By Evan Troxel (Associate Editor of Sports Content)
What positive and negative effects has instant replay and technology had on sports? I think the positive aspects are that a sports officials’ calls are being corrected nowadays. Unfortunately, some people are too obsessed with it and “have to” get the call right. One example today would be NCAA college basketball in which late in the game the officials have to go to instant replay to determine which team has possession of the ball and how much time is left in the game. I don’t think determining a team’s possession or how much time is left in the game is obsessive but that the officials seem to take an extremely and ridiculously long time to make a decision in NCAA college basketball which I think is obsessive. The negative effects…when your favorite team loses the most important game of the season.
In all sports I like the fact that technology is utilized for challenges but I don’t think it should be abused and used for every situation because it takes away an officials job in the first place. I think a reason should have to be given to “open up” a challenge possibility on a particular ruling by an official. I like the challenge rules with the NFL but maybe challenges should be allowed in the last two minutes of each half also and the number of challenges doesn’t change from whatever it is now.
I think technology is great such as when a video or film of a game is kept in its entirety. Fortunately someone was thinking when they decided to keep the only video (today) of Don Larsen’s World Series no-hitter. Shame on the people who cut out the scenes from a sports video! Who cares if it’s a stolen base in baseball and the baserunner doesn’t score later in the inning or for the rest of the game! Keep sports videos in their entirety because they may be worth some money someday!
Everybody remember Ed Hochuli? That was a terrible call but fortunately for him God let him off the hook. I have seen more worse calls by major league umpires punching the air (in anger, usually near second base) such as Thursday’s Red Sox @ Indians Major League Baseball game than Ed Hochuli’s embarrassing or not embarrassing speaking blunder. Thanks to technology Ed Hochuli had a microphone and didn’t have to lose his voice by telling both teams what the ruling he messed up on was.
In football technology is completely part of the game. For instance, the coaches wear headsets to determine which play from a team’s playbook is the best play to call. Also, there are photographs for quarterbacks to look at so they can stay ahead of their opponents’ defensive strategies.
Instant replay and many camera angles also make marks in the National Football League (NFL) such as when head coaches throw a red challenge flag to try to help their team win a challenge in their favor. Probably the most disputed challenge of all-time in the NFL was when Santonio Holmes of the Pittsburgh Steelers caught the football and got each foot down inbounds while maintaining the football in Super Bowl XLIII. I said caught the football because he actually did catch the ball but I still don’t know if he actually got each foot down inbounds. I think he got one foot down inbounds but the second foot if it got down was probably by a grass or turf blade or something that the television viewer couldn’t see.
In baseball, I wish instant replay was used all the time at home plate to determine whether a team scores runs or not. I also think instant replay should be used all the time to determine home runs and cameras should be put on both sides of the foul poles so fair or foul ball rulings can be made correctly.
To include to the baseball instant replay rules I have already mentioned I wish in the Major League Baseball (MLB) postseason technology was used to determine the strike zone and instant replay on all the bases (including home plate) at the start of the seventh inning. Perhaps the two additional rules I just mentioned could be applied during the regular season only if a game went into extra innings.
Okay, using technology to determine the strike zone on every pitch may make the umpire pointless once a game reaches the seventh inning so throw in technology when the count reaches ball 3 or strike 2 of a plate appearance (whichever situation comes first) so the umpire isn’t biased based on his feelings of what’s already happened in the game and the situation late in the ballgame.
If technology and instant replay were used I would pick the entire MLB postseason as a time period in which to use it in because the players take the game more seriously (especially the World Series) then. Umpires will be biased during the postseason whether they will admit that or not.
Finally, on a new topic about baseball if a perfect game was ruined just because one umpire called a batter running to first base safe and the umpires and/or the managers weren’t sure it was the correct call perhaps they could appeal and check instant replay. What I just typed actually did happen to Armando Galarraga of the Detroit Tigers last season and he hasn’t got his perfect game yet because instant replay was not allowable to check in that situation.
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