Seems to me that non-reviewed officiating has gone to hell in the college game. I wasn’t sure if I was just being a loyal fan and whining, but then I read this: “Boston College Head Coach Jeff Jagodzinski said the Atlantic Coast Conference office informed him that the four penalties called against the Eagles for not having enough men on the line of scrimmage in last week’s 24-14 win over Army were incorrect. ‘They called and apologized,’ said Jagodzinski, who was adamant the Eagles had lined up the correct way.” I think we need to allow coaches to demand reviews on more plays. Why should any calls be “unreviewable”? Granted, you don’t want the game to grind to a halt, but maybe coaches should have at least one free opportunity per half to review a “non-reviewable” call, and they should only lose their challenge right if they demand a review of a correct call. If you don’t want to slow they game, you could forfeit a time out as a penalty for reviewing a correct call.
October 3rd, 2007
How new were those officials? I bet they must’ve been pretty green.
October 3rd, 2007
Oh, baby. We’re (that is, the SportsNation/blogging world is) about to ratchet-up the debate on review/instant-replay, big time. Especially in light of the missed-home-plate-tag in the Rockies-Padres game the other night (Kornheiser & Wilbon debate it on WaPo video:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/02/AR2007100202212.html
I certainly agree with Scott: if this crew of dumbasses missed the same call FOUR times, they obviously are dim on the proper rule(s). This is more an issue of bad officials/officiating than of the need for replay.
But, I do agree (at least in part) with Bob – there are far too many “non-reviewable” calls in football. And really, in all sports, given the technology we now have available. Hell, there are too many issues where replay is needed in just about every sport – ALL of baseball is non-reviewable! There needs to be a system, and there needs to be one STARTING NEXT YEAR.
The NFL has a pretty good handle on this, but I think – of all sports – TENNIS has the best system. It’s fast (near instant), there’s no human component, and it’s all challenge-based. Sure, it’s a bit more simple (a ball is either in or out – there’s no subjectivity) than many of the issues we see in football or baseball. And it’s not available everywhere. But the beauty of an all-challenge-based system, is that, if you get it wrong, you lose a challenge. If you get it right, you KEEP your challenge!
What’s so wrong about having a limited number of challenges per team, in ANY major sport, for just about ANY call? If Jeff Jagodzinski wants to challenge a penalty call, let him do so – but that’s one of his (3? 5? whatever) challenges, if he gets it wrong. Granted, it probably wouldn’t have helped him, as the idiot officials didn’t seem to know the rules. But again, that’s a different matter.
Charlie Manuel wants to challenge a ball-strike call? Let FoxTracks (or whatever the heck it’s called) take over. That may be going a bit far (after all, a ball/strike is a subjective judgment call, to some extent), but it could be kind of like an instant appeal. Allow a “higher authority” the final decision on replays. No referee under the hood talking to a team of guys up in the booth for 20 minutes crap. And you limit the drag on the game by having only a limited number of challenges per team. I say 2 or 3 “wrong” challenges. If you didn’t save one for the final play-at-the-plate, or the TD with :02 on the clock? Tough sh!t.
At the very least, I agree with Kornheiser: start with replay in MLB at the outfield fence and home plate (and i’d add the foul poles on the home-run dealio – they blow those calls WAY too often). Those replays could/should even be automatic (no challenges) like in hockey, as there are few enough of them. I think one could go a step further, and allow out-safe calls to be challengeable, as they’re at least as easy as most NFL calls, and you normally get at least 2 viewing angles on replay with every game on TV these days.
Bring on the cameras, baby!