Worst Seat In The House: Upon further review

Watching a sports telecast has changed throughout my lifetime. As a young lad you really only got to see a play once and if you missed it the people in the TV room would need to explain what happened so you would be caught up to live action again.

The instant replay was introduced and as fans we were able to see if the umpires or referees were correct in their calls. I guess we just took for granted that when there was replay that the officials always made the correct decision on any given play.

As technology improved how a game is televised and with the addition of slow motion replay and super slo-mo it became evident that as good as most officials were they did sometimes make a mistake. I’m sure that during replays over the years it was determined that maybe that close play in the first quarter is just as important as it is in the 4th quarter.

Officials do a great job for the most part but they are human and it is impossible to see everything and the blinking of an eye can impair a close call. It’s great that as fans we can see clearly that an umpire was wrong on that close play at first. Clearly as in three different angles of the same play slowed down to almost a crawl. And of course, it is usually followed by, “I can’t believe that guy missed that call. What is he blind?”

Officials are taxed with making split second decisions and facing the wrath of fans, coaches or managers. But they have to be decisive. The great thing about plays getting reviewed is that most of the calls are right and the ones that are overturned still take a long time to decide.

Replay reviews have been around for a number of years. Since it became the norm for the NFL It has been added to baseball and basketball and other sports as well as at the college level. There are a lot of cameras in every venue in sports these days so you should be able to see the replay from most every angle. In football there are even cameras imbedded in the pylons at the goal line. We can’t be sneaky anymore!

Along with the replay many broadcast crews also include a retired official with replay experience that will tell the announcers and the audience at home what he thinks the officials’ decision will be. And it always comes with a reminder, “remember the call on the field was _____ and there needs to be definitive proof before a play can be overturned.”

Very late in the fourth quarter on Sunday the Seattle Seahawks were leading the Cincinnati Bengals 21-20. On the last drive with just over 12 seconds remaining Bengal QB Andy Dalton went back to pass. The Seahawk pressure got to Dalton as he tried to make a pass only to have it knocked out of his hand. He tried to push the ball forward to make it look like a passing motion. The Seahawks would recover the ball and it was ruled a fumble on the field.

The play was reviewed and in the meantime the expert official came on board the telecast and said that he believed that the call would be overturned because it was obvious to him that Dalton was trying to make a pass.

After a couple of minutes the referee announced that the ruling on the field was confirmed meaning they didn’t see anything that would change the call. The Seahawks ran out the clock and moved to 1-0.

I’m not sure if it is a good idea for an expert official to be giving his opinion on a replay. I’m sure there were a lot of Bengals fans that were going berserk when the call wasn’t overturned especially since the ‘expert’ was so sure the call would be changed.

Maybe instead of hearing what an ‘expert’ predicts maybe we need to hear from a spokesperson at replay central as to why the play stood or was overturned and then we might not get so angry when we hear that the decision didn’t go our way. Upon further review that is what I would suggest.