It's not easy being Ed Hochuli lately. Everybody screws up at their job from time to time; very, very few receive a city full of scorn for it. And yet the Hochuli hate parade didn't end with the scores of angry e-mails from San Diego regarding Jay Cutler's fumble/non-fumble, as subsequent screwups have effected the Panthers and, as of last night, the Saints.The effort among San Diego faithful to write Hochuli -- and his willingness to respond -- has inspired other fanbases sleighted by the ref to hate on him as well. It almost makes you want to feel bad for the guy, but, well, he's a public figure with his e-mail available for the world to see (I won't make it easy on you, you can let Googles lead you if you'd like to join in). Also, it probably wasn't smart for him to respond to e-mails from Chargers fans, especially once the NFL advised him against it. Which makes this even more questionable.
FanHouse has obtained what we believe to be a response from Hochuli to a Saints fan writing in regard to his officiating from Monday's Saints/Vikings game. Disclaimer: We were not able to verify the sender of the e-mail completely. A check of the IP, specifically, wasn't possible, meaning this might not be Hochuli writing the e-mail. However, given what we do have to go by and the infamous ref's recent history, we're confident enough to at least pass it along. Remember, however, that this isn't definitively Hochuli. He's a lawyer, and I don't want to get sued. Thanks much.
Check out the e-mail after the jump.
---------- Forwarded message ----------First: +1 for the use of third-person. Second: the note in the first paragraph echoes what our own Matt Snyder had to say about the facemask call. Third: he seems a bit irritable and obnoxious, doesn't he? It's a far cry from the remorse he showed for the San Diego call. Maybe this time he's not remorseful. Or maybe he's just now begun realizing that whether he screws up or not, he's going to have at least hundreds of biased maniacs filling his mailbox each week all season long, and frustration is starting to set in.
From: EDWARD HOCHULI <EHochuli@xxxxxxx.com>
Date: Tue, Oct 7, 2008 at 10:46 AM
Subject: RE: How did you miss this?
To: Xxxxxxx Xxxxxxxx <xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.net>
You are certainly free to have your opinions, but if you were a knowledgeable fan, you would understand that there are 7 officials out there, and you would not attribute all errors to the Referee. The face mask, for example, is no where near anything I'm looking at or supposed to be looking at when it happened.
It's popular right now to pile on Hochuli, because I blew the San Diego call. And there is certainly no requirement that anyone have any real knowledge of officiating in order to have an opinion. Fortunately, the NFL and my boss don't agree with you. You are free to have your own opinions, and since you took the time to write me, I figured I owed you the time to respond.
Either way, if that is really Hochuli, he's only bringing it upon himself by continuing to respond. Still, could it really be him? You would think he'd be smart enough to realize the repercussions of his continued pen-pal'ing (as well as the fact that the NFL is typically the type of employer you heed warnings from). I have faith in this e-mail; oddly enough, my rare faith in the intelligence of mankind is also gnawing at me. Oh, the inner conflict ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-07-2008 @ 4:31PM
Brinson said...
So Hoch refers to himself in the third and first person at the same time and has his name capitalized in the email details? Awesome.
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10-07-2008 @ 5:12PM
steve said...
it's got to be him...anyone with those kind of guns can refer themselves in the third person. Ed needs to throw another saints game, that'll teach that fan a lesson not to mess with him.
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10-07-2008 @ 6:25PM
Matt Snyder said...
Trust me, when large groups of people who don't know what they are talking about continue to complain about things that aren't even your fault or a mistake, you would get obnoxious as well.
It's annoying at the lower levels, so I can't imagine how annoying it is in the NFL where every fan that has played high school football (you know, because NO ONE ELSE played high school football....it's really rare these days) thinks they are smarter than the officials.
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10-07-2008 @ 7:13PM
Tom Kay said...
Since I don't have any interest in the NFL and did not watch this game or the San Diego game in question,I feel I can give my reply completely unbias.If you can tell from this email that Mr.Hochuli is irritable and obnoxious,you have a greater call in life then writing for this column.You would be great at picking winners and look what you could do with the stock market.I wish I had your abilities.The fan should be honored that Mr.Hochuli took the time to read his email and respond.
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10-07-2008 @ 7:41PM
josh said...
i hate how all these people are saying stuff about him. id like to see them get off their butts and do what he does. he is an awsome ref and he just blew one call noone is perfect and it just p.o.s me that people are saying these things about him. GO ED HOCHULI
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10-08-2008 @ 11:43AM
Shawn said...
First of all either it's a form letter or that is a reply to a very intelligent and non-belligerent letter I've seen posted. The specific call may not have been his, but he's the boss. No manager worth his salt complains it's not their fault when those under them make mistakes. Also, it was not ONE call. Even ignoring the other two games with game changing blown calls, there were other no calls or and bad calls in this one game. Billy Miller is lucky to be walking after the obvious helmet to helmet, and how can you be "already losing possession" of a ball and it not be a fumble?
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10-08-2008 @ 12:43PM
JOHN said...
Referees have their opinion just as the fans do but officials are paid to make the right call and since NFL officials are "part time" highly paid people the least we should expect is fairness and accuracy each and every game. We are not getting this right now because each official is not required to flag an infraction which they are not responsible for. A side judge will not flag a holding penalty even thought they see it. This is wrong! All NFL referees need to be "full time" officials who spend their non-officiating time teaching and studying football officiating and nothing else!
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10-09-2008 @ 7:59PM
Joel said...
First of all, All of the Bad/Non Calls were not just Ed Hochuli's Fault,But he was also particialy to blame. And For those who are upset About Fans giving This Ref are any Other Ref the blame For bad/ Non Calls,Let's See how you feel when it's your team on the short end and you have paid money to see this crap.Everyone who has a job has certain resposibilities,and when you don't do them correctly you get suspended and eventually FIRED!!! The officiating as a whole in this game was bad. It's one thing if it was one bad/No call, But this Saint/Vikings game was filled with them,and it was all one sided. There were blantantly obvious penaltys that were not called. This game in the first Quarter would have been 21-0 Saints if it were not for Bad/No calls. These guys Referee games one day out of a week and get paid well for it,by fans who pay there money to see these games,This is not rocket Science. When these guys do these things without Severe punishment, the problems only gets worse,And fans begin to think about whether these guys are fixing games. A player was hit with a serious Helmet to Helmet hit in front of a ref and there ws no penalty flag thrown.
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10-14-2008 @ 4:44PM
tay said...
no it didn't seem obnoxious at all. Was he irritated, yes. I am a saints fan and im ticked they missed the call, but I understand that he wasn't in place to see the face mask. People lack soo much introspection. A guy messes up and now we wanna give him a complex. This article is garbage by the way.
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10-14-2008 @ 4:50PM
tay said...
another thing, being the head referee isn't like being a supervisor at a job or something. If he didn't see the face mask he didn't see it and just because he is the "boss" doesn't give him the right to rule over an NFL rule. He didn't see the face mask and the rule is you can't call a penalty after seeing a replay. That's the rule. he can apologize on behalf of his staff, but its not his fault if Joe the Ref didn't see it. And this happened to my Saints and Im still objective enough to admit that. People are so irrational these days. Put yourselves in someone elses shoes and quit reacting emotionally to everything.
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