http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/report--nfl-to-hire-sarah-thomas--first-female-game-official-153042379.html
The NFL has yet to confirm the news, and you'd think they can't be too thrilled about this leaking on a Friday of a holiday weekend — good news is usually reserved for Mondays — which is when, for instance, Ray Rice held ill-fated press conference almost a year ago. (According to PFT, the league is expected to announce the news and its full list of officials next week.)
But back to Thomas: She has worked her way up in officiating and worked in New Orleans Saints training camps a few times in recent years and has been a line judge in NFL preseason games, too. She openly has campaigned to be the NFL's first female referee, and now it appears she's earned that honor.
The league likes to mention that more than 40 percent of its fans are women, but in the wake of the Rice-Greg Hardy-Adrian Peterson news last year, the NFL likely is aware that its reputation with the fairer sex might not be as strong as it once was.
That's nice and all, but we certainly hope Thomas was hired for meritorius reasons, that's she's a good official, and nothing else. But either way, it's a big story if and when it comes to be confirmed.
The NFL has yet to confirm the news, and you'd think they can't be too thrilled about this leaking on a Friday of a holiday weekend — good news is usually reserved for Mondays — which is when, for instance, Ray Rice held ill-fated press conference almost a year ago. (According to PFT, the league is expected to announce the news and its full list of officials next week.)
But back to Thomas: She has worked her way up in officiating and worked in New Orleans Saints training camps a few times in recent years and has been a line judge in NFL preseason games, too. She openly has campaigned to be the NFL's first female referee, and now it appears she's earned that honor.
The league likes to mention that more than 40 percent of its fans are women, but in the wake of the Rice-Greg Hardy-Adrian Peterson news last year, the NFL likely is aware that its reputation with the fairer sex might not be as strong as it once was.
That's nice and all, but we certainly hope Thomas was hired for meritorius reasons, that's she's a good official, and nothing else. But either way, it's a big story if and when it comes to be confirmed.
