Between the commercials and the replays, watching a game in person has become just boring. There is very little momentum or continuity to a game today. It is not as enjoyable to watch. That is one reason attendance is down in college football. It is simply not as entertaining or exciting as days gone by.
I like NFL football and have watched several games this year. The number of penaltys is unreal. Every danged play there seems to be a flag thrown. Every little thing is reviewed. Did the ball move when he got tackled? Did his heel touch the boundry line? Did the tackler hit the quarterback too hard?
Trying to entertain the fans has given way to trying not to ever have a team whine it lost because of a bad call. Let’s get some lawyer to review all those bad calls we got in the SWC from those Texas refs. We probably could have won another National Championship or two if we get some of those calls changed. I blame the lawyers and all those TV ads. Have you ever had a cold or ever sneezed? If you have call us? We’ll get you some money.
As Don Henley once sang, “That’s the cost of living, and everyone pays”.
I agree. It’s a problem in basketball too. In theory, replay sounded like a good idea. In practice it is being over used and is taking too long. Call needs to be reviewed by one official in the booth and decision made and relayed in kess than a minute.
I think you’re right. We want the officials calls to be right, but we’ve now gotten to the point that so much is reviewed & the reviews take so long that a game takes forever. When looking for games last Saturday I had the program menu on the screen & as I moved down to see who was playing in each slot, a small screen showed what was actually on the screen. All five of the games I scrolled were in a commercial break. Every last one of them. And each break was long.
I’m fine with replay to overturn missed calls. What I don’t like is when it is used for minute details, like to determine whether the ball should be placed at the 1/2 yard line or 1/4 yard line, and the decision takes several minutes to determine.
I liked what the AAF did earlier this year by putting a microphone on the replay officials. Then you could hear their reasoning for the call, which made the replay review seem to go by faster.
The problem is not so much the call, deciding if the call was right or wrong happens fairly quickly. The problem is deciding where the ball should be spotted and what the time on the clock should be. Maybe someone behind the scenes could keep track of that, then once the officials make a decision on the call, the info could be provided quicker.
Maybe a rule could be instituted that if a decision can’t be made within one minute (or 30 sec, or 45 sec, whatever), the original call stands. The idea being that if it is not so obvious in slow motion at first look with a couple of different views it is not worthy of being overturned.
Maybe limit reviews to the last few minutes of a half or something like that. Let each team have 1 or 2 challenges before, say, the final 5 minutes, then once the clock gets below that, let there be more reviews of controversial plays. Bad calls early in the game can be overcome a bit better than calls on the final drive. Just a thought.
That’s all the more proof they don’t need it. There were four no calls prior to that, that affected the game in the Saints favor. If those four calls are made, then the infamous no call would have no bearing on the outcome of the game. That simple.
What I’ve seen in the NFL is that every team is testing pass interference rules on every play. How much can you use your hands and how much contact to re-direct receivers? Are you inside five yards? Will they call it if you are 7-8 yards? Well lets find out.
There is little doubt that Alabama coaches the contact with hands on pass interference to the point that you could call it 10 times a game. They bank on the idea that the SEC won’t.
Saban coaches their cornerbacks. And, that’s the way he coaches. I suspect it’s coached that way in the NFL, too. Basically, he’s an NFL guy.
Man, if you’re having to go as often as they’re reviewing plays, you might consider seeing a good urologist. A man just can’t drink beer that fast (often)!
It’s my opinion, but I’m quite sure your right on that one Clay and I have a very good source.
It’s also my opinion that with football becoming such a pass happy, offensive show, letting db’s be more physical in the early stages of a route makes for better football and at least encourages a little more running and short throws. It’s the biggest reason a pure air raid offense struggles more at the pro level vs. college.
I don’t think Saban is banking on the SEC calling it as much as he is banking on that no official wants to throw that many flags. They like to keep the game moving. If the officials don’t throw the flags early against Bama, Saban is going to continue to take that bet.
Personally I wish the would give DB’s more contact in the first 10 yards. I think it would encourage more running which I really enjoy watching. But I think most of the public love watching the ball spiral through the air and TDs.
Some may not realize the huge change in rules in 60 years. You could at one time make contact, legal contact with receiver anywhere on the field as long as the ball had not been thrown. Some defensive coaches used knock the reciever down and prevent him from getting deep as the primary pass defense. Then the rule was changed to not allow any contact beyond ten yards. I actually do not know the rule now as I saw a penalty last week for hitting the receiver about three yards deep, Basically all the major rule changes have been to promote passing.
