This is a big night for Ed Hochuli fans. I envision viewing parties throughout the country with everyone wearing bulked up Hochuli ref jerseys.
The rundown from Showtime:
Fans who used to boo their calls gave NFL refs standing ovations when they returned to the field after a labor lock-out last year. It took a few weeks of disastrous calls by the replacement refs for fans to finally realize how much they appreciated their regular professional NFL refs. Now, two of the NFL’s most respected refs talk to correspondent Pam Oliver about their jobs, the new rules, their new-found stardom and the labor lock-out. The story with NFL refs Mike Carey and Ed Hochuli will be featured on the next edition of 60 MINUTES SPORTS, Wednesday, September 4 at 10:00 P.M. ET/PT only on SHOWTIME.
In late September 2012, after a few months of the lock-out and a few weeks of NFL season games with shaky replacement refs, a blown call in the end zone handing the Seattle Seahawks a victory over the Green Bay Packers caused deafening criticism. A temporary truce was called and that Thursday night, the real refs were back on the field. Did Carey think the Green Bay debacle called the NFL’s hand? “You can’t predict when somebody is going to see the light,” says Carey. “And sometimes pride gets in the way. From the beginning I…knew we were coming back. Was it going to be that next week? I didn’t think so. I thought they would maybe go another week [without the real refs] or so, just to show their power,” he tells Oliver.
Carey and Hochuli are among the most recognizable refs in the NFL and have been best friends off the field ever since they joined the league 24 years ago. They let Oliver into their worlds and their heads for this rare look at the officials who enforce the rules in America’s favorite sport.
On those “complicated” rules, says Carey, “We’ve spent hours and hours, weeks upon weeks, trying to perfect [the rule book] and nobody has it down perfectly. No one referee ever.” Hochuli says he studies the rules about 15 hours a week. “I don’t necessarily agree with all of the rules, but I don’t write them. My job is to enforce them.”
Their job is often to listen, too, says Hochuli, to the nasty things coaches and others say to them when they make their decisions on the field. “It’s in a tremendously emotional game…atmosphere. I go to talk to a coach on the sideline and he doesn’t have a question. He just wants to vent and I recognize that,” Hochuli tells Oliver.
