I started to write an article which looked at both sides of the Instant Replay issue. I can't do it. I can't find the positive side.
First, the TV screen lies. Optical illusions arise when taking three dimensions and putting them into two. The loss of depth perception can make a play look different, depending on the angle from which the play is viewed.
Did the foot drag in-bounds? It may look different whether it's on the near 10 yard line or the far 10 yard line from the camera. It may even look different from stadium to stadium. Every stadium has a different layout. Cameras cannot be at the same place in every stadium, so the angles will be different.
The Replay Official does not have unlimited resources. He only can see what the network coverage sees. This means that his ability to accurately review a play is at the mercy of the particular director's whims.
Does it really benefit the game so much to trade a 3-D judgement for a slow motion 2-D judgement? Lets look at some statistics.
In an average NFL game, 145 plays are run . On any Play, every official is making some form of judgement at least once. At 14 games per week over a 16 game season, 227,360 judgements are made.
In 1988, there were 537 plays reviewed by Replay Officials. Of those, 53 were reversed. Only 9.3% of the reviewed plays were reversed. In the overall picture, the Instant Replay system has played a part in two one-hundredths of a percent (.0002) of the judgements made.
But at what price? The fans and writers pay for it in the frustration of holding up the game. Twenty seconds or more feels like an eternity. That is especially true when the referee finally comes back and says, " The play stands as called..."
Then, there is the "momentum" that the announcers talk of so often. The league believes it exists. TV time-outs are not allowed during a drive. If you've noticed, they only occur on changes of possession or long delays for injured players. So why hold up the game for the replay?
These are small items, though, compared to a larger issue. It is one I felt--but couldn't put my finger on. I found the definition of what I was feeling in, of all places, the new Star Trek TV program. One of the officers was shaving with a less-than-perfect razor. When asked why he didn't use the perfectly adjusted one, his answer was, "Some things can be too perfect." It shaved too close. Commander Data, the emotionless android, responded, "Oh, the human equation again."
That's it! That's what the Instant Replay changes in football--the human equation. Football, like every other sport, is an interaction of people. When you try to take away the human side of one of the participants, you take away from the game. Baseball could easily use the replay to correct umpires mistakes. They won't. An occasional error by an ump is expected. It's better entertainment that way. It allows for a confrontation between people and more human reactions. Think how boring baseball would be if managers and fans knew that every call would be correct.
The human equation cannot be captured on videotape. I listened to Bernie Ulman, a former NFL Referee, talk to a group of officials. He related this personal experience:
Gary Collins was punting for Cleveland and Ulman was back with him. Collins kicked the ball and held his kicking leg in until the rusher got to him. Collins then kicked the rusher and fell backwards like he was roughed. Ulman walked over to Collins, looked down and said,
"If you want a flag, I'll give you one." Collins looked up and smiled. He knew his little fake didn't work.
The following summer at the NFL official' clinic, this play was shown as an error. Ulman told what happened, but repeated views of the tape couldn't relate the human part of the equation.
The NFL will say that this type of play is not covered by the replay. This adds to the disservice that the replay does to football. It increases inconsistency. Only certain play situations are allowed to be reviewed by the Replay Official.
The NFL puts a great deal of effort into improving consistency within the officiating corps. The replay is a step in the wrong direction. The replay will actually increase officials' errors and increase the number of plays reversed by the Replay Official. On a close call, most officials will react in a similar manner. If the conscious brain can't tell, the official runs his own mental slow-motion replay. That often lets him see the correct call. If it is still too close to call, the "gut feel" is used. An official of NFL calibre has developed his gut to the point of being right most of the time.
Now, knowing someone else will study his close call, human nature says that the official will bias his gut feel. He will make his close calls so that if he is wrong, his error can be undone. Here's an example:
The runner is hit and on his way to the ground, he loses the ball. Was he down? or was it a fumble? If the covering official calls the runner down and the replay shows he wasn't, then the official has blown an Inadvertent Whistle. That is an error that cannot be undone, especially if the Defense fell on the ball. The Offense keeps the ball at the spot it was when the whistle blew. The official has taken away the Defense's opportunity to gain possession of the ball.
If, on the other hand, the official rules a fumble and replay shows that the runner was down, the error can be erased. The Offense will still have the ball, no harm done. Of curse, the game has been held up and the pumped-up Defense's emotions have been flattened. But, the correct call has been made. That's the only thing that matters. Right?
There is another side to the Instant replay which concerns me. Contrary to popular opinion, officials are people, too. I have a hard time justifying holding one group up to a higher scrutiny than the others involved. A quarterback is admired if he is only 60% accurate. An official is scorned if his is only 99% accurate.
In addition, we are walking behind the official and stopping everything and undoing a perceived mistake he makes. If we are trying to eliminate the human equation from the game, shouldn't we stop the game and replay the down every time an interception is thrown or a fumble is lost?
As long as games are played by people, the human equation will be there. We'll never get around it. Look what happens when we try.
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