking too many pesky questions. First, tonight is the moment when the historical Ralph Lamb is superseded, perhaps forever, by his fictional avatar, played by Dennis Quaid. The actual Lamb hassled mobsters, went easy on drunk drivers and made Las Vegas Metro into the omnipotent (and trigger-happy) entity that it remains. Or so runs the consensus. As for Sixties mafiosi, they ought to be flattered that their drab, doughy, bureaucratic Vegas branch has been reincarnated in the form of Michael Chiklis, charismatic and dressed to kill. And, yes, I’ve already set my DVR to record the entire series.
Of course, the other mendacity du jour is the awarding of “victory” in NFL games to losing teams, thanks to the league’s ass-clown scab referees. These “zebras” would be hard pressed to call a Pop Warner game and get it right, to judge by their perpetually befuddled facial expressions and highly creative interpretations of the rule book, the latter having left former coaches and players apoplectic with disbelief. Their mistakes are then ratified by the NFL, raising them to the level of fraud. You, me and everyone else with a TV set knows damn well that games are being decided not on the field of play but by a bunch of strike breakers I wouldn’t trust to monitor Detention Hall.
The league, you see, thinks this is a matter of chump change between itself and the locked-out referees (who understandably balk at having their pensions dumped into that crap shoot known as a 401k). But that won’t be the case much longer. The league is generous with information that informs point spreads and prop bets. When sports bettors in Las Vegas casinos are out $9 million just on last night’s fiasco and one betting site is refunding wagers (above) because the on-field screw up was so egregious, that’s a lot of action which could dry up overnight. Perhaps sticking it to Vegas is the real endgame of presiding NFL genius Roger Goodell’s brinkmanship. (“That’ll teach you to bet on our sacred sport!”) But, no, Occam’s Razor tells us that the league is just being cheap.
While casinos are laughing all the way to the bank after taking John Q. Customer to the cleaners last night, thanks to the buffoonery of Cirque du Goodell, this is a problem for them, too. (Congratulations to the estimated 15% of Mandalay Bay players who bet on the Seattle Seahawks.) Casino-issued point spreads lose credibility when the “refs” are stacking the deck in favor of the home team. It muddles their ability to “[encourage] balanced betting action” and parlay-card tiebreakers may have to be set in triple digits soon, at the rate we’re going. Were I sports bettor, I’d sit on my billfold and stay away from Vegas until the NFL comes to its senses … if ever.
As the announcers said during the game last night, the speed of the game is too difficult for these overmatched referees to handle. These referees have no idea what pass interference is and are just guessing most of the time. My advice for people who bet on these NFL games is to not bet because, with these referees, the outcome is unpredictable.
The owners want to break up the refs union, that’s what this is about. The regular refs suck, but anything is better than these clowns. The NBA has professional refs; there is no reason that the NFL should not hire full-time people who are physically up to the task. ESPN should not have interviewed the Seahawk quarterback and receiver after the game. They came off terrible trying to defend what we all saw a thousand times. Pete Carroll is simply a miserable man. Wherever he goes, he leaves a huge mess. Watching him celebrate like a cheerleader after that horrific travesty was hard to stomach.
Two points, David:
If I were a part-time worker making over a 100k a year, I’d take the “crap-shoot” known as a 401k.
Secondly, that “book” isn’t refunding U.S. players. That’s their “rest of the world” site. Deadspin updated their story.
The other reason, by the way, is that the NFL wants to hire 21 more officials to replace those who fuck up (remember when Ed Hochuli cost the Chargers a playoff game?) and the refs association refuses. They want permanent job security.
Bruce, considering the number of voided 401k matches I’ve seen in the casino industry, I don’t blame the refs in the slightest for hanging onto their pensions for dear life. Switching to a 401k from the existing pension plan is deal-breaker where any Culinary Union negotiations are Vegas concerned. Columbia Sussex, in its newbie arrogance, thought it could get what MGM, HET, WYNN and BYD couldn’t. The joke was upon ColSux.
Bruce: In your personal situation, do you provide a vital service that makes your bosses tens of millions every year, while their equity grows even faster? Why should the refs not share in some of that prosperity? The TV contracts guarantee massive profits. Ratings have never been better. NFL owners have very little loyalty or respect for fans. My team left with no qualms. Here is a good example of how rich and powerful people treat workers; they only care about numbers on a spread sheet.
Still think that the biggest point of contention is that the league wants to hire 21 more refs, so that incompetent crews could be replaced. Obviously, the union doesn’t want that.
Doubt the pension/401k is that big an issue; all these guys are full-time professionals in their other jobs, which is probably why they are concerned about a 401k….their is a limit to how much can be contributed to one, by statue. All the contributions would probably have to come from the league in the way of profit sharing contributions. For the league, continuing the pension for the existing refs is probably not a deal breaker. But they probably want the plan changed going forward; the average age of an NFL official is in the mid-50s; if they get a lot of retirees, and a lot of new young guys, the “defined benefit” plan could be hairy.
Lebowsky, while I doubt I make my company’s owners “millions”, I’ve no doubt that I and my colleagues make them oodles. But they are the ones who put up the capital for the business, have contiually reinvested capital in it, and are subject to paying my wages despite the vagaries of the Las Vegas tourism market. They are certainly due a return on their investment.
And David, one last thing: it’s falacious to compare the NFL owners, even in Jacksonville, to the owners of the Las Vegas resorts. Even the newest owners don’t have the ruinous debt-to-equity ratios of the clowns that run the resorts here. I doubt even Loveman could fuck up the balance sheet of an NFL team, though no doubt he would come close.