NFL officials don’t often give interviews, so any time one does it’s worth noting. Today we have one from Ed Hochuli, perhaps the NFL’s best-known referee, who spoke to the Matt Minkus Podcast.
Hochuli touched on a number of issues, but the most interesting was the huge mistake he made at the end of an early season game between the Broncos and Chargers in 2008.
“That was certainly the low point of my career,” Hochuli said. “People were upset and understandably so.”
But while Hochuli said he recieved about 25,000 e-mails, he was blown away by how many of those e-mails urged him to keep his chin up.
“The most humbling part of it, though, is that of those 25,000 e-mails, probably about 24,700 of those were very supportive and very nice e-mails,” Hochuli said. “I was really humbled by the number of people who wrote me and said, ‘Nobody’s perfect,’ and, ‘I’ve appreciated your career and all the good stuff you’ve done,’ and ‘Hang in there.’ It was really very humbling.”
Hochuli also talked about his physique and said he lifts weights for about an hour at a time, four days a week.
“I get a lot of comments from players,” Hochuli said. “I think there’s a certain respect they have for officials who stay in shape.”