This article might piss some people off. Others might agree and be glad it was said, but either way I want to get it off my chest. We all know the NFL officials have been locked out and now we have these replacement officials with what some people think the game of football in their hands. That being said, are the replacement officials really that bad or are we as a fan base, players, and coaches just glad we have something to complain about when something doesn't go our way. Yes there has been some horrible calls, and if any of us watched that Monday night game against Denver, at times it was really hard to sit in front of the tv. But was that from bad calls or was it just from inexperienced officials taking forever to make up their minds. I have watched NFL football for 20 years and in those years I as we all have have seen alot of questionable calls, and calls that may have changed the outcome of the game. In this case a lot of the hype concerning the replacement refs is media generated. I have watched so many post game conferences with head coaches saying "we cannot blame the officiating, we should have never been in that position to begin with". We have all heard that quote. As many times as that quote has been used that should tell us that there has been many of calls blown and calls that possibly have changed the outcome of a game. Are these rep officials perfect? Hell no. Do I want the regular officials back? Yup. The thing is that every time I go to espn or another sports related website I see articles just ripping these rep refs, and to be quite honest, its the media who is taking this thing so far that it takes away from the game experience. I have enjoyed watching every Falcons game this season just as much as every season before. I think what it comes down to is that a lot of the analysis that talk about the replacement officials are ex ball players. With that being said that normally means that they are still part of the players union. I bring up the union because I believe that unions have other unions back, in this case the officiating union. So their complaints and all this hype really isn't about replacement refs, its about trying to help a unions cause. Im not going to say weather I agree or do not agree with the lockout or the reasons it has happen, im just looking at it from the outside and saying what I see. The players union and the officiating union battle the same enemy, The "NFL". Did you guys watch Steve Young and the other players go off on their rant after Monday night football. You better believe those guys still pay their union dues. So the next time you see analysis on tv complaining about rep officials, look who is doing the talking. Any thoughts?