Is It Time for Replays at the High School Level?

[TXMike]

Schools can barely afford to pay for the kid's gear and for putting the games on. No way can they implement what is required to do this. The Juggler's cost assessmnet is way off. There is no way you can do effective IR with one camera in the press box. That camera can provide NO definitive views of either sideline or goal line. It would be of only limited use on most other plays in the field of play. Perhaps helping on SOME catch/no catch or fumble.no fumble situations. But that would be it.

NFL and NCAA experiences have even proven that IR is not the final answer and does not always get it right either.

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by TXMike

Schools can barely afford to pay for the kid's gear and for putting the games on. No way can they implement what is required to do this. The Juggler's cost assessmnet is way off. There is no way you can do effective IR with one camera in the press box. That camera can provide NO definitive views of either sideline or goal line. It would be of only limited use on most other plays in the field of play. Perhaps helping on SOME catch/no catch or fumble.no fumble situations. But that would be it.

NFL and NCAA experiences have even proven that IR is not the final answer and does not always get it right either.

What you're saying is correct as far as it goes: one camera in a HS game can't replicate the angles you get in the game of the week.

But the argument for IR at this level isn't to match what IR does for NCAA or NFL. The question is: can we improve the officiating incrementally? You don't need all the angles for that.

Think of it this way: the blown calls that notoriously show up on YouTube typically don't have great angles either. If HS IR can eliminate calls that are obviously wrong from ANY angle, then it would serve its function.

I'm not in favor of the idea, but we won't be able to squash it until we understand and defeat the best argument for it.

[BktBallRef]

Originally Posted by mbyron

Think of it this way: the blown calls that notoriously show up on YouTube typically don't have great angles either. If HS IR can eliminate calls that are obviously wrong from ANY angle, then it would serve its function.

Ah no, they do not.

They show one angle. And while it may appear to be an incorrect call from that angle, it may be an entirely different call from the official's angle and that may well be the correct angle.

[bigjohn]

No!

[TXMike]

If it is done half-arse, which it would have to be due to costs, etc, it is gooing to be more problematic than helpful. Video would be great for the crew to use in their own development and training. Let's get a system in place that assures EVERY crew of getting video of every game they work before worrying about using it in the middle of a game

[HLin NC]

The NCHSAA is recommending that every HS hire a certified athletic trainer if they participate in football, soccer, or lacrosse.....and people are aghast at the cost to the school systems. We've had 3 or 4 kids DIE this year in N.C. while participating in football.

Who in the world - we're not talking Mater Dei or Charlotte Catholic type schools here- is going to afford to put video replay equipment in every HS stadium? This is beyond bizaare.

Its HS football for crying out loud, not life or death. Everyone wants to get it right but some folks need to get over the fact that this is NOT the NFL.

[JugglingReferee]

Originally Posted by TXMike

Schools can barely afford to pay for the kid's gear and for putting the games on. No way can they implement what is required to do this. The Juggler's cost assessmnet is way off. There is no way you can do effective IR with one camera in the press box. That camera can provide NO definitive views of either sideline or goal line. It would be of only limited use on most other plays in the field of play. Perhaps helping on SOME catch/no catch or fumble.no fumble situations. But that would be it.

NFL and NCAA experiences have even proven that IR is not the final answer and does not always get it right either.

You're completely wrong! I've already seen video implemented for this cost, with first hand knowledge, too.

Secondly, if you read my post, I said that if $ is there... I now that some HS programs get thousands of people to games. Those programs could do it. They could pay for the equipment, no problem.

Furthermore, I happen to have 3 years' experience being a television camera operator. If you get somebody that knows what they're doing, you could get great shots. I've worked with award-winning professionals in this area.

I also have 5 years experience working with HD video including multiple-angle views of the same feed.

Granted it would never be of the quality that we're used to in the bigs, but it can be done.

What experience do you have with setting up video camera systems, HD systems, and with televising live sports?

[Scooby]

I don't know about your area but the big thing now in southern Michigan is puting in new artificial turf fields with costs of over a million dollars. within recent years four new fields have gone in. If they can afford theses fields then they can afford $2,000 to $3,000 for cameras.

[kdf5]

Let's see here. We have CEO's stealing millions and driving multi billion dollar corporations into the ditch while throwing elaborate orgies, we have politicians selling senate seats, we have an economy in the tank with millions unemployed, we have retirement benefits worth one fourth of their previous values and we have extremist crazies trying to kill us from caves a world away and yet people are so worried about getting the right call in a meaningless HS game that there is talk of installing video replay? Now I'm worried.

[ajmc]

Woah, it's not about the cost nor about the level of available technology, or at least shouln't be. This is a GAME that is over 125 years old and is still growing in popularity. It ain't broke, and doesn't need fixing.

Nintendo and Playstation are addressing the needs of those who want to participate in the action from the comfort of their favorite easy chair. There is NO perfection in (real) football.

Strategies are only effective until someone smarter figures out a way to defend against them, plays are successful only when multiple players execute properly close enough to each other to add to each other's performance. The ball, itself, is designed to bounce inconsistently. Players rise, or fall, to levels of performance that surprise even themselves. Much of the game's allure and popularity is a direct result of it's inconsistency and unpredictability. It's about rising to challenge knowing someone has to fail.

Enjoy the game, with all it's twists and turns, which only add to the excitement. Football is a "game of inches" and not a game of inches at the same time. Every succeeding spot is nothing more than the best guess of a human being trained to recognize and determine best guesses. There are no lasers, no gps designations no precision technologies used to insure absolute accuracy. Isn't every 1st down that's made, or missed by an inch just as dependent on where the previous spot was as where the ball was marked down?

The idiots and loudmouths everpresent at all football games need to be better ignored and shunned, not encouraged and celebrated which is exactly what IR would bring to the HS game.

Just think for a moment about all the Cecil B. DeMills with cameras at the average youth football games, imagine what accepting video replays would do to that environment.

Originally Posted by ajmc

...This is a GAME that is over 125 years old and is still growing in popularity. It ain't broke, and doesn't need fixing.

Nintendo and Playstation are addressing the needs of those who want to participate in the action from the comfort of their favorite easy chair. There is NO perfection in (real) football.

Strategies are only effective until someone smarter figures out a way to defend against them, plays are successful only when multiple players execute properly close enough to each other to add to each other's performance. The ball, itself, is designed to bounce inconsistently. Players rise, or fall, to levels of performance that surprise even themselves. Much of the game's allure and popularity is a direct result of it's inconsistency and unpredictability. It's about rising to challenge knowing someone has to fail.

Enjoy the game, with all it's twists and turns, which only add to the excitement. Football is a "game of inches" and not a game of inches at the same time. Every succeeding spot is nothing more than the best guess of a human being trained to recognize and determine best guesses. There are no lasers, no gps designations no precision technologies used to insure absolute accuracy. Isn't every 1st down that's made, or missed by an inch just as dependent on where the previous spot was as where the ball was marked down?

The idiots and loudmouths everpresent at all football games need to be better ignored and shunned, not encouraged and celebrated which is exactly what IR would bring to the HS game...

Very, very well said....

[Ed Hickland]

Originally Posted by ajmc

...

The idiots and loudmouths everpresent at all football games need to be better ignored and shunned, not encouraged and celebrated which is exactly what IR would bring to the HS game.

...

They are at your game too!

[nelson_28602]

Rather than ramble on and on, I would just simply say that any type of video reply for officiating purposes of a high school game is a bad idea.

[Sonofanump]

If most schools do not have a play clock how are we to expect them to have replay equipment?

[schmitty1973]

IR has no place in HS football. It's already ruined NFL (For me anyway). Every play is even more scrutinized over and over again to see if it should be challenged, and I feel it's taken alot away from the game.