Before Hank Williams Jr. was drop-kicked off NFL broadcasts for being misinformed, misguided, misanthropic and missing a link to reality in his political views, he famously asked, "Are you ready for some football?!"
I've been ready since the official start of the season, but only now, with the return of the league's regular officials in week four, has the season truly begun.
Never have so few been so missed by so many. There is much rejoicing in the football equivalent of Mudville now that the games will again be decided by the players and not by clueless amateur arbiters.
After further review, it is apparent that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell made a monumental miscalculation when the league locked out the regular officials because of a labor dispute. Goodell was kicked squarely in his end zone and ended up apologizing to the world at large — without actually taking responsibility — for his error. When the regular officials returned last Thursday night to oversee the Ravens-Browns game in Baltimore, they were welcomed back with a standing ovation, surely a first occurrence in any sport. The league will recover, but Goodell's reputation was thrown for a big loss.
The commish had two radical options that would have allowed him to avoid humiliation and embarrassment. Whether he had the vision to realize that, or the resolve to forge ahead with them if he did, is another matter. Both options began with him invoking the Reagan Doctrine and firing all the referees, as the former president did to the nation's air traffic controllers to settle an earlier labor showdown.
Option No.1 was to use instant replay on every down. By doubling or trebling the number of cameras, all decisions could have been left to one review official perched high up in a glassed-in booth at the stadium; or anywhere, for that matter. Thanks to technology, he — or she — could be at a sports bar in the Caribbean or warming up between runs at a ski resort while rendering decisions. It's called telecommuting and it's widely used. And with high-definition, multi-pixilated, fiber-optic, variable-angle video evidence in crisp retina-display clarity, all decisions would have been above reproach.
Reviewing each play would of course lengthen the games considerably. But each review delay could have been sold as a one-minute commercial slot to the TV networks, generating millions more dollars a game.
I'm sure mandatory instant replay would have received an immaculate reception from fans and owners alike. Uncertainty about everything on the field of play would have been eliminated and millions of dollars in extra revenue would have been generated in a true come-from-behind victory for the NFL.
Goodell's other choice was the Nuclear Option, which would do away with any and all penalties and, therefore, the need for officials. If nothing is illegal, the game would be simplified and reduced to its most basic level: getting the ball into the end zone through brute force. Oh, wait. We already have that — it's called rugby. But no matter. Football is a more stylized version of rugby and in stripped-down form would more closely resemble its earlier, more innocent days. Abolishing penalties would have let NFL football return to a time when the game was more important than the sideshow surrounding it.
Goodell would be wise to keep these strategies in his playbook in case he faces a similar situation in the future. In the meantime, I'm ready for some football. And now that what amounted to an injury timeout for the NFL is over, I have it.
Bill Federman is a Times Union editor. His email address is bfederman@timesunion.com.
