Being A Referee Is Awesome. Here’s Why

December 16th, 2001. The Cleveland Browns are playing the Jacksonville Jaguars. 1:02 left in the game, and Jacksonville is up 15–10. The Browns have the ball, and have a crucial 4th & 2 ahead of them. They pass, complete the pass, get the first down. On the next play, they spike the ball. But wait — the referee whistles the play dead. The play before is under review: they’re not sure if the Cleveland player actually caught the pass. The video says he didn’t. So the call is reversed, and Jacksonville gets the ball.

And then, all hell breaks loose.

An angry mob is threatening to get on the field; beer bottles are flying everywhere. People are getting hurt. One guy gets hit, falls down, his skull cracked open, bleeding. The referees run for their lives, away from the crowd into the locker room. And they don’t know if they’re going to even get out of there unharmed.

Yes, their call to overturn the play after another play has been run was flat out wrong. But does this really warrant throwing beer bottles at people and threatening the referee’s lives?