The Seattle Seahawks defeated the Green Bay Packers 14-12 on Monday, September 24, after replacement officials, standing in for locked-out NFL regulars, gave possession of a disputed ball to Seattle receiver Golden Tate. Officials in the end zone gave competing signals: one indicating a touchdown, the other an interception.
(CNN) -- The co-owner of a supply company. An insurance broker. The director of housing preservation and development. A sales broker. A probation officer. A high school teacher. A computer systems analyst.
They are seven guys headed to the Baltimore-Cleveland NFL game on Thursday night.
At the beginning of the week it didn't look like they'd make it.
But thanks to a new contract with the NFL, veteran officials will work the game. Those seven men have a second, part-time job as NFL officials.
Referee Gene Steratore and his six officials have been given the assignment of replacing the replacement refs, whose three weeks during the regular season produced many memorable moments, the kind that made fans and players actually wish for the old officials to come back.
But it's not like the 121 NFL officials who had been locked out of the league were just sitting on the couch all day.
NFL, referees reach agreement
Only in America: Personal foul
NFL's 'Fail Mary'
Most officials have a primary job, though a few are retired. And what they really do for a living varies from airline pilot to claims adjuster to sporting goods store owner to educator.
One of the NFL's best known referees, Ed Hochuli, a partner at a law firm in Phoenix, told ESPN's John Clayton earlier this month that officials often spend as many as 30 hours a week during the season at their part-time gigs. Factor in travel to games and meetings and it can be as many as 50 hours, said Hank Zaborniak, who was a fill-in official during the lockout.
SI: NFL's most embarrassing moments
They watch film for hours, have to take a weekly rules test and read what are called case books -- thick binders full of plays that give guidance on rules. And there's also conditioning.
SI: Hochuli gives inside peek at typical play
There are 17 crews in the NFL, so weekends like this, when four teams have the week off, there are only 15 games. The crews that don't work don't get paid.
And it can be a very hard job to get. A quick scan of the 2012 roster of officials showed there are no rookies, and only 21 officials had five years or fewer of NFL experience. Most have been in the league for 10 years or more. Line judge Tom Barnes is in his 27th season.
According to the league's website, applicants need to have 10 years of officiating experience, five of which must be above the high school level.
The career path generally is work as a high school official, get some big game assignments, get hired by a college league and apply for an NFL position. And wait for the call.
Points of contention in negotiations
For Zaborniak, it never worked out despite 15 years in with the Big Ten and 12 years at lower-division leagues. Work had something to do with that. He has been assistant commissioner at the Ohio High School Athletic Association for 17 years.
For Steratore it did work out. A former college quarterback, he told the New York Times that he jumped into football officiating in 1983 and spent time as a Big East official. Eventually he was hired by the NFL in 2003 as a field judge and became a referee three years later.
He also officiates college basketball, the only NFL referee to do so. So he's very used to being in the spotlight, being booed and jeered.
On Thursday night, he and his six co-workers will be back at their second jobs, and for a change, there probably will be some cheers in the air.
SI's Don Banks: Pressure is on for real refs
© 2013 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
A timer got stuck (or something) during the 2012 London Olympics, allowing German fencer Britta Heidemann to defeat South Korean fencer Shin A-Lam in the epee semifinal. Shin sat on the piste for an hour, crying at times, while officials worked out the question.
Baseball umpire Bill Joyce admittedly blew a call at first base, robbing the Detroit Tigers' Armando Galarraga of a perfect game vs. the Cleveland Indians in 2010. Joyce wept when he met Galarraga at home plate before the next day's game.
In a 2009 qualifying match for the 2010 World Cup, French striker Thierry Henry got away with touching the ball with his hand — twice — before teammate William Gallas scored the winning goal against Ireland, knocking the Irish out of the competition.
A regular NFL referee screwed up the call on an overtime coin toss on Thanksgiving Day 1998, and the Detroit Lions beat the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Referees failed to call Germany's Torsten Frings for a handball during a 2002 match, and the U.S. was knocked out of the World Cup tournament.
Argentina's Diego Maradona illegally touched the ball with his hand while scoring a goal against England in soccer's 1986 World Cup tournament. It became known as the "Hand of God" after Maradona credited divine intervention for the dubious goal.
In 1999, the Dallas Stars' Brett Hull scored in triple overtime with a skate in the crease -- which at the time was illegal -- and the Stars went on to win the Stanley Cup over the Buffalo Sabres.
New York Yankees second baseman Chuck Knoblauch put a phantom tag on Jose Offerman of the Boston Red Sox during the American League Championship Series in 1999. Offerman was called out, and the Yankees went on to win.
In college football, on-field officials gave Colorado a fifth down (a team gets only four) to score a touchdown during a crucial game against Missouri in 1990. Colorado won 33-31 and went on to claim part of the national title. Missouri fans pulled down the goalpost after the loss.
American boxer Roy Jones Jr. dominated his South Korean opponent in the gold-medal match at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, only to see Park Si-Hun handed the decision.
Umpire Don Denkinger called the Kansas City Royals' Jorge Orta safe at first base despite being beaten by half a step in the ninth inning of a 1985 World Series game against St. Louis. Kansas City went on to win the game and the series.
In the 1972 Olympics, officials reset the clock three times in the final moments to allow the USSR to prevail in the gold-medal basketball game against the undefeated U.S. team. Before the clock was reset, the U.S. team mistakenly celebrated what they thought was a win.
Baltimore Orioles catcher Elrod Hendricks tagged sliding Cincinnati runner Bernie Carbo with an empty glove in a 1970 World Series game, but umpire Ken Burkhart — who had his back to the play — called Carbo out. (By the way, Carbo also missed the plate.)
|