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Dear Mr. Hochuli,
Let me warn you in the beginning, this will be long. However, I feel so strongly about this and I feel the need to offer my show of support to you. You have truly shown yourself to be a respectful and upfront person. There should be a million more Ed Hochulis, not just as referees but in life.
I think you are one of the best referees ever to work NFL games. I appreciate the fact that you keep your self in great shape, when there are some who obviously do not. I hope you can laugh at the announcers who like to “tease” you about your physical stature. One of my personal favorites came from, Al Michaels, who said before a halftime break “Ed was going to work on his lats.” I love that line coming from my favorite announcer referring to my favorite referee.
I also want you to know that I have spent a couple of days on ESPN.com defending you to the few Charger fans who still cannot figure out how a human being can possibly make a mistake. My last comment on ESPN.com was that your only mistake was to respond to the people sending you hate mail or other threats. Many people responded that I was correct in that assessment.
My guess is that you have had a thousand ideas for rules changes, I want to offer my opinion also. One of the problems, it has been said, with the ball changing possession after an inadvertent whistle is that the players stop at the whistle. While that is true to a certain extent, it is not a good enough reason. How many times have you and six other officials watched a player strip the ball out of the hands of a player who is obviously on the ground and whistles have blown, and that player picks up the ball and starts running?
My thought is that the players should always pick up the ball. If somebody always picked up the ball then possession could always be awarded. This is so easy. That way, inadvertent whistles would be a thing of the past. True it would stop the play, but at least a change of possession could be awarded properly. You were hung out to dry, because your inadvertent whistle and the lack of the proper rule had your hands tied.
While I obviously don’t know you personally, I feel like I can understand what you are going through more than a person who is only looking at the football side of it. I said to a friend that even the Charger fans who are being so unreasonable about this entire event, will completely forget about it if, say, the Chargers won the Super Bowl, or if one loss doesn’t really affect their seeding at the end for the playoffs. However, Ed Hochuli will remember this for the rest of his life. I said, no matter how great or uneventful the rest of his career is, no matter what he goes on to do in life, Ed Hochuli will always remember this. Charger fans will soon forget and I wish for your sake that they will at least, in the future, keep their anger within.
Great Luck to you!
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