For most of the soccer world, this summer’s Confederations Cup is the first time fans will have seen the sport’s much ballyhooed instant replay system live and in action. And as anyone familiar with replay’s fundamental epistemological shortcomings could’ve predicted, the whole process blows.
With the widespread implementation of goal-line technology and early experimentation with video replay ongoing, it is clear that technology in soccer officiating is here to stay. Whether that’s a good thing remains to be seen.
There’s a decent chance the NL Wild Card ultimately comes down to this:
Today in “manager challenges you didn’t expect to see”: Craig Counsell successfully challenging the Brewers’ Khris Davis being called out after hitting a home run. Home plate ump Will Little called Davis out after the Giants appealed, tossing the ball to the plate claiming the Milwaukee outfielder hadn’t touched it…
Bill Belichick was grumpily baffled by the NFL owners' unwillingness to even consider his plan to install permanent cameras aimed at the sidelines and goal lines in every stadium. And he was even more upset they claimed it wasn't a possibility because it would have been too expensive. Well, I guess someone rifled…
This seems as uncontroversial as it comes: everyone, from fans to bookmakers to players and coaches and officials alike, just wants the NFL to get calls right. So why is there so much resistance to Bill Belichick's long-fought attempts to have cameras permanently installed on every field's boundary lines? The owners…
NFL owners rejected 12 of 13 proposals to change the replay process, including the Patriots' proposal that every single play be challengeable. The only replay-related rule that passed will allow officials to use video review to put the right amount of time on the clock at the end of halves.
Detroit general manager Martin Mayhew, speaking at the combine, proposed a change to the NFL's replay rules: he wants coaches to be able to throw challenge flags on penalty calls. And yes, it has everything to do with the Lions getting screwed late in a playoff game.
The New York Times has a nice obituary of Tony Verna, the man who invented instant replay. [New York Times]
Big Ten officials were stricken blind and stupid early in tonight's Ohio State-Penn State game as a pass from the Nittany Lions' Christian Hackenberg that clearly hit the ground was declared an interception by the Buckeyes' Vonn Bell.
MLB umpires rarely sit down with the media, however umpire Hunter Wendelstedt gave Todd Kalas a peek into this year's biggest game changer – the instant replay. Instead of being salty that technology was taking part of his job, Wendelstedt praised the positive impacts that instant replay has made on the game.
The Diamondbacks won last night on a walk-off fielder's choice in the 10th, as Nick Ahmed successfully broke up the Pirates' potential double-play by getting hit in the arm by Jayson Nix's throw to first. Pretty perfect positioning with that arm, actually. Maybe a little too perfect.
This was a trapped ball. It was pretty clear, and indisputably so on replay. Yet umpires upheld their initial ruling of a catch, even after Ron Gardenhire's challenge. My headline up there isn't some huffy hyperbole on just how baffling the call was—it's about how umpires literally didn't give an explanation for how…
Blue Jays manager John Gibbons used MLB's instant replay in an unusual but clever decision in the top of the second of Thursday's game against the Athletics.
A little bit of baseball replay history, and an old-fashioned inexplicable Ron Washington decision, all on a simple stolen base attempt.
Yunel Escobar struck out on a 4-2 pitch, which is a good sign that something went horribly wrong.
"It's extremely difficult to have any faith in the process that's being used," Red Sox manager John Farrell said of MLB's new replay review procedure, which went against Boston on consecutive days. "On the heels of yesterday, it's hard to have any faith in the system."
It took exactly four days for me to do a complete 180° on MLB's new replay review system. It happened when umpires lost track of the count in the ninth inning of last night's Yankees-Astros game, and spent more than three minutes using replay to count balls and strikes. I went from let's use technology to make sure we…
It took two days, but it was only a matter of time before MLB's new replay review system exposed its single biggest flaw. And it happened in a big way, on a play that very directly affected the outcome of a game.
In the 13 games played on opening day, managers took advantage of MLB's new replay review system to challenge four calls, with a fifth coming from the umpires themselves. Two of them were overturned, but just as importantly, the reviews were conducted quickly—the shortest in 0:58, the longest in 2:30, and an average…
