First Female NFL Official’s Poker Past Questioned

Shannon Eastin has signed up to work as a replacement official for the upcoming NFL season since the lock out with the regular officials has been in place. Eastin is one of many officials who will be replacing those who are participating in the lockout but Eastin has been in question because she has a past in the poker industry.

According to a report by Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, Eastin’s pass has come into question by those who are locked out. The NFL is strongly against gambling of any kind and they are not shy about their feelings. Eastin has been tied to the game of poker and apparently the league office did not realize her past or they did not consider it since they are in desperate need of officials.

Everyone seems to have their own opinion on the Eastin case. Some feel as though the locked out officials are attacking Eastin’s gender, while others feel as though the NFL ‘dropped the ball’ so to speak by hiring someone who is associated with gambling.

Poker News Daily researched Easton to find out about her poker career and they found that a ‘Shannon Eastin’ is listed in the Hendon Mob database and it showed she has cashed out in two World Series of Poker events, once in 2006 and once in 2007.

This situation is not the best position for the NFL to be in. the guidelines of the NFL state: “Gambling is an unacceptable activity for game officials in the National Football League. Such activity constitutes conduct detrimental to the integrity of, and public trust in, the NFL.”

In Florio’s post, he only strengthens the controversy behind the Eastin case. Florio states: “We’re not saying that Shannon Eastin will be the next Tim Donaghy. We’re saying that, if the standards for screening replacement officials are sufficiently lax to let a former contestant in the World Series of Poker get through the filter, perhaps one of the other 119 replacement officials WILL be the next Donaghy.”

Donaghy is the former NBA official who is now in prison after he was caught betting on NBA games. In my opinion, Eastin in no way compares to Donaghy, and if she is allowed to officiate, then she will become the first woman to work an NFL game, which is a great achievement.

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