NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell Apologizes For Replacement Refs, Sort Of
Remember that whole replacement referee thing that happened in the first three weeks of the 2012 NFL regular season? Well, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has actually come out and apologized for it - sort of. In a thirty-minute call, Goodell described a short-term pain that was necessary for a long-term gain.
"Obviously, when you go through something like this, it's painful for everybody," Goodell said on a Thursday afternoon conference call. "Most importantly, it's painful for our fans. And we're sorry to have to put our fans through that, but it's something that for the short term you sometimes have to do to make sure you get the right kind of agreement for the long term."
The regular refs will be back on the field tonight for Thursday Night Football, just three days after the blown call "heard round the world." Goodell cleverly chose to avoid saying whether the end result of the now infamous Seahawks-Packers matchup was a touchdown, or an interception.
"I haven't even really had the opportunity to look through it with our officiating department because I've been in negotiations almost non-stop since the game," Goodell said. "Their view was that on the field when you have a call that close that it stays with the officials on the field, and replay wasn't in a position to be able to get evidence that they think was sufficient to overturn it. They felt that standing behind the officials' call was the appropriate thing, and I'll stand behind that."
Sounds like a #sorrynotsorry if I ever heard one, but I'm still waiting on the "Hey New Orleans, sorry for the personal vendetta" apology.
I won't hold my breath.
More From Hot 107.9
