This letter has quickly gotten long. In pro basketball, players can easily get a technical foul for muttering a few, select magic words, but in football, I've never seen a ref throw an unsportsmanlike conduct flag for getting mocked a little too heavily. I think I just set a world record for hyphens used in an e-mail. So, I guess it's the nature of the sport. Excessive abuse is not tolerated in the NFL, which is probably why you rarely see a guy getting tossed for getting in the ref's face.
Every sport frowns on guys getting out of line with the official.
Maybe the NFL just has the situation under control better than the other leagues. My son and I have two different ideas about this. I think they are from Washington State, and he thinks they are from Virginia where Washington D.C. is. Please e-mail me back with an answer to settle this dispute. Thanks You're both wrong, but your son is more correct than you are, somehow.