How Sarah Thomas, NFL’s First Full-Time Female Official, Is Changing The Football Vernacular

[CCBoy]

HOW SARAH THOMAS, NFL’S FIRST FULL-TIME FEMALE OFFICIAL, IS CHANGING THE FOOTBALL VERNACULAR

http://www.5pointsblue.com/sarah-thomas-nfls-first-full-time-official-changing-football-vernacular/

Eric Christian Smith via AP

Sarah Thomas, the first full-time female official in the history of the NFL, is getting a promotion in 2017. Now entering her third NFL season, she’s moving from the position of ‘Line Judge’ to ‘Head Linesman’.
There are some added responsibilities and changes that come with her new position. More on that momentarily, first, a note about the trickle-down effect of her particular move to Head Linesman.

The source of this information is a note in Albert Breer’s weekly column that was posted Thursday, June 15th for The Monday Morning Quarterback (mmqb.si.com).

Breer writes about Thomas’ promotion to Head Linesman and adds: “I’m told the NFL is making a change there, and the head linesman on every crew will now be known as the ‘down judge’. What does that mean? Well, for you, it means there’s be a ‘DJ’ on the back of an official’s jersey rather than it saying ‘HL’. The name change is something the league has talked about for a little bit, making it so there’s the referee, an umpire and five judges on the field. But it’s also a subtle shift to: A) recognize Thomas, and B) to encourage more women to pursue officiating.”...

 

[Kevinicus]

Yes, I'm sure this will result in a flood of women wanting to be NFL officials.

So much wasted energy on pointless things...smh.

 

[Ranched]

You Go Girl. Keep Climbing Dak Corporate Ladder.

 

[Longboysfan]

If the young lady wants to be there and has the skills - Great. I'm all for it.

She may be like me. An action junkie. Where else to get your fix than on the field close to the action.

 

[jrumann59]

As long as she can take a hit who cares

 

[EST_1986]

more importantly, whats her ruling on the Dez catch

 

[Yakuza Rich]

There's a funny story my dad has of my grandfather who was the head of a linesmen crew for a power company. This was back when women simply didn't work as linemen.

Eventually the company hired a woman who was from out in the sticks and grew up on a farm and knew how to use a wrench and do a lot of dirty work.

On her first day of work, the local newspaper sent out a reporter to watch her work and report on it. It was a situation where the newspaper was going to give glowing reviews of her work no matter what she did because it was the first time a female had worked for the company in this capacity.

The duty that day was to dig a trench so they could lay electrical wire. Since it was her first day, her main job was to be a 'gopher' in the sense when my grandfather told her they needed a certain piece of equipment, she was to know what the piece of equipment was and bring it to them.

My grandfather asked her for a certain piece of equipment, she went to the truck and brought it right back.

The reporter eagerly went to my grandfather and said 'Mr. Hunt, Mr. Hunt...whaddya think about that? She got the exact tool you wanted and brought it back to you.'

My grandfather stonefaced the reporter and didn't say a word.

A little while later the same thing happened. And again, the reporter hurried up to my grandfather and asked 'whaddya think, Mr. Hunt? She got the right piece of equipment, again!'

Eventually the same thing happened again and again the female did exactly what she was told to do and again the reporter came back and asked 'whaddya think about that Mr. Hunt?'

My grandfather finally replied with:

I THINK SHE'S DOING HER #$%!&!# JOB!

The newspaper ran the story on her first day and left it as 'Her supervisor, Mr. Hunt, was unavailable for comment.'



The morale to the story is that people don't care if a female is doing a job that has been normally reserved for men. They just want the best man/woman for the job. All of the 'changing the vernacular' means diddly squat in the end. If Sarah Thomas is good at her job, I will be impressed. And if she can actually change the quality of refereeing for the better, I will be even more impressed.

If all she does is 'change the vernacular' then it just sends the message that the NFL will do anything to keep up with the PC crowd even if it means having a lower quality product. And fans around the country will take these female hirings with a grain of salt.





YR

 

[JoeKing]

Good on her for earning the promotion, bad on the league for be far too PC... god forbid we call a woman a head linesMAN.