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The funny part - and by 'funny' I mean not really funny at all - about this story from a media perspective is how unified and pro-referee the coverage has been after last year's player lockout produced almost the opposite reaction from the same quarters. During the impasse with the players union I heard media types chiding the players to "just get back to work" as they cheered rumors about reductions in free-agency, bemoaned the cut-backs in structured off-season camps, and were most unified in approving of the impositions of tighter rookie salary caps.
Meanwhile, from the league's point of view, they long held out the argument that free-agency was never right for football because a group - like say an offensive line - needs to train, practice, eat, sleep, workout and shower together every day for like 10 years (OK, I'm exaggerating a bit) or else they'll never really become a truly cohesive unit and therefore the product on the field would suffer greatly (or so they claimed and many media types parroted) due to the loss of teamwork if players were allowed to choose their own jobs. Yet replacing their long-standing referee teams with amateurs who had never met each other much less worked in a group before being thrown together for a few pre-season contests before the real games started was their first reaction to an action that they caused in an attempt to change an agreement that was still in place.
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