If you attend live sporting events, particularly big-time college football or basketball or the pros of the NFL or NBA, you recognize that video replays change momentum and the context of games today. Years ago, before officials were allowed to go to the screen (in specific circumstance) to review video, time-outs or the end of quarters or the half were when play stopped so commercials could intervene.
No more. Now there are repeated situations where officials must or should go to replay to ensure a ruling they made on the field or court was accurate or correct. This takes time. WAY TOO MUCH TIME!
Momentum changes during these lapses in play. Exhausted players, whether on offense or defense, gain their energy back. A team driving for a touchdown may suddenly lose its emotional edge when it takes 4 minutes and 32 seconds for the booth to make a change to or reinforce the decision on the field. Regardless, it’s too much time taken away from the actual playing of the game.
I’m not a genius, nor am I a football official. I did referee basketball for 18 years at the high school and collegiate level and continue to write regularly on a myriad of sports officiating issues. That gives me a bit of street cred to say “I know what I’m talking about,” while fully acknowledging I’m not THE expert.
Here’s my take on NFL video replay (and to a certain extent, the essential problem applies to other sports): Games occur in real time. Video replay typically breaks down into slow motion so the nuance of a tip, fumble, foul, out-of-bounds, last second shot or pass is more easily seen. One could argue this is great because hopefully the ruling is correct about the play on a more consistent basis by applying replay.
Yet think about this. The game is played at a certain speed. Players and officials must take their actions at that speed. They are not allowed to dial it down to see things in slow motion. So, here’s the question: Don’t you think that any review of an on-the-field decision made in an NFL game should occur in real time?
My suggestion is the NFL no longer allow slow motion replays. The booth must make the determination at real speed. No more agonizing over 27 slow motion replays that still don’t yield definitive decisions.
Here’s a second suggestion: The play may only be reviewed three times by the replay official. Turn off the monitor after that and make the decision. Keep the game rolling.
Implement these changes and the NFL will see better pace and flow as well as fan enjoyment. Players stand around while replays get rewound and rebroadcast over and over and over. The players are probably fantasizing about having an avocado cheeseburger for dinner, who the heck knows? The point is, the players probably daydream and get out of sync during these long delays in play.
That’s not the way sports are supposed to be played. Go to a high school or small college football or basketball game and you’ll be enthralled that you’re in and out close to the same time it took to play the game 30 years ago.
Not so in pro or big-time college football or basketball. Interminable interruptions and delays take away from the purity of the game. Eliminate them. It can be done.
No more. Now there are repeated situations where officials must or should go to replay to ensure a ruling they made on the field or court was accurate or correct. This takes time. WAY TOO MUCH TIME!
Momentum changes during these lapses in play. Exhausted players, whether on offense or defense, gain their energy back. A team driving for a touchdown may suddenly lose its emotional edge when it takes 4 minutes and 32 seconds for the booth to make a change to or reinforce the decision on the field. Regardless, it’s too much time taken away from the actual playing of the game.
I’m not a genius, nor am I a football official. I did referee basketball for 18 years at the high school and collegiate level and continue to write regularly on a myriad of sports officiating issues. That gives me a bit of street cred to say “I know what I’m talking about,” while fully acknowledging I’m not THE expert.
Here’s my take on NFL video replay (and to a certain extent, the essential problem applies to other sports): Games occur in real time. Video replay typically breaks down into slow motion so the nuance of a tip, fumble, foul, out-of-bounds, last second shot or pass is more easily seen. One could argue this is great because hopefully the ruling is correct about the play on a more consistent basis by applying replay.
Yet think about this. The game is played at a certain speed. Players and officials must take their actions at that speed. They are not allowed to dial it down to see things in slow motion. So, here’s the question: Don’t you think that any review of an on-the-field decision made in an NFL game should occur in real time?
My suggestion is the NFL no longer allow slow motion replays. The booth must make the determination at real speed. No more agonizing over 27 slow motion replays that still don’t yield definitive decisions.
Here’s a second suggestion: The play may only be reviewed three times by the replay official. Turn off the monitor after that and make the decision. Keep the game rolling.
Implement these changes and the NFL will see better pace and flow as well as fan enjoyment. Players stand around while replays get rewound and rebroadcast over and over and over. The players are probably fantasizing about having an avocado cheeseburger for dinner, who the heck knows? The point is, the players probably daydream and get out of sync during these long delays in play.
That’s not the way sports are supposed to be played. Go to a high school or small college football or basketball game and you’ll be enthralled that you’re in and out close to the same time it took to play the game 30 years ago.
Not so in pro or big-time college football or basketball. Interminable interruptions and delays take away from the purity of the game. Eliminate them. It can be done.