Ed Hochuli feels so terrible that he blew a huge call he's even answering his hate email.
According to NFL supervisor of officials Mike Pereira, Ed Hochuli is "devastated" at what went down in Denver on Sunday. If you missed it, Hochuli made an inexplicable mental gaffe--I won't call it a "blown call" or "missed call" because I think it goes a little beyond that--that almost directly cost the Chargers a loss against the Broncos.
From Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union Tribune:
No one, it appears, is taking the mistake and its ramifications harder than Hochuli.
"He's devastated," said Mike Pereira, the NFL's supervisor of officials. "... I was talking to Ed within 10 minutes after the game was over, and he was sick. He's still sick (yesterday).
"Everybody works so hard and wants to be perfect in a game you're not likely to ever be perfect. I've talked to him three times. He's really struggling with the fact he made such a bad call."
Hochuli's also manning up and taking his e-mail lumps. His e-mail address isn't hard to find with a simple Yahoo! search, and he's been bombarded with hate mail. And still, he's replying to everyone. Someone relayed the following reply from Hochuli to a message board at the San Diego Union Tribute.
I'm getting hundreds of emails – hate mail – but I'm responding to it all. People deserve a response.
You can rest assured that nothing anyone can say can make me feel worse than I already feel about my mistake on the fumble play. You have no idea ...
Affecting the outcome of a game is a devastating feeling. Officials strive for perfection – I failed miserably. Although it does no good to say it, I am very, very sorry.
Ed Hochuli