Let's Replay This

First, I don't like the Houston Texans. Second, I don't like the Detroit Lions either. I had no rooting interest in their Thanksgiving game and was simply killing time during commercials while watching the dog show. (I love doggies. Besides, the real dog show was later in the evening between the Patriots and the Jets.) I see this touchdown during the game that was scored by this Texans player (forgive me for not naming names, I don't follow this league closely, and the people involved don't really matter in this case) who had already been downed by contact. Then Lions' coach erroneously throws a challenge flag, which somehow nullifies the automatic booth review of all scores. And then there's a 15-yard penalty on top of it.

Let's look at the obvious, another great missed call by the replacement refs.  When is the NFL going to get rid of these incompetent boobs and bring back the real refs?

What?

Oh, you're just s'ing me. Those were the regular refs?

Well, I'm sure we're all comforted knowing that the replacement refs would screwed up worse had they been there. . . somehow. . . probably. . . can't really imagine how, but I'm sure the pinheads in sportstalk would figure out something.

So anyway here's yet another badly officiated game by the real refs, but fortunately the coach bails them out from having the result of their blown call overturned. Yes, the refs did get that rule correct, penalty and all.

Ever notice how more and more of the action on the field has become the action in the booth or the sideline review. It's been a steady progression from no reviews, to instant replay, to coaches' challenge, to booth review in the last two minutes of a half, to automatic reviews of scores and turnovers, to whatever comes next. It's like the NFL trusts its officials less and less to make the correct call on the field on the first try. Some might even suspect that the real reason for increased replay is to in fact help determine the outcome of the game (at least in terms of the points spread), and that the refs could no longer be trusted with it. (Okay, mostly that's just me.)

The rules of the game have gotten absurdly complex. Being complex, they're exploitable and therefore have to be changed every season for safety or competitive reasons. No wonder they need instant replay.

I can't believe the people who want more of this in baseball. You just want them to get the call right, even if you have to wait a minute for it. It seems so necessary to correct the obvious bad calls. But it never ends there. Then you want the questionable calls confirmed. Then you need rules governing replay. Then it'll have to be expanded to include more and more plays. Then the replays start becoming automatic in certain situations and then more situations. And this is all under the wrong assumption that you can definitely get the call on every play absolutely correct. Pretty soon, you spend most of your time watching a sport, watching somebody else watch it and then telling what happened.

Football's lost. It's gone. Between safety concerns and constant referee meddling in the game (that at least causes me to question the integrity of the sport), it's going to get worse and eventually un-watchable. (But that won't hurt ratings, for reasons that I'll go into in another blog.) Please don't let this happen to baseball. I think there are things that could be done to improve the calls in baseball (in real time), and NFL-style replays aren't it.