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Fine, I’ll say it – it’s time to start arresting NFL referees. Bam. There it is. Lock them up. Throw away the key. Forget we ever saw them. 

OK, that’s a little harsh. It was dramatic, even for me. I’ll give you that. Maybe don’t arrest them over a blown call. 

But fine them? Suspend them? FIRE them? Take your pick, but someone needs to start holding these guys accountable, or the league is going to start (continue) to plummet. 

I know, I know – it’s the NFL! The ratings are always a juggernaut and it’s been a rocket ship for years now. 

I get it. I’m a sucker for it, too. But the product stinks right now, and it has a lot to do with the constant barrage of flags every single game. I mean, it’s constant. Poor Al Michaels is so miserable every single Thursday. You can hear it in his voice. He hates it here. 

So when you have that all the time, and then you combine it with what we saw at the end of last night’s Vikings-Rams game – an all-time missed facemask by the refs even though one was literally staring right at it – your product is going to start to suffer, and suffer bigly as Trump would say. 

I mean, how can anyone – fans or gamblers – take this sport seriously when crap like this is commonplace in today’s game? 

It’s time to hold these losers accountable 

Yeah, I mean, what are we doing here? Look, I had money on the game last night, so this is coming not only from a fan’s perspective, but also a gambler’s. 

It wasn’t a ton of coin, but enough to piss me the hell off when the Vikings’ drive ended after that play. I needed one more Jordan Addison catch to seal the deal on a nice parlay to start Week 8. 

Instead? I’m now researching where to get food stamps between paragraphs. Those things still around? I hope so!

But this nonsense happens all the time in today’s NFL. All the time. This is the SECOND column I’ve written on a Friday morning this year blasting the refs for sucking the life out of a game on a Thursday night. Do you think I want to start my Friday by being Mr. Negative? No. I don’t. 

I love the NFL. I love football season. I love gambling. This is supposed to be a great day. 

Final Friday of October? NFL and college football in full swing? World Series starts tonight? I don’t want to be negative today. I want to positive-vibe this day into a big night so I can start drinking and live-betting. 

But instead, I’m sitting here BEGGING the NFL to hold referees responsible and accountable after blowing call after call after call. It’s disgusting and it needs to be addressed. 

If I’m bad at my job and nobody clicks on my stories, then OutKick should fire me. Have it. Seriously, Do it, Clay. I deserve to be fired because Fox doesn’t need to be wasting a dime on me. Trust me, I aint’ exactly high on the totem pole. Me and Hannity ain’t even in the same zip code, frankly. 

Same with NFL refs. If they suck at their job, fire them. Fine them. Suspend them. Again, I’d be fine if you locked them up, but that’s probably a bit too far. 

Just a bit, though.