‘Fail Mary’ Ref: I Was More Popular Than Kim Kardashian
By Josh Sanchez
The replacement refs were the storyline of the 2012-13 NFL season in the early goings, especially after Lance Easley made the call at the end of the Green Bay Packers at Seattle Seahawks game that many dubbed the “Fail Mary.” Easley continues to believe he made the right call, despite the popular belief that he botched the ruling, and he stopped by NFL Network’s NFL AM on Friday morning to once again recall that moment.
“Yes that was the correct call as far as simultaneous possession,” Easley said, via NFL.com. “They (Seattle Seahawks receiver Golden Tate and Green Bay Packers safety M.D. Jennings) went up together. They came down with the ball. It was indisputable as far as the control of the process of the catch … all I saw were arms around it locked together, I saw Tate come down first with both hands on the ball then I saw Jennings come down and they both came down together.
“I was hoping by the time I got to that pile somebody had definite control, but that prayer was unanswered.”
To be fair to Easley, it wasn’t nearly as poor of a call as many made it out to be and the situation was so rare that you have to go with your gut in that instance.
I wasn’t nearly as upset as Packers fans with the call, but there were people all over the nation that were criticizing the referees like the replacements were the only ones to ever blow a game-ending call.
After the game, Easley said that his life became insane with all of the attention he was receiving. According to Easley’s boss, he became “more popular than Kim Kardashian”.
“My boss called me in and he said ‘have you heard of Twitter?’ ‘Yeah, I have a twitter account. I don’t really use it.’ He said, ‘You’ve heard of Kim Kardashian?’ I said, ‘Yeah I know who that is.’ He says, ‘Well you’re more popular than she is right now.’ I said, ‘Well that’s trouble.'”
Luckily for Easley, we have all moved on and he was able to capitalize on his newly found fame by writing a book and going on tour.
Let’s all be thankful that every ref who blows a call doesn’t go this route.