Oh LOOK who is suddenly on the side of organized labor, now that a bunch of scab refs are messing with his precious football? (Hint: it is Scott Walker, the union-busting asshole of a governor from Wisconsin.)
For those of you who do not follow football, the NFL has been using scab referees for the past three weeks after contract negotiations with the refs’ union broke down. The league wants to replace refs’ defined-benefit pensions with riskier (and stingier) 401(k)s. The referees, however, argue that the NFL hauls in $9 billion per year and can afford to provide the pension plans that the refs have enjoyed since the 1970s.
Then, on Monday night, the Green Bay Packers (who, as the name suggests, are from Green Bay, Wisconsin) lost to the Seattle Seahawks after these scab referees made a questionable call that was later found to be unsupported by video evidence. [Editrix's note: "Found to unsupported by evidence" is Kris E. Benson's way of saying "was the worst call since that one in the Raiders playoff game that said dude's touchdown was incomplete after he landed on his back in the endzone with the ball on his chest." Yeah, you remember that call.]
Governor Walker’s response, of course, was to applaud the NFL for engaging in cost-cutting measures and sensible, bipartisan solutions to our shared challenges. NO, just kidding, he took to Twitter to demand that the NFL bring back the “real refs.”
After Governor Walker’s own union-busting law went into effect, union workers were replaced with prison labor. But that’s different; THOSE unions were representing a bunch of broads who teach our nation’s children; THESE unions have something to do with football.
Oh and also, Scott Walker says that this has nothing to do with unions, just with refs (who, by the way, are amateurs and scabs) making bad calls. And this is how people like Scott Walker resolve a little problem known as “cognitive dissonance.”
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Yes, sports are vital to his state's well-being so he should have only the best.
Kid's minds? Ehhhhhhhhhh, not so much!
Since Not-the-Cool-Scott-Walker will be running for reelection, poorly educated kids is, in his mind, good for the "state's well-being."
Karmic revenge is a dish best served cold. Preferably with a Leinenkugel and some Wisconsin cheddar.
And teeth-squeaking fresh cheese curds!!
Frozen mackerel upside da head.
Don't forget the brats!
The free market will surely get every call correct.
Exactly. We need the refs competing against each other to provide the highest quality calls at the lowest price.
"Coach Brown! What am I offered for an offensive pass interference call? I'm sorry, but Coach Green over there offered me his house for an incomplete pass!"
What's the return policy on an interception?
Lemme check the price list…
Do you have your receipt on that interception? How long have you had it?
You run it back as far as you can, until you're tackled.
Yep! Bear Stearns, Countrywide, Lehman Brothers. All their execs got penalized 15 yards for holding.
This.
I wonder what Scott Walker thought about the Heidi Bowl.
I could give a fuck what Scott thinks about anything. Why do all those guys – Walker, Rick Scott, Eric Cunt/or, et al all look so schmarmy?
Yeah, sorry, don't care about football, don't watch it. So I get to support the refs' union without even trying!
Thank you! I used to watch the game, and then I realized how much it costs to drive to a stadium to enjoy it in person. I discovered it was painfully clear that only Republicans could afford to go.
And that was my my goodbye to football.
My goodbye to football was when I found myself cheering that no flag was tossed on a play.
Also, too (scroll down to item 8)
Not only drive to the game, but buy the ticket, pay to park, and heaven forbid if you want something to eat or drink.
It's better at home anyway. Climate controlled, TV cameras give you a much better view, beer is much cheaper, bathroom is a lot closer, you don't have a bunch of screaming idiots around you, and if the game sucks you can change the channel and you haven't blown a couple of hundos.
But you don't get to sweat or freeze, have beer spilled down your back, or experience any hearing loss. Don't you want to have fun?
Trust me, those of us who *do* care about football are supporting the ref's union too. The people who run the NFL are assholes.
But those refs want bargaining rights. Fucking hypocrite. Go suck a Koch.
Done and done.
You see what happens when you let douchey people carry out their idiotic plans?
This, people.
As a person who usually roots for the underdog when my team isn't playing, I was hoping that Seattle would beat the Packers, but I certainly didn't like seeing it happen that way. But now that I know that the loss has caused personal anguish to Mr Walker, I am delighted!
Yeah but it also caused personal anguish to me, and I belong to AFSCME.
But, but, it also caused personal anguish to the The Peoples' Team of Wisconsin.
Real Question for you football fans:
Why doesn't the players union refuse to play until the refs get a satisfactory deal? Couldn't they stand with their union brothers against scabs while also protecting their playing stats and records against bonehead calls?
Article 3 Sec 1 of the players agreement prohibits strikes.
This was instituted two lockouts ago when the NFLPA folded like a cheap card table.
They could go out under unsafe working conditions, as per Federal labor law (which supersedes agreements like this)
Thanks for the info! What a shitty players agreement.
Well, they are pretty shitty players, so….
"Unsafe" meaning their heads may fly off at a brisker pace than usual should one of these replacements miss a call.
There's some evidence out there that football viewership is declining because so many players are getting severely injured.
I caught some of the Jets game Sunday…I mean, how could I miss it? It lasted nearly as long as the Iraq war!…and on three consecutive plays, I counted four helmets flying off heads.
At least I hope the heads weren't still attached to the helmets…
The Houston QB lost a part of his ear this week after getting blasted by a Denver lineman. They did call a penalty – which they actually got wrong because he hit the QB in the chest with his shoulder, not in the head with his helmet…but whatever, an earlobe was ripped off anyway.
The NFL disagrees that it wasn't a hit to the head.
Also, too: There's some deal with the newer helmets that makes players have them on a bit looser than the old ones. Not sure what it is, but in both the NFL and college, helmets are coming off at a record pace.
It's weird.
Not to mention the fact that the shittiness of the scab refs, in addition to ruining the game for the teams and the fans, are making it dramatically less safe for the players.
The owners should play instead (without helmets, obvs)
Hey, that's how we played it as kids with no long term scabulations to our mental stimps!
The owners should have to play against the players, even. Nothing would make me happier than seeing Jerry Jones take a helmut to the gut…with votes, of course.
In addition to what actor posted about the last CBA with the players, there's the fact the refs aren't on strike. They're being locked out.
Thus, no picket line to cross, etc.
Well, that and the fact the avg. NFL player makes more in a game than the average family does in two years, so … ya know, mouths to feed, etc.
NFL players have far shorter careers, earn less, and have inferior pensions when compared with their counterparts in the NBA and MLB. There is no true free agency in the NFL, players who are injured have few protections unlike players in every other major sport. In short, NFL players decided to go Galt. As a result, they are exploited by their employers and discarded like yesterday's trash when they are no longer able to compete. Here's a few interesting facts. Did you know the NFL does not provide group health insurance for their players? If you play ten years in the NFL (the average career is less than half of that), you qualify for a full pension that pays a little more than 30k a year. An MLB player with 43 days of big league experience qualifies for a pension of 34k a year. A player with 10 years of big league experience gets almost 300k in pension benefits.The NFL, unlike owners in other sports, cannot claim they are under financial pressure, NFL owners are all in the black. Players who approved this agreement rather than go on strike have no one to blame but themselves.
cuz a brothers gots to get paid
"After catching a few hours sleep…"
Interesting. He lost sleep over a football call, but not over the future of his state's children.
He will only care about those kids if they run a 4.4 forty and have good hands.
Or if their parents write him a check.
But actor, football is important.
In Green Bay, it is.
In fairness, they own some of the team.
Wait, workers owning the means of production?
Who cares about THOSE little "takers"? If their parents weren't part of the 47%, they'd go to REAL schools, like SnottyWanker's children.
I'm really starting to believe that the universe is just one big fucking ironic joke.
You're just now starting?
Slacker …
Sadly, they aren't joking.
Maybe Scott and Mitt can sit down and talk about situational ethics over an icy cold can of Coca-Cola.
A Coke Summit?
To be super-careful, let's have it over a cold glass of skim milk.
Time for the replacement refs to report back to the Foot Locker store.
Actually, the scabs were so bad they were fired from the Lingerie Football League. http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/replac…
Why don't I have season tickets to this sporting event?
I can't figure out how you get fired from a cherry gig like that. I mean, if the league called me in and said "You know, your performance is faulty," man I'd be boning (heh) up on how to make it better.
Woooo, listen to Scott "Rosa Luxemburg" Walker now! Solidarity forever! Die gedanken sind frei!
Eh, he's still an asshole.
Nothing's gonna change THAT. He'll *always* be an asshole.
Walker'd be an asshole if he were defending the barricades in Paris in 1848. "Wait, does my hair look okay?"
Scottie always looks kind of dim – Forrest Gumpian, if you will.
Fuck the Packers! Stupid SOB's keeping the Steelers from getting 7 Super bowls. Ass wipe jerk face fuck douche hat mother cunt licker cock suckers.
Fuck the Steelers! Who the hell needs 7 fucking Super Bowl Rings? Six is more than enough!
You sound like a Browns fan.
Patriots actually, since the late 1960s. But I used to really hate the Steelers, back in the 1970s. Your rant brought out some suppressed memories. And while I am at it, Fuck the Cowboys too.
I can no longer be your friend. WTF? New England isn't even a state and don't get me started on Brady and Bill Belichick. Are you trying to get a rile out of me?
Fuck the Patriots!
I'm from New York.
I broke up w/ a SMOKING HAWT chick in college just because she was a Dallas fan.
Seriously. It never woulda worked.
CHICKEN THIEF* LIBELZ!!!!!
* tortured Browns fan since the Brian Sipe "Cardiac Kids" days.
*We* need 7 Super Bowl rings! Remember, we have no NBA team, our baseball team is the Pirates, and the fucking NHL lockout might stop our Penguins.
Also–GO STEELERS!
I have an opening for a new friend.
Consider this comment my application.
Uh, Seattle would like a word. We have no NBA team, our baseball team is the Mariners, and we have 0 (zero) Super Bowl rings.
However, we'd prefer our success not be a result of ridiculously stupid calls.
I was overseas when they played their Super Bowl, but didn't they get jobbed by the refs in that one?
Don't forget the Huskies. They suck too.
Speaking of Seattle, I just figured out last night what Chris Hansen's plan is. He is actively buying up lots of property in the SODO area, property "unrelated" to his stadium expansion plan that he is foisting over on us. So, the stadium deal goes through (it'll be a cold day in hell before the little boys in Seattle and King County govt. let this new toy go), land prices in SODO skyrocket, Mr. Hansen sells those "unrelated" properties and then gets out of his stadium contract. He didn't get rich by being stupid.
Baconz, your new jerb (which, congrats) is making you unusually restrained. Tell us, what do you really think about the Packers?
I haven't started the new jerb yet. It's in mid Cocktober that I start it so I can let the explatives fly till then.
Here, here!
Actually, I don't hate Green Bay fans so much. Scott Walker, on the other hand…
I've been trying to think of a cogent and snark-filled reply, but I'm afraid I'll just have to settle for
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
Please don't make me stop liking the Steelers. I want to continue to like them, and like the Packers just the same. Two of the hardest-working programs in football. So, just put the crakpipe down for a second and nobody gets hurt (further)…
I don't really care what this asshole thinks.
I don't follow the footballs, but from what I've heard from coworkers, it seems that even Seahawks fans are fed up.
Si, the Seattle PI ran a poll in the Seattle on Tuesday morn and the winning opinion on the question Did the Seahawks come down with that game-winning touchdown was "No way! This is football blasphemy! Screw the refs! The Packers should have won!" which got 5,030 votes (67%).
In other news, fuck football.
Are you saying that watching steroid-fueled mutants batter each other isn't the highest artistic or intellectual achievement to which a nation may aspire?
Well, it's as far as we've gotten.
Well, there goes his "Scabs aren't just for breaking strikes-they're for breakfast" line.
After God had finished the rattlesnake, the toad, and the vampire, he had some awful substance left with which he made a scab.
A scab is a two-legged animal with a corkscrew soul, a water brain, a combination backbone of jelly and glue.
Where others have hearts, he carries a tumor of rotten principles.
When a scab comes down the street, men turn their backs and angels weep in heaven, and the devil shuts the gates of hell to keep him out.
No man (or woman) has a right to scab so long as there is a pool of water to drown his carcass in, or a rope long enough to hang his body with.
Judas was a gentleman compared with a scab. For betraying his master, he had character enough to hang himself. A scab has not.
Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage.
Judas sold his Savior for thirty pieces of silver.
Benedict Arnold sold his country for a promise of a commision in the british army.
The scab sells his birthright, country, his wife, his children and his fellowmen for an unfulfilled promise from his employer.
Esau was a traitor to himself; Judas was a traitor to his God; Benedict Arnold was a traitor to his country.
A scab is a traitor to his God, his country, his family and his class.
Jack London
Dang, I was gonna go with a booger joke, but that beats all. And maybe a foot-to-Scott's-balls comment.
I'm glad we're finally starting to talk about THE REAL PROBLEMS that we as a nation are facing!!
How else can we get the lamestream media to stop talking about this bullshit war on womenz?
Scott Walker is a turd.
Support the referees' union? Check. Can't stand the NFL for locking out the professionals who know what they're doing? Check. Watch the game anyway? Oh — haha — talk about cognitive dissonance there. At least now you know what you're missing — the egregious result of greed. Now next Sunday go outside and enjoy some fresh air, for fuck's sake.
I'm looking forward to having some free time myself. Monday night's game was the final fucking straw.
Yeah, this, thank you.
And it's still baseball season. So there's that.
When not indoors watching football on the tube, Scott has his head so far up Koch ass that he never gets any fresh air.
Maybe the players should show some solidarity and bump into the scabs. And by "bump into" I mean forearm across the back of the neck.
With pensions, of course.
Where's Jonathan Vilma when you need him?!
Suspended, naturally.
Isn't he in a state of suspended suspension?
Or Jack Tatum?
As a lifelong Vikings fan, I thought the Packers losing in this fashion to be about the tastiest dish I've had in years. Packer tears are just, well, the best.
Amen!
Don't you have some stripper-yacht to be partying on or something?
Sports, how the fuck do they work?
Nevermind, I don't actually care.
Can't resist offering my take on your question anyway…
Greedy owners go in, crappy games come out. You *can* explain it.
Assholes.
Irony being, of course, that the one major sports team without a greedy owner is the Packers.
Right there with ya, for everything except MLB and the NHL.
Oh, wait.
Ask the average teabilly about refs making 6 figures for part-time work, and they'll complain that the refs are greedy and don't deserve it, and man wouldn't it be great to get a job that paid that much for doing nothing, etc. etc. These same people will then complain when anyone talks about Romney only paying 13% taxes on his millions that it is all just jealousy.
You do realize that teabillies have the extraordinary ability to keep two logically opposing facts in their minds at the same time?
It really was a terrible call. Everybody football fan in the world, except maybe some in Seattle, clearly saw that as an interception, but two guys standing right next to where it happened had no clue. I would love to see the NFL players strike in support of their union brothers … the games are crap anyway … but I suppose there is too much money involved for that to happen.
In Scott Walker's case, there's plenty of dissonance, very little cognition.
For those of you who caught the game/play in question, one of the funnier comments I read about it was "apparently in Seattle, it's now legal to adopt a baby by grabbing a pregnant woman's stomach and falling to the ground."
After a year's worth of dickishness, Scott Walker's reign is still just as painful.
The game was ugly, the refs made shitty calls all game long and some of those calls helped the Packers. That said, Aaron Rogers has been sacked 17 times in three games.
Face it Scotty, your team sucks
Scott Walker, the scab crusting over the bloody mess he made of Wisconsin.
Nah. Scabs involve healing.
Walker is the gangrene.
If a team lets the difference between victory and defeat be one call by a bunch of insurance salesmen who moonlight as referees, union or non union, they deserve the bad outcome. Packers and their fans are nothing but whiners and have been for decades.
But….but….but! Any Given Sunday! Or Monday night! Or Thursday night! Or Saturdays in late December/early January! Or the rare Friday night after high school football seaason is over!
"Are you ready for some negotiations?!!! Monday Night Style Smackdown Deliberations? Hells yeah!"
Pretty much everyone hates organized labor these days.
At least, everyone important.
~
Troll. You try far too hard, too.
Scott Walker is a lot like Mitt Romney: He changes his mind about unions when it best fits his needs. Typical GOP goat fucker.
So, what exactly is Green Bay packing?
Fudge. Lots and lots of fudge.
Meat
Its twue!
Teh Sex in full 30-below winter kit.
Don't ask how it works. You don't want to know.
I regret that I have but one upfist to sacrifice for this comment.
I know I'm biased because I was never good at throwing-balls related sports growing up because I had no depth deception and imbalanced legs, but seriously fuck this culture's obsession with running and throwing balls. This pisses me off more than the fact that Congress had congressional hearings on fuckin' baseball.
But how will America express its homoerotic impulses without the aid of professional sports?
Need moar soccer/guys running around in short pants.
In other, "shittier" news, Bill Donahue is too an artist now.
He's a parody of himself now.
Bill's just mad because he couldn't climb the wall of an embassy even if he wanted.
My kids Pee-Wee football refs are better than these guys.
Thank you!
The cognitive dissonance has surpassed treatable levels.
this is payback for giving us walker and ryan.
Cheesehead douche says what?
Y'know, I just remembered something unusual about the Packers. According to Wikipedia:
The Packers are the only non-profit, community-owned major league professional sports team in the United States.
NON-profit and owned by the goddamn taxpayers. There's your cognitive dissonance!
Yes but…
Green Bay is the only team with this form of ownership structure in the NFL; such ownership is in direct violation of current league rules, which stipulate a limit of 32 owners of one team and one of those owners having a minimum 30% stake
Fuck you, NFL. Just fuck you.
Not owned by taxpayers. Owned by shareholders.
Community owned? Non-profit? Sounds communist to me.
He should be telling the Packers' offensive line to get back to work. Eight sacks?
Doesn't the city of Green Bay own the team as well? So Scott "El Douche" lerves him some union workers working at a community owned team game?!
How Saul Alinsky Karl Marx-y of him.
The people of the city of Green Bay. It's a public corporation
Sounds eerily like the Corporation of Public Broadcasting….
DEFUND THE PACKERS!
Cool – they could watch football on PBS!
Not just Green Bay. Anybody (I think?) can buy stock when it's available. The money I'd have preferred to put in savings or buy food with is now hanging on my wall in Non-Green Bay, Wisconsin in the form of a handsomely framed Packers stock certificate. But my husband got to realize a dream, so I suppose it balances out. (Really! He's a total football nerd so good for him.)
There are some weird rules about how shares are passed around – you have to give them away, or pass them to your heirs. Basically, there's no outright buying and selling; the idea is to prevent the Mitt Romneys of the world from buying their way into ownership and control of the team.
Right exactly. But when the team makes stock available as they did this past year to help fund some stadium improvements, then anyone in the US can purchase some. That's how my husband got his. Now, I dont think he can sell it, but he wouldn't anyway.
This is just like the time during that one mathletics competition where some jumped-up accountant ref was all like "Noooo, you can't use complex integration; real analysis only!" and I was all like "It's easier and I know Cauchy's residue theorem like I know your mom!" and I got flagged.
Sounds like you got Riemanned.
Scott Walker is a monkey ass. I have no opinion on the game.
OMG… stop the FUCKING presses!! A politician with DOUBLE STANDARDS!!!
On a side note… FUCK the Greenbay Fudge Packers… GO VIKINGS!
… said the 'man' whos stadium falls down in stiff breeze.
When I get ganked by some shi-tstain rogue 30 levels higher in World of Warcraft, everyone and their dog tells me "Its just a game learn to play shut up." When something goes wrong in football, HOLY FUCK NATIONAL CRISIS.
So to all of you, especially Scott Walker: IT'S JUST A GODDAMN GAME SHUT UP.
I spike the queen when I win at chess.
I turn the board over when I lose at any board game.
Dad?!
Are you my older brother?
How's your endzone dance?
I like to yell "BLITZKRIEG!!!" and sweep all the opposing pieces off the board.
Do you first give them a chance to review for any forgotten bishops that could come in to help?
Recall Goodell (and Walker, again).
Great minds think alike. And great minds think that Scott Walker and his ilk are hypocrites of the first degree.
Like this cross eyed college dropout would even know if he saw a bad call.
Might as well replace all referees with prison labor. They're used to wearing stripes.
Fuck Scott Walker with a union-made rusty Garden Weasel.
Fucking scabs! I mean…UNION THUGS!!11!
Wait let me start over…UNION THUGS!!! I mean…FUCKING SCABS!!11!1
Paul Ryan was pissing and moaning about it yesterday too. The GOP, where irony goes to die.
I think Irony has found a thriving place to live.
Pete Hoekstra just did a terrible ad in his run against Sen. Debbie Stabenow playing off the replacement refs debate. I couldn't watch it, it was so annoying.
http://worstsenator.com/
When is Wisconsin going to get a real governor?
Maybe Aaron Rodgers will eventually succeed him.
Oddly, Wisconsin has never had an ex-Packer as Governor. However, back in the '80s they did elect Anthony Earl, whose election every was pretty sure was solely due to the fact that he was listed on the ballot as Earl, Anthony, which was the name of a famous professional bowler.
I was sound asleep in my bed when it happened and, despite being unconscious and a casual (at best) football fan, I could have called it better than those knobs!
I know this because since I live in Wisconsin, I have seen this clip replayed approximately 72 million times over the past 2 days and it is now effectively seared into my brain for all time. It will be part of the montage when my life flashes before my eyes whether I like it or not. It is our "back, and to the left," apparently.
OK, as someone involved with football at multiple levels, let me say that it's a lot harder than it looks. The regular NFL officials, of whom I know five personally, work very hard to get to that level and to stay at that level. Those that I've have the pleasure of working with in the past were so obviously good at it that when they made each move up the ladder there was no surprise to anyone. The replacements (and I think I know two of them) are getting a dream shot here and some are not rising to the occasion. The two I know did not work that game and would not fuck up a call like that ever, so I'm wondering where the hell the NFL got those two guys. You always look at the other guy and communicate what you've got before going up with the signals, even in youth football.
Anyhow, I don't want anyone hurt out there, want the regulars back to work (not all of whom are part-time insurance agents–one I know currently has ZERO income due to this) and hope we can all develop an appreciation for how hard it is to get those calls right so often nobody notices.
I live in Wisconsin and am among a small contingent who are not entirely adamant that the call was blown. [Ducks, looks around for sniper fire]
Part (most) of the problem is that when they went out to get replacements, they couldn't go to the natural pool. Normally, the regular officials get in by working their way up through to Division 1 (and they have to have 10 years experience). The refs most qualified to work the NFL who aren't, the ones now in Division I, weren't going to give that up for a temporary gig that could also (almost certainly) get them blackballed from ever becoming a real NFL official. So the scabs are guys who were working Division III, or Europe, or even high school or Lingerie Football. They don't have the long years of experience. They just aren't qualified (maybe a few, but not most).
Funny, but I don't know anybody who works Lingerie Football. I know guys that work everywhere else, but not there. I may have to apply…
Those were my sentiments, pretty much: "Hey, cut 'em some slack!" Then they reviewed the play, had a chance to watch what everyone else in the country seems to have also watched, and came to a conclusion that nobody else in the country (outside of the Seattle area) could possibly have come to. At that point, it became official: they're utterly incompetent. Whatever process the NFL used to select these guys (cruising the parking lots of sports bars in a pickup truck?), it was seriously fucked up.
Maybe if we give the owners a tax break and cut the pay for the refs and players we can get this
economyseason moving again.I would be remiss to mention that the NFL is socialist.
needs moar Wonkette sports blog.
cripes
I live in Scott Walkers Wisconsin and don't pay attention to the Badgers or Packers.
Saturday and Sunday's, we can get tee times, go to movies, get shopping done while the other are indoors watching football..Just seems like a waste of time to me when we can enjoy the wonderful fall weather in S.W.'s Wisconsin anyway.
Greenie!! I agree. I'd much rather be doing something with my hands (that is not a joke) than watching someone doing something with their hands (that is not a joke).
And I love the fall weather too, even in the South.
I grew up in Green Bay. Things have changed a bit, but back then doing other stuff wasn't an option. The town shut down during game time. For real, the grocery store had a sign up, "Closed Sundays 12-3". You could walk down the middle of Main St or University Ave with no problem. In fact, a few years ago when my parents wanted to move a catamaran they built in their backyard down to the water a few miles away, they did it during a game because they knew they wouldn't be impeding traffic.
America's Greatest Diplomat Honey Boo Boo should give Scott Walker a talkin' to…
The NFL has another problem they don't like to discuss but it accounts for a lot of their popularity, the gaming industry. Bettors and bookies don't like disputed outcomes or obviously flawed results.
Bingo. (Or should I say, Keeno.) NFL brass can't safely walk the streets of Vegas today.
Hope the Koch bros lost a bundle on the Packers, they can afford it.
GAwD, I hope the Dancing with the Stars judges don't get ideas. I don't think I can stand hearing the wrong calls and scores on my favorite hasbeen "dancers".
well aren't the Green Bay Packers a socialist bunch of commie pinkos anyway, since they're not owned by a billionaire friend of Mitt Romney etc?
I wonder what Vince Lombardi would have to say about this.
That's an easy one
You think Scott Walker is suffering cognitive dissonance? Wait till you see the fans after the professionals come back. "GODDAMMIT, YOU BLIND COCKSUCKER, THAT WAS THE WORST CALL SINCE … oh." I expect exploding cheeseheads.
I think there are a lot of powerful Repubs who review various situations and say: "This is going to draw attention a teachable moment that we DON'T want people to learn from. Its a loser for us. SHUT IT DOWN."
Memo to Scott Walker: This NFL Ref thing makes the corporate chieftains look bad. Thus a win for Unions. Let's make this go away, stat!
Nothing is important to conservatives unless it directly effects them or their enjoyment of things. Solipsism: The philosophical underpinning of profound assholery.
Just an aside, but NFL owners are some of the worst people in the world, ever. I mean, worse than (fill in the blank with appropriate hyperbole).
I enjoyed playing the game in high school and college, but along the Highway of Life there are passengers, by-standers, pedestrians, hitch-hikers and road kill. In short, if I can't drive, I ain't going. Fuck professional sports and fuck Scott Walker.
Yes, the last decade has been a pretty nice ride. But after suffering as doormats for over 40 years, we'll suffer your Belicheat slings and arrows.
And Pittsburgh isn't a state either.
The guy I ride with in my vanpool is a West PA guy too; we get along just fine, although he's a bit of a righty.
It's a "state" of mind.
I just don't like the Pats because they owned us in the AFC Championship for years. So heart breaking.
No, the citizens. The players are independent contractors. Its FREE ENTERPRISE, dammit!
I don't think so, but the community owns the team, as I understand it. They even elect the executive board.
Yeah, but which of the two teams won the Super Bowl most recently? It's ok, you can gloat.
ARRRRRGHGHGHGH!
Tell you what: you fuck the Pats, I'll fuck Giselle. Deal?
zzzzzzzzzz…..
I told a co-worker from Cleveland that if he ever wants the Browns to have a Vince Lombardi they "can borrow one of ours and pretend for a year. Hell, you guys can even have a parade and everything".
He didn't like that.
That's the only consolation Seattle fans are taking in this miscarriage of justice that randomly came down in our favor – we got TOTALLY FUCKING JOBBED in the one and only Super Bowl we were party to.
/not even a huge football fan, just a life-long Seattleite
But they haven't always sucked, historically.
Hey, At least the OKC Thunder went to the NBA Finals this year.
I'm looking at it as a delayed make-up for the Vinnie Testaverde remote control touchdown.
Yeah, they're pretty good until they get caught cheating.
It's not really GB that owns the team; there are a couple thousand folks who own the vast majority of the shares. Many of them do live in or around Green Bay, but it's not a requirement.
What is a little different, though, is that the shares cannot be traded. The only way share ownership can change is by bequest or marriage. So it's impossible for the team to ever be sold.
I'm from Green Bay, and I am a stockholder. There have been four (I think) stock sales. They initially sold stock after a kid fell out of the stands and sued the team, so they went public to raise the money. There was a second sale to raise money for Lambeau Field. People who bought stock in those two sales hold real power. The third and fourth stock sales were to support expansions of Lambeau, but those shares have incredibly diluted value (I bought my $200 share in the third sale). We do get invited to the Annual Meeting, held at Lambeau.
The team is, indeed, governed by an executive board with an elected president who acts as our "owner" with the League.
The shares are not transferable except by death. In the event of bankruptcy, the team goes to the local American Legion, per team bylaws. It's really the only way such a small city (100,000) can have a major sports team.
Oooh. Now you and I are in a fight.
(Not really, I give about eleventy less shits about basketball than I do about football.)
He didn't get rich by being stupid.
Truer words never spoken.
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