NFL referee Ed Hochuli brought the zebra position back into the spotlight once again after blatantly blowing a call and stealing a game from the San Diego Chargers on Sunday.

This certainly isn’t the first time an official has blown more than their whistle, but it is the timing of the call that demands so much attention.

When a zebra like Hochuli throws his common sense out the window and determines the outcome of a game, it restructures the entire division. In a league with a short 16 game schedule, the Broncos are suddenly 2-0 and the Chargers 0-2, two full games behind in the division.

The game-determining call occurred when the Broncos were on the Charger’s one-yard line with only a minute left in the game. Broncos QB Jay Cutler dropped back to pass and dropped the ball. The ball was scooped up by the Charger’s defense and while the Chargers began celebrating on Denver’s grass, Hochuli decided to pull the heist.

“Fumble, I think”, said Cutler.

“I blew the call . . . I failed miserably.” – Referee Ed Hochuli

“It’s unacceptable.” – Chargers Coach Norv Turner

“This is the best crew we’ve had in the past 20 crews. They did a heckuva job.” – Denver Coach Mike Shanahan.

Mike, stop making a fool out of yourself by making stupid-ass comments like that. It’s best to allow this fiasco to run its course and not go public to support this moron and his blunder.

Shanahan is the only person on the NFL planet that thinks so highly of Hochuli after Sunday’s blunder.

The NFL certainly does not and confirmed on Monday that Hochuli will be “graded down” after handing the game to the Broncos.

The NFLRA released a statement that included, “No one feels worse about this than Ed.”

Wanna bet! Ask every Chargers player, coach and fan. Ask the owners who have multi-million dollar investments into their business. When they win they make money; when they lose, they don’t.

Looks like another zebra blew more than his whistle on Sunday and triggered talk of rule changes, like the infamous coin toss game on Thanksgiving Day years ago; (see “This Referee Wears his I.Q. on his Jersey” in our Bizarre Moments section.)

Copyright © 2008 – Sports Climax