He's about to start his 17th season as a referee in the National Football League and tells WBTV he's excited about getting back.
The referee, who is on the negotiating team that hammered out a tentative agreement with the league to end the months long lock-out, asked that he not be identified. During a phone conversation with WBTV, he said he has a passion for officiating. "It's like anything you have a passion for - you always want to do it. Being away from it is like a void - that void is going to be filled again doing something you love".
He said he did watch a few games but had no comment about the replacement refs. "They did what they had to do", he said.
When asked if he was aware of how fans were reacting - comments the last couple of games, he said "you read the press, listen to news broadcasts. Obviously you know what folks are saying. I asked him if that was a good thing for them. Did it give the referees some leverage? He said, "I'll let you decide. You'll have to ask the League if they felt.... I think both sides felt like they had important points and need to get to an agreement".
The referee said the two sides "had been meeting for almost nonstop for 10 days - in person and on calls".
So what did it? What was the thing that got the talks going in the right direction? What role did the end of Monday Night's game {Green Bay vs Seattle} play? The referee said "I think it's just something that brought us all to the realization we wanted to get something done. It's hard to say. We were pretty far down the road over the last week or so. I don't want to draw people there was one particular thing. There were lots of things that caused this to get done".
After a decade and a half of officiating games, he knows fans care deeply about their teams, and the calls on the field. So does he feel pressure since the fans and players have been clamoring for the return of the regular refs? He says, "we always feel pressure to excel on the field. And we're going to rise to the occasion". Is the pressure double this time? "I don't know about double - but we'll give it our best", he said.
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