Mike Carey reveals he declined to referee Redskins games

NoDak

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Posted by Michael David Smith on August 20, 2014, 11:40 AM EDT

Mike Carey, long one of the NFL’s best referees and now a TV analyst, has revealed something that hadn’t previously been disclosed: Over the last several years of his career, he declined to work Redskins games because he was offended by the team’s name.

“The league respectfully honored my request not to officiate Washington,” Carey told the Washington Post. “It happened sometime after I refereed their playoff game in 2006, I think.”

Carey, who was the first African-American to referee a Super Bowl, said that he decided he had had enough after working that playoff game in January of 2006.

“It just became clear to me that to be in the middle of the field, where something disrespectful is happening, was probably not the best thing for me,” Carey said.

Although Carey didn’t want to make a big public show of his opposition to the Washington team’s name, he did say that he didn’t feel right about being a part of games that featured a team whose name is a racial slur.

“Human beings take social stances,” he said. “And if you’re respectful of all human beings, you have to decide what you’re going to do and why you’re going to do it.”

The NFL was able to handle the Carey situation quietly, but this is a growing problem for the league: There’s a substantial portion of the population that opposes the Washington team’s name, and that includes people who work within the NFL.
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Imagine that... He's going to work in TV, and now mentions this. Think he might be wanting to get his name out there? I wonder if he also refused to do Chiefs games...?
 

Carp

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No problem with him doing this...he kept it quiet when he was doing it.
 

NoDak

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No problem with him doing this...he kept it quiet when he was doing it.
I don't have a problem with him doing it, either. Just curious as to why talk about it now if he wasn't talking about it then? TV job, perhaps...?
 

Plan9Misfit

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While I respect the fact that he kept it quiet during his career as an official, I find it dubious that he brought it up basically the first time he got the opportunity as a broadcaster.
 

1bigfan13

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I don't have a problem with him doing it, either. Just curious as to why talk about it now if he wasn't talking about it then? TV job, perhaps...?
Perhaps. But I could also see him wanting to keep his protest silent since he was an employee of the league. Plus there wasn't much of a public uproar over the name back then.

How long do you think he'd have lasted if he made a big deal out of this 8 years ago? Not very long, IMO.

I doubt the league would have stood for one of their refs causing a big PR storm. If he created a media storm with his protest I'm guessing the NFL finds a way to run him out of the league or if they allowed him to stay they probably would have relegated him to refereeing lower-tier games. Something like Bills-Titans on a weekly basis.

I take more issue with the attention whoring of guys like who never thought twice about using the name but who now want to act ultra-offended by it.
 

BipolarFuk

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Posted by Michael David Smith on August 20, 2014, 11:40 AM EDT

Mike Carey, long one of the NFL’s best referees and now a TV analyst, has revealed something that hadn’t previously been disclosed: Over the last several years of his career, he declined to work Redskins games because he was offended by the team’s name.

“The league respectfully honored my request not to officiate Washington,” Carey told the Washington Post. “It happened sometime after I refereed their playoff game in 2006, I think.”

Carey, who was the first African-American to referee a Super Bowl, said that he decided he had had enough after working that playoff game in January of 2006.

“It just became clear to me that to be in the middle of the field, where something disrespectful is happening, was probably not the best thing for me,” Carey said.

Although Carey didn’t want to make a big public show of his opposition to the Washington team’s name, he did say that he didn’t feel right about being a part of games that featured a team whose name is a racial slur.

“Human beings take social stances,” he said. “And if you’re respectful of all human beings, you have to decide what you’re going to do and why you’re going to do it.”

The NFL was able to handle the Carey situation quietly, but this is a growing problem for the league: There’s a substantial portion of the population that opposes the Washington team’s name, and that includes people who work within the NFL.
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Imagine that... He's going to work in TV, and now mentions this. Think he might be wanting to get his name out there? I wonder if he also refused to do Chiefs games...?
Chief isn't a racial slur.
 

Jiggyfly

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Yeah, I know. Apparently you missed where I already said this.
If he already has a job why would he need to get his name out there, it reads to me more like the station who hired him is looking for pub.
 

NoDak

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If he already has a job why would he need to get his name out there, it reads to me more like the station who hired him is looking for pub.
You can't really be this thick. He's starting out as an analyst, and jumps in on the topic du jour to get his name in the mix. Is it really that hard to understand?
 

Jiggyfly

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You can't really be this thick. He's starting out as an analyst, and jumps in on the topic du jour to get his name in the mix. Is it really that hard to understand?
He is doing analysis of referee calls not a real deep pool of people he is up against, what mix is he hoping to get in?

On June 24, 2014, Carey resigned from the NFL and joined CBS Sports as an analyst for its Thursday night and Sunday broadcasts. He will provide rules analysis, interpretation and rules explanations from the game site, as well as the NFL Network's studios in Culver City, California on Thursdays and from The NFL Today set in New York on Sunday
 
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