NFL Official Commits ‘Referee Sin’ Following the Bucs Game on Sunday [Video]

One of the many unwritten rules of sports journalism is to never get too close to the subject you are covering.

For the record, I'm not a sports journalist. I'm a sports talk radio host who writes blogs and stories for our station's website.

Years ago on my show, I called out a Denver Broncos beat writer who reportedly asked Tim Tebow, who at the time was the Broncos starting quarterback, for an autograph.

My guess is, he probably had a child who was a fan. Despite the writer's lack of journalistic decorum, I have a hard time believing he was seeking an autograph for himself.

Be that as it may, it still looks bad.

If an official did it? Well, that's completely over the line, a violation of NFL rules, and all-around a terrible look for the league.

Guess what? It happened yesterday.

The only thing all NFL fans agree on is the league's officiating problem.

Too many games are determined by a critical mistake from the referee crew.

He chased down Tampa Bay Buccaneers star receiver Mike Evans like a 9-year-old autograph seeker.

"Mike! Mike!"

For the record, the Bucs lost the game to the Panthers 21-3.

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However, the autograph-seeking from officials is still embarrassing.

Needless to say, social media has responded exactly the way you would expect.

The NFL will probably do what they always do. Say they're looking into it without ever publicly acknowledging the gaffe again.