BAD CALL

If you are a chargers fan or even just a football fan, you are probably angry and upset at Sunday’s Chargers vs Bronco’s game. Sean and I were on our Mexico Cruise and watched it on the ship. We were so excited to watch the game with fellow fans, eventhough some of the fans were rude! Anyways, they were winning the game, and wow, the Chargers were going to win this game!! Until this very very very bad call came from the “buff ref”!! I have always liked this ref and thought he was always fair, but no, not anymore…no way! Sean said quote, “ If I was the coach, I would have punched him, and would take the suspension or kicked out of the game as it would be well worth it!! “ well Turner was pretty pissed, and turns out every Charger fan was! Oh and suddenly the replay was working again…oh just in time..hmmm….fishy? YES!

Well, here is an interesting article I found regarding the referee, and his reaction..

Let me know what you thought of this!






While Chargers players and coaches attempt to move on and prepare for their upcoming “Monday Night Football” game against the New York Jets, the team's fans have not quite let go of what happened in the waning seconds of Sunday's loss at Denver.

And so, at least for a day, Ed Hochuli remained the most hated man in San Diego.

Calls for everything from Hochuli's suspension to firing (or worse) were heard on radio talk shows and read on various fan Internet sites. Hochuli has been criticized in the media, and his Wikipedia page was locked to prevent abuse after at least one fan posted a profane entry on the page.

All this because Hochuli was the referee who blew a call near the end of the Chargers' game Sunday in Denver, his mistake essentially costing the San Diego team a victory.

With one minute, 17 seconds to play and the Chargers leading 38-31, Denver quarterback Jay Cutler dropped back to pass with Chargers linebacker Tim Dobbins closing in. Before Cutler could complete his throwing motion and bring his arm forward, the ball slipped from his hand, flying backward.

As Dobbins bent to pick up the ball, Hochuli signaled an incomplete pass. Although the play was reviewed by Hochuli on a replay monitor and changed to a fumble by Cutler, the rules prevented the ball from being awarded to the Chargers. Instead, Denver retained possession at the spot of the fumble, the 10-yard line. Two plays later, the Broncos scored and then converted a two-point try to go ahead 39-38 with 24 seconds remaining.

The play has sparked talk of an offseason rule change, something NFL officials indicated the league's Competition Committee would look at in February.
“That's good,” Chargers linebacker Matt Wilhelm said yesterday with a smile. “Too late for us, though.”

No one, it appears, is taking the mistake and its ramifications harder than Hochuli.

“He's devastated,” said Mike Pereira, the NFL's supervisor of officials. “ . . . I was talking to Ed within 10 minutes after the game was over, and he was sick. He's still sick (yesterday).

“Everybody works so hard and wants to be perfect in a game you're not likely to ever be perfect. I've talked to him three times. He's really struggling with the fact he made such a bad call.”

Most remarkably, posts on various Internet forums indicated Hochuli replied to hundreds of e-mails from fans yesterday. In those e-mails, he apologized for his mistake.

One such e-mail, purportedly from Hochuli, was posted on a SignOnSanDiego.com forum.

It read:

I'm getting hundreds of emails – hate mail – but I'm responding to it all. People deserve a response.

You can rest assured that nothing anyone can say can make me feel worse than I already feel about my mistake on the fumble play. You have no idea . . .

Affecting the outcome of a game is a devastating feeling. Officials strive for perfection – I failed miserably. Although it does no good to say it, I am very, very sorry.

Ed Hochuli

A similar message from Hochuli, with a personalized response to the sender's specific questions, was forwarded to the Union-Tribune. However, responding to a request by the Union-Tribune, Hochuli replied from the same e-mail address, which matched his law firm e-mail address: “I'm sorry . . . I can not speak to the press, so I can't respond to this.”

Game officials in the NFL are not full-time employees, and almost all of them have regular jobs. Hochuli is a founding partner of a large Phoenix law firm. He specializes in legal malpractice and professional liability.

Hochuli, 57, is in his 17th season as a referee and 19th as an official in the NFL. He is best known for his muscular physique. That, along with his sometimes whimsical on-field explanations of calls, have inspired a sort of cult following.

Along with San Diego resident Mike Carey, Hochuli was rated in a recent ESPN poll of NFL head coaches as the best referee in the league. He has worked two Super Bowls.

“Over the length of his career, he's been a great referee,” Pereira said. “I hate to think he'll be defined by this call.”

Pereira said officials are graded on every play and that Hochuli will be downgraded for the crucial call. That poor grade could affect Hochuli's standing as a referee in the postseason.

“Every official going into the season, they all strive for the Super Bowl,” Pereira said. “They know a call like this is one that could well keep them out.”

Pereira did not hold back in his judgment of Hochuli.

“There is no denying the gravity of this judgment mistake,” Pereira said. “It's a big mistake, and we all feel bad.”

But Pereira said Hochuli made the call quickly – a point with which some inside the Chargers organization disagree, saying it appeared Hochuli hesitated for a couple of seconds – and even though he was wrong it was not a misinterpretation of the rules or a mistake with the clock.

“There is the element of judgment, which is difficult to deal with,” Pereira said. “A lot of people do make errors in judgment.”

While Hochuli will be remembered for the fateful call, Broncos coach Mike Shanahan told the Denver media yesterday he thought Sunday's crew was “the best . . . that we have had in the last 20 crews I have graded. They did a heck of a job.”