NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue has said his league's referees have “the toughest job in sports.” He has a point. How would you like to be staring down the barrel of Corey Dillon's forward lean after 10 yards? You want to get in the way of Orlando Pace leading a sweep, just so you can see if he's holding? It's amazing more NFL refs aren't knocked down, run over and road-killed.

        Their every call is watched by Big Brother in the booth, and they're still right twice as much as the weatherman.

        Regardless, the refs have rejected a contract offer that apparently would pay them 40 percent more this year and double their wages by 2003. Without an agreement this week, they'll likely be sitting out opening Sunday.

40 percent, then more

        It begs the question: Would 40 percent be OK with you?

        Might you say, in this flat-at-best economy, when pink slips are floating like confetti on New Year's Eve, that a 40 percent pay boost would be, you know, decent?

        I wanted to talk to a ref Sunday. Paul Weidner lives in town. He has been an NFL official for 16 years. I wanted to ask him who in his right mind turns down a 40 percent raise. There must be more to it.

        Weidner assured me there is. Then he said he couldn't talk about it.

        Tom Condon, chief negotiator for the NFL Referees Association, is the only one allowed to speak for the refs. Even Jerry Markbreit, a longtime ref now working with the league to train new referees, declined comment at Saturday's Bengals game.

        Fair enough. Union solidarity is fine and necessary. But it doesn't stop heads from shaking.

        NFL refs make between $1,431 and $4,330 a game. Weidner is closer to the top of that scale than the bottom. Under the NFL's proposal, he'd be making something close to $8,000 a game in two years. If he works 20 games, that's $160,000, not counting postseason games.

        What was it they were arguing about again?

        The refs want to be paid like officials in other sports. They claim to put in a similar amount of time, though it's hard to see how. Even if you're working during the week -- reviewing film, talking to the league office, attending clinics, staying in shape -- you're home a lot more than baseball umpires or NBA referees.

        You're not fighting jet lag or eating room service at midnight. You get abused. But just once a week.

Nobody cares

        And there's this: Nobody cares.

        Who sweats a ref's problems? Maybe we should. You can't have anarchy in sports. You can't do whatever you want, unless you're Al Davis.

        But the best officials in any sport are the ones you don't notice. That applies during the games. Also in contract talks.

        NFL referees haven't displayed the contentious self-importance we've seen from umpires, or the lack of accountability to the public we've gotten from college basketball referees around here over the years.

        But they're rowing the same boat. We don't sympathize with anyone in sports now. Why would we start with referees?

        E-mail: pdaugherty@enquirer.com. Past columns at Enquirer.com/columns/daugherty.

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