Two months ago Mike Carey walked away from his job as an NFL referee, a job he had done quite well for 19 seasons. He moved to the CBS booth to work as a rules analyst, joining the likes of Greg Gumbel, James Brown and Deion Sanders.
Recently CBS gave their on-air talent the choice to use “Redskins” during broadcasts of Washington football games. As it turns out, Carey had taken that stand a long time ago.
“The league respectfully honored my request not to officiate Washington,” Carey said. “It happened sometime after I refereed their playoff game in 2006, I think.”
Wait, that was 8 years ago? How did no one notice? There are guys who spend their lives monitoring every nook and cranny of the NFL—and they didn’t pick up on this? Dang.
Carey went on to detail his issue with the name. Here are some of his quotes.
“I’ve called them Washington all my life,” he said, when finally asked. “And I will continue to call them Washington.”
“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.”
“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.”
Good for you Mike Carey. Good for you taking that stand and making a silent but strong statement. Sadly, this will have no effect on Dan Snyder. Sadly, this isn’t a mere blip on the Synder hate-radar.
