End of referee lockout is cause for celebration, but nobody won this ugly battle

One NFL owner said the league was becoming a national laughingstock. (Getty Images)

The real officials are back. The fake officials will now return to their Facebook pages and lingerie leagues.

The deal was officially finalized around 11:30 p.m. ET with one source saying that much of the framework had been agreed upon earlier in the day.

One owner gave CBSSports.com a window into the final 24-48 hours of the negotiations. Contrary to what league officials have said publicly and privately, the owner said the debacle in Seattle figured greatly in the final hours of the negotiations.

"That game reshaped everything," said the owner, who asked not to be identified. "I can't remember the last time our league was a laughingstock nationally. It shook me. I think it shook a lot of people."

"We were prepared to go longer," the owner said. "We couldn't after that."

The owner said one of the main concerns became the replacement officials inability to control the game. There were fears that there would be an all-out brawl between teams. The owner said the NFL didn't want a fight similar to what happened between the Pacers and Pistons in Michigan in 2004. That's the example the owner gave.

The owner remarked that friends who normally aren't hardcore football fans were asking him about the replacement officials. The owner also became concerned how the NFL was becoming a national punch line. He's right. They were.

Before Seattle-Green Bay, the NFL was far more hardened. The league denies this but it's true. The NFL began to bend on the pension issue post Fail Mary. Because after that game, the real officials had all of the power, and the NFL could no longer wait out the real refs. The league denies this, but it's true.

The owner was asked who won this fight. His response: "The fan. The referees are back."

The complete answer? There is no winner. This will go down as one of the ugliest periods in recent NFL history. It damaged the NFL brand and embarrassed a highly proud league. It caused the Green Bay Packers to lose a game they should have won. Winners? No winners. Just survivors.

This was a process that didn't need to be done. NFL owners attempted to break the referee union for a few extra bucks and came close to wrecking a season.

You will hear about heroes and saviors who swooped in last minute to save the day. You will hear about caped crusaders with fountain pens. You will hear various people try to take credit, but no one deserves credit except the fans who didn't swear off football for the monstrous product that was put on the field.

Now the NFL must work to reestablish its credibility with both the general public and the dedicated footballer. As the lingerie refs depart, the real ones step in, and they will make mistakes. But there will no longer be questions about player safety or the league's integrity. Those issues are dead.

Now it's about earning that trust with the fan again -- a trust that has rarely been tested like this. Oh, there have been issues and lockouts and strikes and ugliness, but this was different. Professional football has survived the Depression, World Wars, and terrorist attacks, but fake officials who had Facebook fan pages and other questionable backgrounds were arguably one of the greater threats to the sport.

So the officials are back. They will be met with almost a hero's welcome because they are the pros. We know what they're about. We know that while mistakes will happen with these refs, the real ones are the best at what they do.

No, there were no winners. Not a single one. If someone says there were, give them a slap upside the head.

Now, back to real football.

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Former Giants WR Robinson dies after cancer battle at 50

NEW YORK -- Stacy Robinson, a wide receiver who won two Super Bowls with the New York Giants before working with the players' union, has died after a battle with cancer. He was 50.

"We are deeply saddened by the passing of Stacy Robinson," Giants co-owner John Mara said in announcing the death late Tuesday. "He was a good man who was loved and respected by his teammates and everyone in this organization. His work on behalf of the players association was of great benefit to many players. He will be missed. His family is in our thoughts and prayers."

The Giants did not release a cause or place of death. Robinson, who was born in St. Paul, Minn., was diagnosed with cancer in 2009, according to a family statement posted on the caringbridge.org hospice site. He underwent chemotherapy, a stem cell transplant and a bone marrow transplant provided by his son, Stacy, but entered hospice care on May 3.

Robinson played all six of his NFL seasons for the Giants after he was drafted 46th overall out of North Dakota State in 1985. Just 5-foot-11 with blazing speed, he wasn't unlike another receiver on the roster, Phil McConkey.

The lion's share of Robinson's 48 career receptions came in his second and best season, when he finished with 29 catches for 494 yards. His careers totals were modest -- 749 yards and seven touchdowns in 43 games -- but he did have three catches for 62 yards in New York's Super Bowl win over the Broncos and won another championship with the Giants in the 1991 Super Bowl.

Robinson retired six months later even after his agent was working out a one-year deal for $275,000.

"I really don't have the desire anymore," he told the New York Times. "I wish I could have taken that zest I had the last two or three years."

He was just 29, but didn't want to go through the "apprehension" of training camp and wanted to complete the final requirements for a master's degree in business administration from Fairleigh Dickinson.

"I could get a job next week if I wanted to," he said. "I'm going to take my time.

He worked in recent years for the NFL Players Association, overseeing steroids and drug policy issues and including a stint as director of player development.

"Stacy Robinson mentored and supported countless NFL players and helped me transition into the NFLPA," tweeted George Atallah, a spokesman for the players' union. "A friend to many. I'll miss him dearly."

Robinson was on the North Dakota State team that won the 1983 Division II national championship. In all, he played in 31 games, catching 88 passes for 1,626 yards and 13 touchdowns for the Bison.

Robinson was in the final year of a three-year term with the North Dakota State Alumni Association Board of Directors and was selected to serve another three-year term, according to The Forum newspaper. A battle with cancer, he had told fellow board members, gave him a different perspective on life and that he was going to make NDSU a priority.

"So young, such a wonderful man," former teammate Mike Favor told The Forum. "An incredible Bison."

Funeral details were not disclosed. According to the caringbridge.org site, survivors include his wife, Nadine and three sons.

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Super Bowl fans, NFL potentially headed for drawn-out court battle

The Super Bowl is headed to Indianapolis ... or court ... depending on where you sit, and, yes, I mean that literally.

A federal judge last week allowed disgruntled ticket holders from Super Bowl XLV -- the game in Dallas where spectators were displaced -- to move forward with a lawsuit vs. the NFL while at the same time dismissing three of their four claims.

That is a group of approximately 4,000 persons, according to Michael Avenatti of Eagan Avenatti of Newport Beach, Cal., the lead law firm for the plaintiffs.

Avenatti is confident of scoring a class-action victory, saying he expects the case to be ajudicated "sometime in 2012," with a decision compelling the NFL "to do what it should have done, which is return 100 percent of every dollar for every Super Bowl expense and to compensate people in excess of what they were offered. The fans are entitled to something for their losses."

Others aren't so certain of the timing or the result, believing the case could go on indefinitely.

In the meantime, the NFL has offered fans who were displaced at the Feb. 6 Super Bowl a choice of two packages. The first involves a group of approximately 2,800 spectators in temporary seats who were either delayed in gaining pre-game access to seats or moved to another location. Those persons have been offered the face-value of their ticket or a ticket to attend a future Super Bowl of their choice.

The second option involves roughly 475 persons who were not able to be seated. They can receive three times the face value of their tickets ($2,800) plus a ticket to Super Bowl XLVI; or a game ticket to the Super Bowl of their choice, plus airfare and four nights at a hotel; a check for $5,000 or a check for more than $5,000, provided they have documented expenses to justify the request.

Persons choosing to attend this year's Super Bowl, which will be held Feb. 5 in Indianapolis, have until two weeks before the game to notify the league of their intentions. They can accept the NFL's offer up to and including the day following the conference championship contests on Jan. 23, which allows them to wait on the teams involved in Super Bowl XLVI.

But there is a third block of spectators that deserves to be compensated, said Avenatti –- those who were seated in areas where views of the field were partially obstructed. He estimated that group to be anywhere from 800 to 1,000 persons. Their inclusion, he said, brings the total number of plaintiffs involved to approximately 4,000.

The number of persons who signed retainers, Avenatti said, is "in excess of 400," but, as he pointed out, "the number is of no consequence." As long as there is one plaintiff in a class-action suit there is a case.

"This is a big deal," he said.

The NFL agrees, though it would not comment publicly other than to say that it was "pleased" with last week's decision "dismissing all claims vs. the league except for a contract claim." It also said it believes "our offers meet or exceed what the fans are entitled to under the law" and that it was "encouraged by the positive response" of those who accepted them.

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