Everybody could use a do-over

This isn’t the beginning of the column I originally wrote.

The first one I wrote didn’t seem… This isn’t the beginning of the column I originally wrote.

The first one I wrote didn’t seem right to me, so I reread it, changed my mind and redid it.

One of the many advantages of writing is that the author has the ability to correct his mistakes. It’s an amazing capability – one that we all wish we could use in our everyday lives.

Remarkably enough, though, some people actually can correct mistakes they’ve made on the job on a regular basis. I’m talking about referees and umpires here.

But not in every sport, and only under certain circumstances.

The advancements technology has made over the last few years have further enhanced an official’s ability to call a sporting event correctly.

Before, instant replay was just available to us viewers at home, allowing us to see every time an official made a bad call, which just wasn’t fair to the official. If we can see it, why can’t they?

But now, nearly every major sport utilizes instant replay.

The NBA uses it for last-second shots to decide whether or not the ball left the player’s hand before time expired. The NHL uses it to check goals that barely cross the line enough to trigger the siren.

The NFL is the most noted major sport to accept the likes of instant replay. The league has developed a full system to go along with it, allowing coaches three challenges, but when the game is under two minutes, the challenge comes from the referee in the booth.

Certain conferences in the NCAA, including the Big East, have welcomed instant replay during their football games, but that’s not enough. Every conference needs to do this.

The major sport not joining the party is Major League Baseball, and it’s evident that the time for that to change is near. Just ask the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

A week ago, mix-ups in a number of other meaningful games displayed to the world how much instant replay is needed in all sports.

A.J. Pierzynski’s mysterious swing and miss, the final 10 seconds of the Notre Dame-USC game and a missed tag by Adam Everett of the Houston Astros that was wrongly called an out, all played roles in the outcomes of their respective games.

The athletes in both the professional and collegiate ranks spend too much time and work too hard to have a game come down to a question of whether or not an official made the right call.

I propose that every sport needs to institute instant replay – it’s for the good of us all. Hire an extra two officials that just stay up in the booth all game and watch the replays of every challengeable play.

Doubters in baseball say that the game is already long enough and replay will just slow it down even more.

Well how many replays of Pierzynski’s swing did I see before the next pitch was even thrown? I couldn’t tell you how many I saw, I lost count. And that’s without factoring in the argument of the call, because you could see a few replays between the normal pace of the game as well.

To the viewers at home, the second a play is over, a replay can be shown. This could also work for officials up in a booth.

There’s no need for the head official on the field to watch the replay. He can trust his fellow officials up above to make the call and we can move on with the game.

A number of systems could be put into place and all the sport needs is someone to revolutionize everything. Just as Bill James changed the way we look at statistics, there’s someone out there to develop an efficient replay system.

They need to get a move on as well, though, because the time has come for replay to take over. And we all know no one wants their team to wrongfully win a game on account of the refs, right?

I thought so.

Oh, and by the way, Pierzynski was out.

Alan Smodic is a senior staff writer for The Pitt News.