AJC > Sports > Blog > Archives > 2006 > September > 19
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Instant-replays: They’re only ‘human’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I guess college football’s instant replay system comes under the heading of “Be careful what you wish for.”
The idea of the system, which began two seasons ago, was to eliminate the catastrophic mistake - the one that determines the winning or losing of a game. Officials are human and the game on the field, one official told me, is faster than anyone really knows.
But the same technology that allows a replay official in the booth to review every play also allows the public to make their own judgments. And when the replay official clearly gets it wrong, like the guy from the Pac-10 did Saturday in the Oklahoma-Oregon game, there is no place to hide. He’s like a 5-10 cornerback trying to cover Calvin Johnson. The poor guy has no chance.
The Pac-10 replay official, Gordon Riese, has received death threats to him and his family. Let’s don’t go into how sick that is, only to say that if the feds can trace the call, that person should do some serious jail time.
What about the play in the LSU-Auburn, you ask? As it turned out, that was a totally different animal than Oklahoma-Oregon. A pass interference call came late against Auburn that was reversed on the field. It was big because it gave Auburn the ball back in a crucial time of the game.
Replays showed contact on the LSU receiver. But that play, which was not reviewable by the replay official in the booth, was changed on the field because the correct rule was applied. Before the ball got to the receiver it was tipped by another defender, making it uncatchable, the SEC officials ruled. If the ball is uncatchable, then there can be no interference. That’s the rule.
Everyone here needs to stop and take a deep breath because at the end of the day it is just a damned football game. The Pac-10 official is thinking about quitting because of the threats and what this is doing to his health. I don’t care who you pull for, that’s not right.
I feel for the kids at Oklahoma because, like all football players, they worked really hard to get ready for that game. In this case the only explanation they get is that an adult made a mistake. But one of the passages into manhood is learning that sometimes in life bad things happen. The test is how you cope with the adversity.
And this applies to fans and players and coaches and everybody. If the worst thing that happens in your life is losing a football game because of a bad officiating call, then consider yourself blessed.
Let’s move on.
