INSIDE EDITION is learning more about the replacement refs who made the controversial call during a Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks football game.
What does the most reviled ref in America do after making the jaw-dropping touchdown call that everyone is talking about? He posed with an unidentified blonde wearing a Green Bay Packers jersey, the same team that lost the game because of his blown call. The just-tweeted photo of Lance Easley was taken in a bar Tuesday night in Fresno, California.
He's the ref who signaled touchdown after a Hail-Mary pass that won the game for the Seattle Seahawks, while the rest of the world thought it as an interception by the Packers.
Huffington Post sportswriter Jordan Schultz said, “I’ve never seen an official taking a picture with a fan or with the jersey of a certain NFL team. It is out of control.”
INSIDE EDITION is learning more about Easley. He's 52, lives in Santa Maria, California, and is a banker. Turns out he underwent just three days of training at a school for college football officials, but the school said it was "unaware of Mr. Easley's intentions to become an NFL replacement official."
Schultz said, "He had no training. He was basically thrown right into the fire."
At the NFL headquarters in New York City, the NFL and the ref's are close to coming to an agreement that could possibly even put the refs back onto the field as early as this weekend.
Three weeks into the new season inexperienced replacement refs have given the NFL a black eye. Wednesday’s New York Post had the headline, "Oh Say Can't You See?" with a picture of a blind man and seeing eye dog in ref attire.
Baltimore Ravens fans chanted a curse at the replacements on NBC's Sunday night football. New England Patriot’s coach Bill Belichek even grabbed one replacement ref after a game.
Some replacement refs were fired by the Lingerie Football League because they didn't measure up. INSIDE EDITION spoke by Skype to lingerie league commissioner Mitch Mortaza.
Mortaza said, “To have those same officials who weren't good enough for our game officiating in the NFL ranks was a bit shocking.”
Meanwhile, YouTube videos continues to mock the blown call in the Seahawks-Packers game. There even is a music video that parodies the replacement refs.
And of course the late night comics are jumping in.
David Letterman's announcer dressed up as a replacement ref and said "I had a [expletive] night last night."
A local news station in Green Bay, Wisconsin, even gagged that they had a replacement weatherman to deliver the weather.
