T's & P's to NFL Referee Larry Smith, Who's Been Ruled OUT For The Season After Suffering Brutal Non-Contact Injury

That's a tough visual for 2nd-year NFL official Larry Smith. Nothing draws a reaction out of fans quite like a ref going down. Unless the ref is injured by way of a bullet to the head, or a collision so terrifying it immediately makes you question if he's still alive, the initial reaction from fans will always be laughter. There's just something about a zebra going down. Just by putting on the stripes, he's already public enemy #1. Chances are, before the game even starts, fans of both teams already think he has it out for them. So when a referee goes down, it's a moment that brings the ENTIRE stadium together. Typically, in laughter.

But let's see what exactly happened to Larry Smith on Sunday. On the injured ref scale, just how "comical" was Larry Smith's non-contact injury.

Oh dear. It's what I feared. That's at least a 7.5. Probably an 8. Larry Smith suffered not one, but two arm-flailing falls. Not only was it non-contact, but there was nobody else in Larry Smith's general vicinity. And it all happened to him in Europe. Poor Larry Smith has nobody to blame it on but... well... actually... he could blame the field surface pitch at Wembley Stadium. People do love to rally around hating all things NFL International. 

He could also point the finger at this ball boy who overthrew him. 

Who is that ball boy? Where does he come from? Is that man traveling with the crew? Is he with a specific team? Is he ball boying every week professionally? Or is this some random London bloke who still puts "American" before the word "football"?

Just as I thought. Thank you for confirming my suspicions, Google AI Overview who's pulling information from a Reddit post. That's no football guy. That's a football lad. He's probably never thrown a real football in his life. Bruv should have kicked Larry the damn thing. 

So now we've established that Larry Smith's season-ending injury is the fault of London as a whole, I should say, the London fans did wind up giving Larry a classy ovation on his way off the field... on the back of a cart. 

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And an even classier move by Larry Smith's fellow crew member, who respectfully removed his cap and took a knee as his partner was in the throes of hell, being tended to by medics on the 50-yard line. 

All things considered… I suppose Larry Smith's injury was handled with the utmost class. But you hate to see a ref go down in his prime. Larry Smith is only in his 2nd year as an NFL ref. He spent nearly a decade in the Big Ten. He's worked in the UFL. He even cut his teeth reffing MAC football. Larry Smith has seen it all, and it was fucking London that got him. Awful.