From: GC.SUL@forsythe.stanford.edu (Sullivan)
Subject: Re: Bring Back Instant Replay
Organization: Stanford University, California, USA
Distribution: usa
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 09:28:29 GMT

In article <BvDAvI.LKM@acsu.buffalo.edu>,
v079m8ta@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (JONNY B. GOODE) writes:
>In article <tokuno.717807558@milton>, tokuno@milton.u.washington.edu (Ken Tokuno) writes...
stuff deleted

>judgements to perceive what everyone has just seen on the field.  Bang! (to
>paraphrase John Madden) The play is over, and the decision is made.  Argue all

bad decisions made.  I saw them as bad decisions ON TV long before
the refs call them.  Instant replay may not be the answer, maybe
pro refs, but these guys suck.

>you want (just LOOK at how long Art Monk's supposed TD in the SB last year went
>on!!  Cripes!), but I thought professional sports were played by and officiated
>by humans, not video cameras.

Every sport is played by video cameras now.  few are judged by it.
Videos, snapshots, films are taken from every angle to improve the
player results, why not the refs?

>        What is next in the ever-increasing need to introduce technology into
>pro football?  A small probe in the pigskin, with sensors scanning the goal
>line to see if the ball crossed the plane?  I think two referees with good

Who the hell has asked for that?

>eyesight will do fine, thank you.  This isn't rocket science, it's football.

video replays aren't rocket science either.  My 5 year old daughter
can figure it out.

>        It was obvious to me and my football colleagues how much dissention and
>uncertainty was present in the referees on-field the previous years when replay

In all the BAD, STUPID, calls made in the 49er/Saint game this past
week, not one involved a decisive, clear, strong call.  There was a
zebra herd to decide it.  Give me a break, - decisive.  Is there a
Saint fan who thinks that the Rice TD/down at the 1 yard line was a
fumble?  If they thihk he was down first, no TD, I agree.  But
everybody from TV to fans in the stands saw that play but the Refs.
I've already made a stand that there was at least one bad call
against the Saints, but THAT call defines incompetence and demands
reform. It was nearly as bad as the successive phantom PI calls
against LOTT and Wrignt in the 1984 conference championships against
the Skins/zebras.

>was in effect (especially the last two years!).  They knew they could rely on >'Big Brother' to come to the rescue if they weren't sure about a receiver having
>two feet inbounds or the like.  I think in order for an official to command
>respect on the playing field, he _himself_ has to be sure of his own
>capabilities.  This was not the case for the last few years.

Instant Replay didn't originate out of the blue, it started from
games decided by bad calls by bad referees.  Is there a sport
other than football that's even considered Instant Replay to help
officiate?  Why hasn't college brought it up?  College is well
officiated.  I don't give a **** if a ref is sure of his
capabilities.  In the world of competition, there is variety of
success by a variety of folks un/certain of their competence.  If
the 49ers were able to accurately predict 2 years ago that Lott
couldn't play this year, I think the NFL can figure out what refs
use crowd noise as their only climax of the week.

>        I love, needless to say, the return of control of the game to the real
>referees.  Not some retired ref who just can't run up and down the field like
>they used to...now relegated to the intricasies of FF and REW, and changing the
>outcome of an NFL game with a frame-by-frame advancement of a VCR.  It's really

your only good point. you admit they are incompetent.

>ridiculous, once you think about it.  Thank Allah that the game has finally come
>back 'down to Earth'.  Instant replay, by the NFL's own admission, was a 'tool
>that was being considered'.  I guess it's consideration is finally decided.

By an ignorant, stupid ownership.
I'll abandon a claim to have instant replay if they'll turn reffing
into a profession instead of a hobby of egocentric losers.

Mike