Well football fans you've got what you've asked for.
For years, NFL officials have been systemically ripped to shreds by Monday morning quarterbacks over blown calls, missed calls or an overall bias against your favorite team.
Let's see how a bunch of guys from lower-level colleges and the Lingerie Football League fare when making that critical 4-and-inches call in the dying seconds of a game.
The NFL sent a memo to its 32 teams officially announcing that all Week 1 openers will be officiated by replacements referees.
According to USA Today, NFL executive vice president Ray Anderson said both the league and the NFL Referees Association remained deadlocked over a new collective bargaining agreement that involves: payment increases, pension concerns (the league wants to replace pension benefits with a defined 401(K) plan, officials numbers and the evaluation process.
"We're no closer to a deal ... and the opening game is right around the corner," New York Giants co-owner John Mara told USA Today in an email. "So the league had no choice."
NFL officials began their lockout in June. Negotiations went nowhere quickly. The two sides have remained deadlocked ever since.
In the memo, Anderson said the league will use the replacement officials for "as much of the regular season as necessary."
It's been a rocky road for the replacement refs so far. Preseason games have been filled with a slew of complaints from players and especially coaches over blown calls and the officials' obvious inability to keep up with the pace of the game.
Check out this video from the Giants vs. New England Patriots preseason game on Wednesday night.
Green Bay Packers safety Charles Woodson admitted to USA Today that the replacement refs, "haven't been very good."
"Now could they go through a season and get better? Sure," he said. "But there's going to be a lot of bad officiating going on until they catch up to the speed of the game."
According to ESPN, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told reporters last week that he expects the replacement officials do "a very credible job."
Not exactly a supreme vote of confidence, but it looks like the league has no intention of backing down.
This isn't the first time the NFL has used replacement officials. In 2001, the league used replacements for the first week of the regular season because the officials' contracts weren't finalized. But with no real timetable in place for the return of the real officials, this situation is a little different.
A year off of their lockout, NFL players are standing in support for the officials.
"They've got to do what they've got to do, and we were in a similar situation a little while ago," Indianapolis safety Anthoine Bethea told ESPN. "So you can't fault those guys for doing what they have to do."
