NFL referees' lockout over

Finally! An agreement between the NFL and the referees' union has been reached.

Hopefully, things will return to normal starting tonight in Baltimore when the Ravens take on the Cleveland Browns. The men in the black and white stripes will no longer be the focal point and we can finally focus on the players on the field instead of the dudes running up and down the sidelines. It was getting to the point where the television commentators would eventually be obligated to show the profiles of the referees at the start of an NFL game instead of photos and profiles of the team's starting lineups. I guess the Green Bay-Seattle fiasco was the final straw which brought everyone to their senses.

For a moment there, I was fantasizing the TV announcer profiling the following: "The head linesman for today's game will be Bill Smith, of Waterloo, Iowa, father of six, a high school science teacher with three years of high school refereeing experience under his belt will get the starting nod." Smith will then jog to the center of the field, tip his hat as 50,000 football fans roar their approval. The ticker tape at the bottom of the TV screen will give out Smith's age, first names of his wife and children and a short synopsis on his favorite penalty call -- albeit defensive holding, pass interference or maybe a phantom reception call in the end zone.

Starting tonight, it looks like we can avoid the above scenario.