Professionalism

From the Washington Post (and the "Whaaa?!" file):

After a controversial call by a replacement referee led to a Green Bay Packers loss on Monday night, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) called for the return of the NFL’s regular unionized officials, who have been locked out by the league’s owners.

“After catching a few hours of sleep, the #Packers game is still just as painful. #Returntherealrefs,” Walker wrote on Twitter early Tuesday.

The irony here is that Walker made national headlines last year when he pushed to strip Wisconsin’s public employees of their collective bargaining rights. But Walker sounded less enthusiastic about the outcome of the NFL’s hard-line stance against its unionized workers. ...

Here's the thing about labor unions. They help people who don't run venture capital firms earn enough money to live a dignified existence when they are 1) raising kids, and 2) retired in their old age.

A few years back, a Hong Kong animation company named Imagi set up shop in Sherman Oaks, California. The company soon discovered that the artists it wanted to employ refused to work for Imagi because ... (drum roll) company wasn't offering the benefits and wages the artists wanted.

Imagi wasn't union.

The company ended up coming to TAG and asking for a contract so it could get the staff it needed to create its product.

It's kind of the same deal with the referees at those NFL games. The owners can hire stumblebums, and put striped shirts on them, give them whistles. But having the right outfits and acoutrements doesn't make the stumblebums professionals who know what they're doing.

Maybe it would be a good move for fans to stop attending games until the real referres are returned to work, no? Because in solidarity, there is strength.