A Message to My Football Loving Friends

It's becoming increasingly popular to hate on the NFL replacement refs. Do a quick Deadspin search for "replacement refs" and you'll see the current state of public opinion (for some reason, it won't let me link to my search, so you'll have to actually do some typing. Sorry). I don't care about football of any kind, so I feel completely comfortable and unbiased in proclaiming a solution to this problem. If you want the regular refs to come back, you need to stop watching professional football.

There is absolutely no reason for the owners to give in if people keep watching the game, no matter how much people complain. It's just like NBC's coverage of the Olympics. What incentive did they have to show things live when they were scoring huge ratings anyway? So if people stop watching football games, it takes the power out of the owner's hands. Just think how long it took baseball to recover after the '94 player's strike. I'm not trying to suggest that this is the same, but I do think the owner's will be afraid of fan dissatisfaction if they actually start to see the numbers drop. It's not like there isn't another football alternative on TV every week, anyway.

Being a fan is bittersweet most of the time. It sucks not watching your team and sometimes it sucks more watching them. But if you want to do away with the anger (and, let's face it, excuses) at the replacement refs, stop watching. Think of it as your team getting rid of the old expensive stars for some young talent. Sure, things look bad now, but they're working towards a better future. Plus, by avoiding football, you'll actually have an impact on the game at the field level.