Technology killing the sport?

[topogigio]

I say go back to jump balls on all close out of ball plays the officials can't agree immediately on. Let officials decide on flagrant and intentional fouls on the spot, and adjust the clock asap without going to the monitor. The constant stopping of play, and exceptionally long breaks in the action for video reviews and official conferences are ruining the flow of the game, IMHO. I don't see "going to the monitor" necessarily "getting it right". The calls still are subjective. Is the delay worth the wait?

 

[bluedevil]

RE: stopping play over and over Google NFL..they seem to have written the book on that one...

 

[hoopsfan22]

MLB was pretty slow too when video replay became a thing. They've been making a conscious effort to speed that up. I think the constant whistles kill the flow of the game more than going to the monitor for a review.

 

[freshler40]

It's some of each, the game is hard to watch at times, no flow, must be also harder as a player but coaches perhaps like it for the extra time to coach. It's a fine line here, tennis gets it right with the line calling replays, basketball not so much, always going to monitor. Strange issue when a team is up by 25 points with two minutes to play. I guess you have to be consistent. Another point of confusion is that sometimes play is stopped and the refs are looking at a small point that isn't critical to what actually happened that is material. Why bother?

 

[LwrcasefaN]

I say go back to jump balls on all close out of ball plays the officials can't agree immediately on. Let officials decide on flagrant and intentional fouls on the spot, and adjust the clock asap without going to the monitor. The constant stopping of play, and exceptionally long breaks in the action for video reviews and official conferences are ruining the flow of the game, IMHO. I don't see "going to the monitor" necessarily "getting it right". The calls still are subjective. Is the delay worth the wait?

I showed my wife the last 53 seconds of the Troy game. It literally took more than 15 minutes in real-time. If you can't immediately make the call in slow motion from several viewpoints, then immediately go with the call on the floor. Between timeouts and official reviews...it's too much for me.

 

[geordi]

The only reason to 'go to the monitor' is for those people betting on the games. It's especially true with football and basketball since more money is down on those than most other sports. All sports are supposedly trying to 'speed up' the game, but that's just BS. Setting time limits on replay checks, pitch counts, or any other euphemisms won't speed up anything. There is too much money involved both outside of the game and for the owners and players too. There are more commercial breaks during a game now than ever before. Ever hear of a TV time out? Used to be that a major league baseball game would take about two hours to play. I've watched games that only went 1:40 or less. After an hour and 40 minutes now, you are only in the 5th inning. NFL, NBA, college basketball, you name it. Lack of flow is the price you pay for watching a game today. Just accept it. Nothing is going to change.

 

[hoopsfan22]

Seems like the whistle blows every 30 seconds now. They are calling something now on almost every other trip down the floor. Drives me nuts when they are still calling tickytack fouls when it's 85-62 with 7 minutes to play. I know time and score shouldn't dictate officiating, but let's be practical. Games like that just need to finish, and stopping play every 30 seconds on some incidental contact is just painful to watch.

 

[Ozimoto]

In this case I think "less is more." I'm all for technology, but either go all out or don't do it at all. Probably the best use of technology in sports is the use of "cyclops" to call lines at tennis tournaments. That's pretty low hanging fruit though.

 

[Littlemin]

Hate the use of all technology in sports. My favorite is the 15 minute delay to put .7 seconds back on the clock changing it from 1.2 seconds to 1.9. Meanwhile the whole game has been played with all the associated human error and maybe that 1.2 should have been 5.2 or the game should be over.

 

[freshler40]

The only reason to 'go to the monitor' is for those people betting on the games. It's especially true with football and basketball since more money is down on those than most other sports. All sports are supposedly trying to 'speed up' the game, but that's just BS. Setting time limits on replay checks, pitch counts, or any other euphemisms won't speed up anything. There is too much money involved both outside of the game and for the owners and players too. There are more commercial breaks during a game now than ever before. Ever hear of a TV time out? Used to be that a major league baseball game would take about two hours to play. I've watched games that only went 1:40 or less. After an hour and 40 minutes now, you are only in the 5th inning. NFL, NBA, college basketball, you name it. Lack of flow is the price you pay for watching a game today. Just accept it. Nothing is going to change.

Maybe add a couple of coaches challenges and that's it! Late in many games the constant stopping of play for a "look" is hurting the game.

 

[Pinhead]

RE: stopping play over and over Google NFL..they seem to have written the book on that one...

Between the replays, timeouts, ref powwows, ads etc. the NFL has rendered itself unwatchable for me. In addition to bringing in the "rules expert" that invariably proves to be as clueless as the rest of us, why must we endure an official stopping the game, confer with their mates, fumble with their mic switch, then step up and formally announce a refused penalty. Who cares! It was refused and has no bearing on anything! Just one example of wasted time, lets move on. Furthermore, regardless of the sport, if reviews remain or expand I'd prefer the broadcaster break away to the interminable ads rather than subject us to 100 replays and talking heads telling me what I can clearly see, then somehow after review we're all wrong! Lastly, after years of the review process, these talking heads still advise us that there must be "incontrovertible visual evidence" so that they can say a big word.

 

[Centerstream]

I like how the game announcers have to keep giving their opinions during the stoppage and then the refs will give their decision and the announcers have to backtrack to conform with the refs.
For instance during the BE tournament against St. John’s after Farley threw Mir to the floor, it seemed to me that the announcers felt like it could be a flagrant 2 (which I agree with) but the refs decided it was just an intentional foul...after a really long review. No idea what they were reviewing for sooooo long.

 

[LoboDays]

There needs to be a “happy medium” in all sports. Maybe limit the video review in hoops to the Final two minutes....I don’t know but they need to be very careful. Baseball has become unwatchable. There attendance and viewership (pre-COVID) is down. I remember the days when a 9 inning game took 2 hours ( I’m not older than dirt but I discovered it.) Now, you need to bring a nap sack when you go to the ballpark. Basketball can’t go down that path. It’s an action game, like hockey. If you continue to break up the action, people will tune out.

 

[Rixxx]

Just looked it up. Fastest MLB game = Giants vs Phillies, 1919, complete game both pitchers, 6-1 score, 51 minutes.

 

[Artifact]

I say go back to jump balls on all close out of ball plays the officials can't agree immediately on. Let officials decide on flagrant and intentional fouls on the spot, and adjust the clock asap without going to the monitor. The constant stopping of play, and exceptionally long breaks in the action for video reviews and official conferences are ruining the flow of the game, IMHO. I don't see "going to the monitor" necessarily "getting it right". The calls still are subjective. Is the delay worth the wait?

Yes, we need advertising to help support sports. I felt that all that advertising during the UConn vs Syracuse destroyed badly the flow of the game!