My Goodness, The Challenge Flag Is Still So Dumb

Were you watching Thursday night football? I hope you weren't. The most exciting part was debating whether a little red flag fell or was thrown.

Cardinals coach Bruce Arians threw his challenge flag after what looked like an interception. You can't do that. All turnovers are among the plays that are automatically reviewed by officials, and—why?!—it's actually illegal for a coach to challenge them.

Arians realized too late, so he sent center Lyle Sendlein to surreptitiously retrieve the flag before the zebras noticed it. That failed. So Arians told the ref that he hadn't thrown the flag, it had fallen out of his pocket.

It is the year of our lord two thousand fourteen, and we do not need to force grown-ass men to dink a weighted dishrag down onto the floor to register protest.