NFL fires referee after absurd missed call

[TheComputerGroup]

The NFL fired down judge Hugo Cruz on Thursday for inadequate performance, a person familiar with the firing tells The Associated Press.

Cruz is in his fourth season as an NFL official. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the league has not publicly announced the move.

Cruz, a part of referee Carl Cheffers’ crew, was involved in a missed call in the Chargers-Browns game that led to a Los Angeles touchdown on Oct. 14. Chargers tackle Russell Okung false-started on the play and nothing was called.

The NFL Referees Association said it would challenge the firing.

“The NFL has a troubling history of knee-jerk reactions with an eye on public relations, and clearly it has not learned from past mistakes,” NFLRA Executive Director Scott Green, a former referee, said in a statement. “The NFLRA will protect the collectively bargained rights of all officials and will challenge this reckless decision through the grievance process.”

Cruz’s firing was first reported by FootballZebras.com, a website dedicated to officiating which said it’s the first in-season firing by the league of an official because of performance in the Super Bowl era.

There has been a wave of criticism of officiating this season by team executives, coaches, players and the media.



https://www.google.com/amp/s/nypost.com/2018/10/25/nfl-fires-referee-after-absurd-missed-call/amp/

 

[texansfan]

Some officials need firing watching this game tonight, pathetic.

 

[texansfan]

Haven't watched much NFL this season, but if the performance of the officials tonight is an indication of how it's been, I'll continue to avoid it.

 

[okie77]

Mystery calls all night. Unreal.

 

[Willie99]

Roger's NFL, most of the problems are created in Manhattan and by the rules committee. The more you regulate, the more subjectivity you bring into the game, the more stupidity and inconsistency you will have

But hey, the game went over baby, the suits are probably happy

S C O R E, score boys score

 

[HamGlaze]

Fired for making fixed games look too obvious. Demoted to the NBA. Ha ha!

 

[texansfan]

The first penalty of the game, the refs didn't even know how to properly enforce it. Plenty of bad calls on the game.

 

[Acebb]

Good. These guys are often terrible without much repercussion.

 

[Greenbacks]

Baseball umps are worse

 

[HacheMan]

Baseball umps are worse

Heck yeah by far

Worst in all of sports

 

[Megacapper]

NBA fixing goes way back. I read this story the other day from the 1960's

Guerin and Caldwell both overheard two men taking in the breezeway of the Georgia Tech Coliseum. One of the men was Walter Kennedy, the N.B.A. commissioner, and the other was Mendy Rudolph, one of the league's top officials.


"Just look at this, only 7,200 people in the place," snapped Kennedy. "We have to have more than this for the playoffs."


Guerin was infuriated by what he heard. He realized they were conspiring to try to knock the Hawks out of the playoffs again. This was the most frustrating situation because he was powerless. There was nothing he could do to stop the conspiracy. In the first playoff game against the Los Angeles Lakers, 34 fouls were called against the Hawks. The pattern was set. Guerin was furious.


"A lot of blood will be spilled on the floor if the officials continue to call little, bitty fouls," fumed Guerin to the media. Kennedy got tired of his comments and fined him $1,000 for "comments that were detrimental to basketball."


The Lakers swept the Hawks to a four to zero (4-0) victory. During the final game in Los Angeles, Jerry West went to the free throw line 21 times. In four games, he went a total of 57 times! It was completely unbelievable.