Instant Replay is one of the necessary evils of watching sports in the 21st century. It's over-utilized, over-scrutinized, and takes entirely too long, and even the refs each network has signed on to explain it to us peons seem to be completely guessing. And yet it's still favorable to what we had in the past, because listening to Mike Periera drone on (and then be wrong) about a key call is still preferable to watching your team miss the postseason thanks to an on-field "human error."
In spite of that somebody who's not cool with bogging down the pace of a game to see 10 angles on repeat in super slo-mo is Monday Night color commentator, former coach on the business end of the Tuck Rule, and current Hooters pitchman, Jon Gruden. Gruden told Men's Fitness that he'd rather dump modern technology in favor of an era where teams got hosed by calls on the field, but there were far less commercial breaks:
"I would eliminate all of it. Everything’s disputed now. Was he inbounds? Was it a turnover? It’s taken the juice out of the stadium. There are too many timeouts. Let the people on the field officiate and hold them accountable. Look, there’s going to be some bang-bang plays that have to be officiated. And who’s going to make the decision? The instant replay man in New York City?”
Unfortunately for Gruden (and you, maybe) replay is only expanding. The era of catching a game in under three hours is gone. Instead settle in for an era where you debate what is and isn't a catch based upon a last second rotation of the ball as the receiver hits the ground.
[via NBC Sports/Men's Fitness]
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