September 2, 2012

AARON SNYDER: First Fridays, and now Sundays

 

Rocky Stanley

For The Independent

ASHLAND — Brian Taylor called it.

 

He’s an NFL referee.

 

Even though many around him argued that he couldn’t do it, he proved his dream was not out of line.

 

“He’s always said he wanted to be an NFL official,” said longtime official and friend Bill Heaberlin, who helped Taylor break into the profession. “A lot of people just laughed about it. But here he is.”

 

For the past few weeks, the Russell native stepped inside a different kind of line — the sidelines to a bigger, faster ballgame.

 

The NFL announced Wednesday that it would use its replacement referees for Week 1 games, which kick off Wednesday, and is prepared to use them “as much ... as necessary.” The league and its on-field officials failed to reach an agreement again on Saturday — they’ve been locked out since June 3.

 

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Brian Taylor