Instant Replay

By The Vegas Steamline

So are you a fan of instant replay or not?  I guess after this weekend I could figure out, by asking you if you had the Chargers or the Steelers.  In case you missed it, let me explain.  The Steelers had just taken the lead 11-10 on a field goal with 11 seconds to play.  After the ensuing kickoff, the Chargers tried doing the old Cal throw the ball all over the place play.  They fumbled one of the laterals and Troy Palamalu picked it up and ran it for a TD.  That made the score 17-10, a supposed unlikely cover for the Steelers.  The referees then replayed the play and said the first pass by the Chargers was an illegal forward pass and the ball should be dead on the spot.  This took the points off the board and gave the Chargers the cover.  Because the play was inside of 2:00 minutes it was automatically reviewed by the booth and didn’t need a team review as the Chargers would have probably just let it go.  To them a loss is a loss, for Vegas it turned out to be a big win for the Sports books.  It turned out that Vegas had taken much more action on Pittsburgh than San Diego on the game.

So how do i feel about instant replay?  I think it is the right thing to do.  I know I am the one who says hurry up and run a play before they review it when a play goes my way, but I guess overall I would prefer to get the play right.  The one thing I have a hard time with is after they do review it and they still get the call wrong, they have wasted time and still screwed things up.  With all the cameras and angles, especially in the NFL, there shouldn’t be any mistakes.  I understand sometimes the angles are blocked by players in a pile, but then the play should go as it was called on the field.  Also, we talk about the extra time the replay takes, well how about the referee in the booth helping the ref on the field out.  Right now the ref has a certain amount of time to make a decision.  But just think about the time that is wasted after the coach throws the challenge flag.  The referee goes to the coach, asks him what they are challenging.  He then runs on the field and looks into the TV camera and explains to us what he going to go look at.  He then has to jog over to the sideline monitor and watches the same replays that we see.  Most of the time, before the referee has even started watching the replay, the network has shown us 4-5 different angles on the play.  Why isn’t the booth referee doing the same thing.  Give him the power to either make the call or help the field ref make his decision.  That way the 90 second review, that usually takes 8-10 minutes would be more than likely right!

Still, even if the system isn’t perfect it is still better.  Overall the referees still do a pretty good and should be commended.  This is a thankless job that doesn’t get enough credit.  The best compliment a ref can hear is “I didn’t even reallize the refs were on the field.”  As a free winner for this weekend take the LSU Tigers over Mississippi.  After getting beat by Alabama two weeks ago, the Tigers bubble was popped and they came out flat against Troy.  They barely survived the scare.  Look for their eyes to be opened after last week and for them to come up with a big performance.  Mississippi is a solid squad that has played ranked teams tough this year, but I expect LSU to be to much for the Rebs here.  FREE WINNER : LSU -5 over Mississippi.  Last week we had another winner here on Notre Dame, though it did get a little scary at the end.  Make sure you go to www.freeplays.com and click on the Vegas Steam Line each and every day for more great free winners.  Hopefully you have been joining us though out the football season as we just continue to roll!