Microphone is ref’s friend for no-sense rules

It elicits snickers from football fans when it happens, and it sometimes trends on Twitter. Referee Ed Hochuli turns on his microphone to explain a ruling, and some fans joke that it is NFL open mic night. An example from 2009: We reviewed whether the ball was fumbled down near the

Seahawks protest 17 calls

Week 10: Seahawks at Cardinals Seahawks coach Jim Mora is petitioning the league on 17 plays in Sunday's loss to the Cardinals, as reported by Danny O'Neil of The Seattle Times. While it is routine that coaches submit questionable calls to the league office, Mora said it was "probably three times

For Ochocinco, $1 equals $20,000

Week 9: Ravens at Bengals While on the sideline during a replay review, the Bengals' Chad Ochocinco jokingly waived a $1 bill at an official. The league sees this as no laughing matter. Ochocinco was fined $20,000 for the incident. (He was not penalized in the game for those actions.) As Chris

WSJ amusingly flaunts NFL no-text zone

We reported here a few weeks ago about the silly ban by the NFL on the press tweeting or textcasting a game from the press box. Fair enough, they can do whatever they want, since it is a condition of the press credentials the league issues. Ban or no ban,

Stripes may tweet whistle, not on Twitter

Don't expect to read Ed Hochuli defend his calls online. He and the rest of the officials have a social networking ban imposed on them. In rules just released—which is a reaction to number eight-five of the Bengals, Chad Ochocinco, and his claim that he would connect with fans via Twitter