Dear NFL, Fix the Ref Mess Before Players Get Hurt

Sally Jenkins: Greedy debate between owners and refs is foolish
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 19, 2012 7:21 PM CDT
Dear NFL, Fix the Ref Mess Before Players Get Hurt
San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh argues with a replacement ref.   (AP Photo/Mike Roemer)

Sally Jenkins has zero sympathy for the NFL's "32 arrogant owners" or its "121 clubby, egotistical refs," but she warns in the Washington Post that they better settle their dispute before players start getting hurt. The replacement refs just aren't cutting it. "There are construction sites safer than NFL stadiums at the moment," she writes. Jenkins offers suggestions on how to solve the two big sticking points, over pensions (yeah, NFL refs get them) and the league's demand for better accountability to weed out lousy ones.

But first each side will have to put its greed in check. "Your responsibility to your wallets comes second to your responsibility for the safety of the players," she writes. "There are some professions in which everyone should consent to cooperate in making the worksite a place where you don’t have an unreasonable expectation of breaking your neck, and this is one of them." Read her full column here. (More NFL stories.)

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