How come there has never been a retired referee as an announcer?

[Alvin Walton]

Has there ever been one?
I always thought that a ref could give a lot of remarkable insight into game.
Imagine Jerry Markbreit or someone like that in the booth giving color commentary.
I wonder if the NFL frowns on that sort of thing.

[CRedskinsRule]

Originally Posted by Alvin Walton

Has there ever been one?
I always thought that a ref could give a lot of remarkable insight into game.
Imagine Jerry Markbreit or someone like that in the booth giving color commentary.
I wonder if the NFL frowns on that sort of thing.

Well FOX does have Mike Perirea(sp?) as an on call personality. He offers some good insights but not really anything super fascinating.

[mooby]

Originally Posted by CRedskinsRule

Well FOX does have Mike Perirea(sp?) as an on call personality. He offers some good insights but not really anything super fascinating.

I was going to mention Mike Periera (sp?) too. I like him a lot more when he explains calls in the booth, I used to rag on him constantly for toe'ing the company line when he was VP of Officiating. When he was in the NFL offices he used to always backup his refs no matter how obviously bad a call looked, and I assume it's probably because he wanted to show a united front even if he was chastising refs behind closed doors. I just feel like he's a lot more open now that he's in the booth, for instance you never would've heard him trashing Vick when he was in the league office.

[Dirtbag59]

Originally Posted by CRedskinsRule

Well FOX does have Mike Perirea(sp?) as an on call personality. He offers some good insights but not really anything super fascinating.

Uh, Mike Periea. Or at least thats what I used to say. When he worked for NFLN he always seemed to take the refs side, now that he works for Fox I see him more willing to disagree with the calls.

[SolidSnake84]

Does it have anything to do possibly some kind of privacy/secrecy act, or something along the lines of like a players association for referees?

What I mean is, a guy like Ed Hoculi becomes an announcer, and during a game he says something like "I tell you what joe when I was reffing, i really didn't like Michael Vick so i always kind of turned my head when they would hit him", etc...

Not making a joke here, i always assumed they protect everything the refs do behind closed doors so they would never let an ex-ref become a commentator because of stuff like I mentioned.

[SirClintonPortis]

Originally Posted by mooby

I was going to mention Mike Periera (sp?) too. I like him a lot more when he explains calls in the booth, I used to rag on him constantly for toe'ing the company line when he was VP of Officiating. When he was in the NFL offices he used to always backup his refs no matter how obviously bad a call looked, and I assume it's probably because he wanted to show a united front even if he was chastising refs behind closed doors. I just feel like he's a lot more open now that he's in the booth, for instance you never would've heard him trashing Vick when he was in the league office.

Joining an organization seems to have a behavioral impact on the joiner, i.e Smoot defending ESPN. ()

[SmootSmack]

I defend what deserves to be defended. When not deserved...I keep quiet. Referees wouldn't be all that great as color commentators because they are not involved with the team during the week when it comes to practice, and strategy etc. They would have limited knowledge to offer

[backrow]

When do they ever get it right, anyway? DUH!

[Alvin Walton]

I would think the refs hear and see a lot of things that other people in the game don't. There's always a lot of pleading whining to the refs, not to mention coaches going ballistic. You never get to here about that stuff.

[Coff]

How come you never see baby squirrels?

[hooskins]

lol better question IMO

[MTK]

Would there be anyone more boring for the job than a ref?

[GMScud]

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

I defend what deserves to be defended. When not deserved...I keep quiet. Referees wouldn't be all that great as color commentators because they are not involved with the team during the week when it comes to practice, and strategy etc. They would have limited knowledge to offer

Exactly. When they have those live in-game consultations with Mike Pereira, he doesn't exactly ooze "broadcast journalist."

Speaking of broadcast journalists, I enjoyed seeing Czarniak on SC the other day. She did a good job, even though it seemed like Coachman was giving her a bit of on-air hazing.

[Alvin Walton]

Originally Posted by Mattyk

Would there be anyone more boring for the job than a ref?

[mooby]

Originally Posted by Alvin Walton

When this thread first popped up my first thought of a ref in the booth was of someone extremely boring talking in Ben Stein's annoying monotonous tone of voice. Could you imagine a ref with that kind of voice calling an amazing play like Dwayne Bowe's touchdown catch last week? Imagine reading the below in Ben Stein's voice. That's my perception of what having a ref in the booth would be like.

"And it's tipped. Dwayne Bowe is still keeping the ball alive. And he caught it. It's a touchdown. Kansas City. As per section 8, paragraph 2, line 4 of the rule book states,'It is established as a catch when a receiver maintains two feet in bounds with secure possession of the ball.' What a play."

I hope the NFL never puts a ref in the booth.