"It's not working the refs. It's just correcting things when the refs blow a call". The McCain camp also circulates these letters to conservative radio hosts and bloggers, hoping to provide an alternative narrative for the press.
There's probably a fair amount of working the refs here, too, but that's O.K".
He figured the coach was just working the refs, hoping they'd call more penalties on opponents in future games.
Mike McCurry, a co-chairman of the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, noted what he called the "proud tradition of working the refs and spinning the game," but said he believed that Mr. Trump would ultimately participate in all three matchups with Mrs. Clinton.
("It's hard to blame conservatives for wondering if he might be working the refs," muttered the Daily Caller's Matt Lewis, seemingly unaware that Silver just plugs publicly available polling numbers, day after day, into the same unchanging computer model).
He's the ginger-headed man (Jersey Italian dad, Jersey Irish mom) in a natty suit, running along the sidelines, frantically signaling the girls (his term), working the refs, hard: "Aw look, she's an actor!
Borrowing from the language of soccer, they write, "America is turning into a country of floppers, figuratively grabbing our shins in fabricated agony over every little possible offense in hopes of working the refs".
Even if he doesn't intend to force a legal showdown over its authority, comments like the ones Trump made Wednesday at the very least seem geared toward "working the refs" — i.e., sending a message that judges, who are supposed to be apolitical, won't be immune from his political wrath.
Working the refs paid off.
Bozell and the MRC are simply working the refs and pretending it's "research".
