Roll back the video tape, determine whether the ball really did hit the ground in south Florida, let the referees huddle and make the perfect call. But even in football, with its multiple camera angles and sharp-eyed zebras, indisputable calls are rare. Losers always cry foul. Winners always walk away certain they won fair and square. In the end, the game goes into the record books.
Some fans cheer, others grumble, and everyone awaits the rematch.
But no one ever suggests that the second or third quarter be played over again. The rules don't allow for that. Because football is the hallowed American tradition that it is, fans accept the results, if grudgingly. Elections aren't football, but they are nearly as sacred a part of our culture. They, too, are governed by rules.