The nation came together Tuesday morning over a collective outrage, an egregious injustice, a nationally televised attack upon all that is decent and fair in America.
It was Monday night's blown call by the NFL's replacement referees that cost the Green Bay Packers a victory against the Seattle
Seahawks on national television.
It also dearly cost those who had bet on the game. Las Vegas oddsmakers say $300 million or more changed hands worldwide on the controversial call giving Seattle a touchdown and a 14-12 win rather than an interception for Green Bay.
The Glantz-Culver line for the game opened favoring the Packers by 4?. Had the final play been ruled an interception -- as many players, analysts and fans believed was the right call -- Green Bay would have won by 5 points.
Well into Tuesday, the country aimed its anger directly at the NFL, the beloved behemoth of American sports franchises, over the blown call on the game's final play.
Three weeks' worth of criticism and angst over the subpar performances of the replacement referees, filling in for the regular ones who have been locked out by the NFL in a labor standoff, reached the boiling point Monday.
Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers, normally a soft-spoken player who didn't say much after the loss, lashed out on his radio show Tuesday.
"First of all, I've got to do something that the NFL is not going to do: I have to apologize to the fans," he said on ESPN 540-AM in Milwaukee.
"Terrible," President Barack Obama told reporters in response to a question about the game's ending. "I've been saying for months, we've gotta get our refs back."
"DISGRACE!" screamed the back page of the New York Post.
"Nightmare scenario," blared the headline on the SportsIllustrated.com website.
"The Straw That Broke the NFL's Back," touted a headline at ESPN.com.
The NFL's locked-out referees, although technically part-time employees, undergo rigorous training to master the league's infamously complex rule book. Their replacements, largely a collection of officials who work high school and low-level college games, often have seemed out of their depth during the first weeks of the season. But no games had been blatantly decided on a blown call -- until Monday night.
With the Seahawks trailing, 12-7 and eight seconds remaining, quarterback Russell Wilson launched a 24-yard "Hail Mary" pass into the end zone. Packers safety M.D. Jennings appeared to wrest control of the ball from Seahawks wide receiver Golden Tate -- an interception -- but one of the referees near the play signaled touchdown while another indicated interception. They eventually ruled that Tate had simultaneous possession with Jennings, which counts as a reception by the offensive player.
As players, coaches, fans and TV viewers waited anxiously, the referees reviewed replays for some 10 minutes -- and still got it wrong, saying Tate had shared possession of the ball, which, by rule, favors the offensive player.
The NFL acknowledged Tuesday that Tate should have been flagged for offensive pass interference on the play, which would have ended the game with a Packers victory. But NFL officials said the referee was correct that no indisputable visual evidence existed on a replay review to overturn the touchdown call, so the Seattle victory stood.
"The NFL is too good for this, too big for this," said ESPN analyst and former 49er quarterback Steve Young, who was at the game. "It's too hard to watch."
"I love this league and love the game of football," tweeted New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, one of the most widely respected players in the game, "but tonight's debacle hurts me greatly. This is NOT the league we're supposed to represent."
On MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program, former President Bill Clinton was asked about the game.
"I would not have called that last play the way they did in that Seattle-Green Bay game last night," he said. "The Packers will wake up this morning and just sort of shake their head and say: 'We should have won by two touchdowns.' "
The NFL on Tuesday gave no indication of when it might settle its dispute with its regular officials or whether there was any sense of urgency to do so. However, the NFL and representatives for the referees were said to be negotiating Tuesday, although people familiar with the talks said they had been scheduled before Monday night's episode.
"It's like putting a bunch of college players out there to play an NFL game," Washington Redskin cornerback Josh Wilson said of the replacement referees. "These are amateur people doing professionals' jobs. It's not good for the integrity of the game."
The referee (technically the side judge) who signaled touchdown Monday night was Lance Easley of Santa Maria, who, according to the Santa Maria Times, worked junior college and high school games along the Central Coast before the NFL hired him as a replacement.
This story includes information from the Washington Post and Associated Press.
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