Dallas
9/19/2006, 04:15 PM
After heaping portion of home cooking, time to ditch replay
Sep. 19, 2006
By Gregg Doyel
CBS SportsLine.com National Columnist
Instant replay has to go. Why? Because either way, officials are going to continue to screw up perfectly good football games. But only with instant replay -- which weakens the excuse of "human error" -- are we forced to consider other, darker possibilities.
Last week four NCAA teams were let down by an instant replay system that, frankly, isn't all that difficult.
Oklahoma was screwed, twice, by replay officials in its 34-33 loss at Oregon.
LSU was screwed by replay officials in its 7-3 loss at Auburn.
BYU was screwed by replay officials in its 30-23 loss at Boston College.
And Maryland, which wasn't going to win this game, was still screwed by replay officials in its 45-24 loss at West Virginia.
We're about to test your reading comprehension. Look at those last four sentences again. Now then -- what key word appeared in all four sentences? Other than screwed and replay officials, I mean.
Here you go:
At.
Officials ruled that this hit on Early Doucet was not pass interference. Controversy ensued. (Getty Images)
As in, the visiting team got screwed. Every time. If you were so inclined, you could call that statistical anomaly a coincidence. I don't, but then, maybe I'm more cynical than you. Or smarter than you. Probably not, but I know I'm smarter than the replay officials at those four college games.
In all four cases, presumably intelligent men studied a television screen and saw something that didn't happen. Or misinterpreted what did happen. Or missed the call on purpose. Those are your three choices. Pick one.
On a weekend of bad officiating, the Oklahoma-Oregon game had the worst of the worst, as well as the most of the worst. In that game, officials had two chances to get a replay right, missed both calls, and Oregon capitalized with a last-minute touchdown.
First came the desperate Oregon onsides kick that clearly -- c-l-e-a-r-l-y -- was interfered with by an Oregon player before it had gone the necessary 10 yards. The ball was recovered by Oklahoma, by the way, but field officials missed that and possession isn't reviewable because, well, just because. The replay guy could only review whether the kick had gone 10 yards, and he determined that it had. Aw, hell, why not. Seven yards, 10 yards, what's the difference?
Then came pass interference against Oklahoma. There was legitimate interference on the play, but it came after the pass had been tipped at the line of scrimmage. Which means the interference was allowable -- but only if officials saw the tip. They missed it on the field. In the replay booth, staring at the same replay you and I saw, they missed it again.
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The replay official, Gordon Riese, reportedly lives in Portland. I'm not going to say the replay official from Oregon intentionally missed two calls to benefit Oregon. That would make him a cheater. I am saying the replay official from Oregon missed two calls despite incontrovertible evidence. What does that make him? An idiot, I suppose.
Everyone from the Pac-10 to the president of Oklahoma agrees. The Pac-10 suspended Riese and the on-field officiating crew for one game. The Oklahoma president wants the results of the game vacated.
Me? I want someone to explain the LSU-Auburn game.
There, officials encountered another pass interference muddled by a deflection, and LSU was denied a first-and-goal late in the fourth quarter when the replay official overturned the call on the field. The replay guy said Auburn's pass interference happened after the tip and therefore was allowable.
Replays clearly showed the tip coming after the interference. Did the SEC fly in that guy from Oregon for this call?
At Boston College, BYU lost its overtime possession -- and the game -- when the ACC official in the replay booth overturned the Mountain West official's call on the field. On the field, a near-interception by Boston College's Jamie Silva was ruled incomplete because the ball hit the ground first. In the booth, without anything resembling conclusive proof, the ACC official overturned the call, giving the win to the home (ACC) team.
At West Virginia, replay officials upheld the call on the field when WVU cornerback Antonio Lewis was given an interception. Replays showed Lewis and the player from Maryland had the ball in unison when both players hit the ground, leaving Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen to wonder afterward why the 50-50 call hadn't gone to the offense.
Maybe that's only a baseball rule. Maybe they should ask the guy from Oregon.
Definitely this stuff shouldn't be happening. And when the mistakes continually benefit the home team -- or the home team's conference, which assigns the officials -- you have to wonder why.
Do officials get caught up in the moment, in the excitement, and lose their composure and their competence? Do subconscious biases in favor of their league's schools affect what they're seeing with their own eyes?
Those are ugly questions we shouldn't be asking. But they are questions that, after this past weekend, we have to ask.
I have two solutions:
1. Get rid of all those replay-booth codgers who were raised on radio. Bring in a TV-watching expert. Yes, I'm saying my 11-year-old son could do a better job than the idiot from Oregon.
2. Get rid of replay entirely -- on the field, off the field, in my living room, everywhere. Why? Because I'd rather think the officials are blowing a game than know it.
Sep. 19, 2006
By Gregg Doyel
CBS SportsLine.com National Columnist
Instant replay has to go. Why? Because either way, officials are going to continue to screw up perfectly good football games. But only with instant replay -- which weakens the excuse of "human error" -- are we forced to consider other, darker possibilities.
Last week four NCAA teams were let down by an instant replay system that, frankly, isn't all that difficult.
Oklahoma was screwed, twice, by replay officials in its 34-33 loss at Oregon.
LSU was screwed by replay officials in its 7-3 loss at Auburn.
BYU was screwed by replay officials in its 30-23 loss at Boston College.
And Maryland, which wasn't going to win this game, was still screwed by replay officials in its 45-24 loss at West Virginia.
We're about to test your reading comprehension. Look at those last four sentences again. Now then -- what key word appeared in all four sentences? Other than screwed and replay officials, I mean.
Here you go:
At.
Officials ruled that this hit on Early Doucet was not pass interference. Controversy ensued. (Getty Images)
As in, the visiting team got screwed. Every time. If you were so inclined, you could call that statistical anomaly a coincidence. I don't, but then, maybe I'm more cynical than you. Or smarter than you. Probably not, but I know I'm smarter than the replay officials at those four college games.
In all four cases, presumably intelligent men studied a television screen and saw something that didn't happen. Or misinterpreted what did happen. Or missed the call on purpose. Those are your three choices. Pick one.
On a weekend of bad officiating, the Oklahoma-Oregon game had the worst of the worst, as well as the most of the worst. In that game, officials had two chances to get a replay right, missed both calls, and Oregon capitalized with a last-minute touchdown.
First came the desperate Oregon onsides kick that clearly -- c-l-e-a-r-l-y -- was interfered with by an Oregon player before it had gone the necessary 10 yards. The ball was recovered by Oklahoma, by the way, but field officials missed that and possession isn't reviewable because, well, just because. The replay guy could only review whether the kick had gone 10 yards, and he determined that it had. Aw, hell, why not. Seven yards, 10 yards, what's the difference?
Then came pass interference against Oklahoma. There was legitimate interference on the play, but it came after the pass had been tipped at the line of scrimmage. Which means the interference was allowable -- but only if officials saw the tip. They missed it on the field. In the replay booth, staring at the same replay you and I saw, they missed it again.
Advertisement
The replay official, Gordon Riese, reportedly lives in Portland. I'm not going to say the replay official from Oregon intentionally missed two calls to benefit Oregon. That would make him a cheater. I am saying the replay official from Oregon missed two calls despite incontrovertible evidence. What does that make him? An idiot, I suppose.
Everyone from the Pac-10 to the president of Oklahoma agrees. The Pac-10 suspended Riese and the on-field officiating crew for one game. The Oklahoma president wants the results of the game vacated.
Me? I want someone to explain the LSU-Auburn game.
There, officials encountered another pass interference muddled by a deflection, and LSU was denied a first-and-goal late in the fourth quarter when the replay official overturned the call on the field. The replay guy said Auburn's pass interference happened after the tip and therefore was allowable.
Replays clearly showed the tip coming after the interference. Did the SEC fly in that guy from Oregon for this call?
At Boston College, BYU lost its overtime possession -- and the game -- when the ACC official in the replay booth overturned the Mountain West official's call on the field. On the field, a near-interception by Boston College's Jamie Silva was ruled incomplete because the ball hit the ground first. In the booth, without anything resembling conclusive proof, the ACC official overturned the call, giving the win to the home (ACC) team.
At West Virginia, replay officials upheld the call on the field when WVU cornerback Antonio Lewis was given an interception. Replays showed Lewis and the player from Maryland had the ball in unison when both players hit the ground, leaving Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen to wonder afterward why the 50-50 call hadn't gone to the offense.
Maybe that's only a baseball rule. Maybe they should ask the guy from Oregon.
Definitely this stuff shouldn't be happening. And when the mistakes continually benefit the home team -- or the home team's conference, which assigns the officials -- you have to wonder why.
Do officials get caught up in the moment, in the excitement, and lose their composure and their competence? Do subconscious biases in favor of their league's schools affect what they're seeing with their own eyes?
Those are ugly questions we shouldn't be asking. But they are questions that, after this past weekend, we have to ask.
I have two solutions:
1. Get rid of all those replay-booth codgers who were raised on radio. Bring in a TV-watching expert. Yes, I'm saying my 11-year-old son could do a better job than the idiot from Oregon.
2. Get rid of replay entirely -- on the field, off the field, in my living room, everywhere. Why? Because I'd rather think the officials are blowing a game than know it.