Replacement refs: The story the NFL wants to keep quiet

[Ruhskins]

From Bill Simmons' mailbag today. It was sad and funny at the same time (about replacement refs):

Q: Can you create a "Bad Officiating Crew League" next year? I call dibs on the Falcons-Broncos crew … wait, I want the guys who did the Rams-Skins game. No wait, I want the Ravens-Eagles crew. Actually, just flip a coin for me.
—Brian Lang, Philadelphia

SG: We briefly tried to figure out the BOCL before realizing it would be too hard to keep track. To do the league right, you'd need categories like "Number of times the home team's fans chanted that you sucked," "Number of flags you meekly picked up while pretending that it never happened," "Number of times the announcers knew the rules but you didn't," "Number of near-melees that threatened to become the biggest brawl in NFL history" and "Longest and most interminable delay between the thrown flag and the resolution of that flag." Either way, I'd pick the Rams-Redskins crew first in any BOCL draft — they looked the other way as the Rams were doing everything short of hitting Robert Griffin III with two-by-fours.