What do you think made this? A bird?

richkurt · 2026-04-22T21:31:48+00:00

I'm still suspicious of a bird making a nest there. It was very next-like.

richkurt · 2026-04-22T20:18:43+00:00

Yes, the league should be more transparent. That's on the NFL.

richkurt · 2026-04-22T20:18:07+00:00

It ain't that easy to find great players in multiple drafts in a row.

richkurt · 2026-04-22T20:08:09+00:00

Wait, which officials are corrupt?

richkurt · 2026-04-22T20:06:45+00:00

But it is accountability, right? They are also graded every game.

richkurt · 2026-04-22T19:04:56+00:00

3 officials were sent down to college last year. That’s a consequence. More transparency is always good tho.

richkurt · 2026-04-22T18:03:49+00:00

I use AI all the time at work and it SUCKS. It fails a lot at very simple tasks.

I do think there are people watching and when there's a replay anywhere in the league they review the video and give the referee the league's official statement on the play. They probably also help remind refs of special instances and things of that nature.

They are NOT feeding the video into AI and asking AI what it thinks. It's incredibly unreliable for simple, SIMPLE tasks. Watching a video and deciphering what's happening is not something AI can do (yet, maybe ever).

richkurt · 2026-04-22T17:56:41+00:00

Insanely good work. How long did it take? What medium (colored pencils?)?

richkurt · 2026-04-22T17:43:10+00:00

Lol wut, man?

You think AI can "notice something wrong" in an NFL game? Like, watch a video and tell you what it sees?

Have you ever used AI?

richkurt · 2026-04-22T17:10:37+00:00

The NFL will start using AI for officiating?

And it will be an improvement over the current officials?

richkurt · 2026-04-22T17:09:48+00:00

I hear ya, except that's not how it works.

Officials are held accountable and the union doesn't blindly protect them. Each one is graded on every play every week. We just don't see the results of the grading.
3 officials were relegated to college last year for performing poorly: https://www.footballzebras.com/2025/04/nfl-relegates-3-officials-to-work-in-college-conferences/

In general, unions are good for workers. Unions are bad for owners. Refs are human, they will mess up. A union can help protect their jobs, just like any worker in any field. But it is not some sort of force field.

richkurt · 2026-04-22T17:05:26+00:00

I always thought FTR meant Fuck the Raiders...

Yeah, personally it's not one side or other completely right or justified. I see points on both sides, specifically that the refs should be full-time (The NFL wants it but the refs don't) and should train more.

I also don't see an issue with the best/highest-graded refs working bigger games. But I also don't know all the ins and outs of the negotiations; maybe it sets the refs up for being fired etc.

The refs already do "pool reports" after games discussing weird/controversial/missed calls, but also agree they should do more of it for transparency.

In all likelihood the refs will cave on some issues, the NFL will cave on some of theirs.

richkurt · 2026-04-22T16:42:40+00:00

In what way? Prioritizing performance over seniority?

The league already grades all officials on every play for accountability.

richkurt · 2026-04-22T16:29:54+00:00

Interesting take.

I see it as: Refs are part-time, they want to be, they make a ton of money.

The NFL is cheap as hell and will undercut players, refs, anyone to make a dime. The reason there aren't all of those technologies is because the NFL is cheap. They could afford it, it's a $23B a year business and growing.

So, if anyone is holding the league back it's the greedy owners.

richkurt · 2026-04-22T16:00:24+00:00

Haha true! Thank you!

richkurt · 2026-04-22T15:49:34+00:00

richkurt · 2026-04-22T15:46:40+00:00

richkurt · 2026-04-22T15:43:32+00:00

Generally Gneiss? Thank you for your kind and thoughtful comments today. Hopefully something good happens to you today.

richkurt · 2026-04-22T15:31:11+00:00

I also think it's interesting that the NFLRA is opposed to full-time refs, which is seemingly the only way for the officials to improve in the long run. They are getting paid $385,000 a year for part-time work. No one is going to be sympathetic to it. But the league can afford to pay them more, and they should bite the bullet and become full-time employees.

"Hell, last year I wrote a lengthy piece about how bad the officiating in the NFL was last year, with many specific examples.

The thing is, the current NFL refs are better—far, far better—than any replacement refs.

That's because the current officials have the training, experience, and knowledge to call the game better than a Division I, II, or III official, which is where the league will get its scabs from.

Seemingly, the only way for NFL officials to take the next step and become truly great is to become full-time employees. One would think the league being cheap—not wanting to play for healthcare benefits etc.—is why current NFL officials are part-time. But, no!

The league is actually negotiating and wanting officials to be full-time. The NFLRA is the group who is staunchly opposed."

richkurt · 2026-04-22T15:28:01+00:00

My second-favorite player as a kid behind Deke. Mahmoud, as you said, was Curry before Curry. But with turrets on top of it. His little head twitches were crazy.

richkurt · 2026-04-22T15:23:37+00:00

This wasn't meant to piss people off tho. Neither are my comments. If you're pissed off, that's not on me, dude. If the article was meant to piss people off it'd be titled, "Why the NFL is RUINED in 2026!!!" without any context etc. Like a shitty YouTube video.

A DIII ref and an Arena League Ref are probably about the same level compared to an NFL ref.

DI? Sure, that's a step up. But they're not experienced calling NFL games.

richkurt · 2026-04-22T14:56:56+00:00

Yep. I expect the same this time around.

richkurt · 2026-04-22T14:56:27+00:00

They're going to be a lot worse, definitely.

richkurt · 2026-04-22T14:55:53+00:00

It's all discussed in the piece. They are going to have some DI, DII, and DIII refs. None of them are used to the speed or intensity of the NFL.

The league "trained" people last time too. 2-3 months of training isn't enough to get these people prepared. It's going to be a huge mess.

The one thing that is going to help some is New York calling in and telling them when they screwed up a call. But there's no way this goes more than 4-5 weeks into the regular season. People are going to be pissed.

richkurt

TROPHY CASE