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NFL players tweet to bosses: Are you blind?

The sheer embarrassment of last night's Seattle-Green Bay game, where replacement refs needed their eyes replaced, causes players to express open hostility to their bosses on Twitter.

Chris Matyszczyk
2 min read
Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET

Here is a thought for all those who toil in corporations at the service of uncaring, myopic bosses: tweet them into submission.

This seems to have been the spontaneous reaction of NFL players last night, after they witnessed a game that had everything. Except a just result and refs with eyes.

Should you have been in the process of having your legs broken by Kathy Bates last night, you may have missed seeing the NFL chop at its own dignity with merciless abandon.

On the last play of the Seattle-Green Bay game there occurred a play now inevitably dubbed the Fail Mary. The refs -- who are mere replacements for the real locked-out refs -- gave Seattle a touchdown which could only have been awarded by those who are, well, touched.

You might imagine that the players were stunned. Not too stunned to take to Twitter and attempt to add a little rancid yoke to the egg already on their bosses' chubby cheeks.

Packers' lineman TJ Lang wasted no time in offering: "Got f***ed by the refs.. Embarrassing. Thanks nfl." He followed this with: "F*** it NFL. Fine me and use the money to pay the regular refs."

You might think he would have had second thoughts and removed this challenge to his employers. But no. The tweets are still there the morning after.

His ire was not lonely. Awful Announcing has a fine collection of tweets from players all around the league.

All of them, knowing that the NFL has descended to farce, are begging their bosses to settle with the real refs -- the ones who only occasionally make mistakes.

New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees, ever the model of civility, tweeted: "I love this league and love the game of football, but tonight's debacle hurts me greatly. This is NOT the league we're supposed to represent."

By this morning, even he wasn't in the mood to be polite anymore: "Ironic that our league punishes those based on conduct detrimental. Whose CONDUCT is DETRIMENTAL now?"

Miami Dolphins wide receiver Brian Hartline tried to be humorous: "I had to check my TV Guide bc for a sec I thought I was watching Punk'd... I was just waiting for Ashton to pop out... Smdh."

Arizona defensive end Darnell Dockett's tweets, though, truly reflected those of most of his fellow players: "This is what the NFL has come down to, & yet they tell you to respect the shield! Lol. But they'll try to fine us for everything we do."

The owners and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell might imagine that this mass self-expression via Twitter is appalling insubordination.

But perhaps these players are setting a precedent for many other workers to follow. If your bosses are failing in some of their most basic obligations, don't sidle up to them nicely. Humiliate them in public, en masse.

I have a strange feeling that the NFL might just settle with its real refs very, very soon.

Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET