Instant Replay Idiocy

[Ed Hickland]

Originally Posted by jimpiano

If you bothered to read and comprehend you might understand that my complaints are not about officials on the field. While you are bashing me the game is being taken away from the fans, players,the men in the striped shirts and being replaced with retirees staring at plasma tvs while thumbing through the rule book. And they still get it wrong. This is not good for officiating. It is even worse for the game. In the Poinsettia Bowl the wrong call was made on the field. It happens. So why did it take 5 minutes to get it wrong again through replay? Replay is a cancer on the game that reduces the enjoyment for the ticket buying fan in the stands who would be better off staying home and watching the game be decided on a tv screen.

Maybe you saw on the NFL Network the Dallas-Carolina pregame when referee Mike Carey was explaining to his crew what to do during replay to keep the fans entertained. If not, there is a balance between time to review and keeping the game moving and Mike was trying to strike a balance.

Replay is here to stay like it or not in the NFL and NCAA. What needs to be done is to improve it to the point where it does not take over the game.

FYI. Baltimore's Brian Billick introduced a proposal at the owner's meeting last spring to use replay to settle calls when there is a disagreement among officials on the field. Gladly, the owners voted it down.

With no disrespect intended you said you do not work football, therefore, comprehending the speed the game moves on the field is hard to imagine. At the pro level some of these players move at 25 miles per hour top speed. Those at home see replays and replays in slo-mo while officials on the field see it in real-time and have to make decisions in real-time. Frankly, they do a good job but anything that can enhance their job only makes the sport better.

[jimpiano]

Originally Posted by Ed Hickland

Maybe you saw on the NFL Network the Dallas-Carolina pregame when referee Mike Carey was explaining to his crew what to do during replay to keep the fans entertained. If not, there is a balance between time to review and keeping the game moving and Mike was trying to strike a balance.

Replay is here to stay like it or not in the NFL and NCAA. What needs to be done is to improve it to the point where it does not take over the game.

FYI. Baltimore's Brian Billick introduced a proposal at the owner's meeting last spring to use replay to settle calls when there is a disagreement among officials on the field. Gladly, the owners voted it down.

With no disrespect intended you said you do not work football, therefore, comprehending the speed the game moves on the field is hard to imagine. At the pro level some of these players move at 25 miles per hour top speed. Those at home see replays and replays in slo-mo while officials on the field see it in real-time and have to make decisions in real-time. Frankly, they do a good job but anything that can enhance their job only makes the sport better.

I certainly understand replay is here to stay, if for nothing else than to protect officials from the gamblers. But the NCAA has got to get closer to the NFL in how to use replay. This incessant review of any close play is turning the game into one long TV show and is not fair to the fans in the stands or the officials on the field. Give the coaches challenges tied to timeouts and move on.