Roger Goodell Under Fire On Twitter
This has not been a good year for NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. An arbitration panel threw out his punishment of four players over “Bountygate” this month, the league is being sued by thousands of former players for covering up concussion risks, and two potential allies, owners Dan Snyder and Jerry Jones, are suing the league over salary cap penalties they incurred.
Judging from social media, however, Goodell’s biggest concern lies with the current labor dispute with NFL officials. After a poor preseason, the replacement officials had a relatively quiet Week 1, but Week 2 was a different story. Slow games, missed calls and one pretty obvious verbal slip left fans frustrated and angry, and they took to twitter to voice their displeasure directly at the Commish.
The tweets ran the full range of emotion. The only thing they had in common was a severe lack of spell check.
From polite:
@nflcommish Your doing a disservice to the game and fans by not bringing the regular refs back.
— Pigskinmob (@pigskinmob) September 17, 2012
@nflcommish the refs are getting embarrassing 1:00 games are ending close to 5 because theres conference for every call end this madness
— T (@13thefish) September 17, 2012
@nflcommish I'm sure you've been bombarded with this, but it's time the regular refs come back. The replacements just aren't ready.
— Janet is Finally a HOF’er (@thejip08) September 17, 2012
@nflcommish …These Refs are making the game unsafe…The tension is too much…Please bring the professionals back.Integrity and Safety #1
— G-Love (@DCGOLove) September 17, 2012
@nfl @nflcommish better get the regular refs back on.. The replacements hv downright been awful…
— Harsha Radhakrishnan (@hr072) September 17, 2012
@nflcommish player safety is affected by replacement refs -review hit on Sean lee of Dallas vs Seattle. Our family will stop watching NFL
— Susan Bobb (@susantcurn) September 17, 2012
To angry:
@nflcommish Get you shit together, these "replacement" refs gotta go. I see better pee wee refs everyday!
— Brent Barie (@BrentBarie) September 17, 2012
@nflcommish Redskins Rams game was disgusting!Refs had way too much to do with outcome!Terrible product, refs lost control #disappointed fan
— Richie seltzer (@RichieRevival) September 17, 2012
https://twitter.com/IrishFast/status/247529845708423170
@nflcommish what the hell are you trying to prove with these replacement refs? Mockery.
— Sergio's Waggle (@SergiosWaggle) September 17, 2012
@nflcommish Hello Mr Commish. Are you watching your NFL? Hope you are disgusted as all of us are with the lack of professional refs.
— Brandon Kahl (@veritas0035) September 17, 2012
To vulgar:
@nflcommish You should pay the refs soon,if the scabs keep this up eventually the Mafia is going to get pissed their $ is being fucked with
— EmbraceTheBald (@EmbraceTheBald) September 17, 2012
@nflcommish Piece of shit pay the refs you cheap fuck!
— Mark Lujan (@LARams520) September 17, 2012
@nflcommish get the real refs back!!! That holding call was embarrassing you stupid fuck!!!! Do ur job!!! @EricThePelican
— michael j thomas (@mikethms22) September 17, 2012
And of course no internet discussion can be complete without a little racism or antisemitism:
@nflcommish pay the refs the gd money they deserve u ass hole jew bag
— Jake PAID THE MAN Guentzel (@MagicFingers420) September 17, 2012
these refs are fucking dog shit. Quit being a greedy fucking jew and get the real ones back. @nflcommish
— Bo Revelle Art (@BosusChrist) September 16, 2012
https://twitter.com/theballz90/status/247431723095318529
That freaking nazi Goodell should be ashamed of himself with this ref situation. @nflcommish
— Demogorgon (@dpaoloni) September 16, 2012