NFL officials catch their fair share of grief. Perhaps unfair, even, given how much attention the zebras get from fans and media for in-game mistakes they make. The NFL Operations arm is doing a pretty swell job via social media trying to better explain processes that go into decision making and they've taken their approach to long-form writing too.
There's a pretty fascinating and quite aesthetically pleasing piece currently up detailing the history of officiating. Propaganda that it might be, it gave @NFLFootball Ops an excuse to post of a picture of a wrist-mounted HORN the refs used to use before the advent of the whistle.
#TBT: In the 1920s, @NFL referees used a wrist-mounted horn instead of a whistle. http://t.co/Hoqv4djjcg pic.twitter.com/ccCiuyNo7y
— NFL Football Ops (@NFLFootballOps) February 12, 2015
There's actually no mention of a horn in the particular story the Twitter account linked so, um, well played on that teaser picture? Also it led me to believe this might be some prank because surely this horn can't be real.
On this other hand, this does seem like something people in the 1920's would find completely practical.
Plus, it's not like that horn is any more ridiculous than Ed Hochuli, his biceps and his penalty explanations.
