Many NFL fans believe the league’s officiating is broken. Even some players, coaches and executives might agree. But referees have at least one supporter in Dr. Phil.
Dr. Phil McGraw, who happens to be a former Tulsa Golden Hurricane linebacker, joined Mad Dog Sports Radio’s morning show featuring Damon Amendolara and Mike Babchik on SiriusXM this week to promote his new book We’ve Got Issues. And during the interview, the longtime TV personality was asked about the cycle of football fans believing referees are out to get their team.
“Of course that’s crap,” Dr. Phil answered definitively. “I mean, the refs could care less. What people don’t realize is that these refs get graded and if they blow a big call, that means they’re not gonna get to go to the playoff games. They’re trying to get as right as they can get it. Sometimes they make horrible calls, right? But they don’t have an agenda.”
Did Dr. Phil just fix the NFL’s officiating problem? Surely, the millions of fans who love to hate referees every Sunday during the NFL season will buy Dr. Phil claiming an official wouldn’t dare holding an agenda against specific players or teams because they’re being graded by the league.
During this same interview, Dr. Phil cemented his own NFL fandom by defeatedly slumping over in his chair at the reality of Mike McCarthy returning as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys next season. But even though he’s a suffering Cowboys fan for nearly three decades now, Dr. Phil isn’t about to blame NFL officiating for his favorite team’s repeated failures.
This is fantastic. @DrPhil shows he’s a true Cowboys fan. Should Mike McCarthy still be coaching this team? “I don’t know… well, I don’t know… I don’t know…” 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/3aZzt7fC0a
— Damon Amendolara (@DamonAmendo) February 28, 2024
“We got a lot of fringe activists trying to peddle narratives in America right now that I think are just all wet. One of them is this victimhood sort of thing,” Dr. Phil said. “Sports is the absolute best place where you’re not gonna have equality of outcome. You’re not even gonna have equality of opportunity…sports analogies are used more than anything to describe life.”
Maybe NFL referees don’t have an agenda against specific teams, but best of luck to Dr. Phil in trying to convince fans that Joe Buck doesn’t have one either.
[SiriusXM]
About Brandon Contes
Brandon Contes is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. He previously helped carve the sports vertical for Mediaite and spent more than three years with Barrett Sports Media. Send tips/comments/complaints to bcontes@thecomeback.com