Officials in NCAA / NFL
In light of the questionable officiating that has happened in both NCAA / NFL, I'm curious how others would feel if the human element was taken out of the equation.
1. The technology is already available where we at home have multiple angles of the previous play in seconds.
2. There is no reason the head official has to be on the field - he can be in a box reviewing the correct placement of the ball, the correct call, radio down to the field, etc..
3. I've never understood why the original call on the field, in real time at possibly poor angles, would have any effect on the final call of a given play.
If you were to make a prediction for how this sport will progress in the next 5-10 years, do you think any of the above will change? Why or why not?
Or, am I just an asshole? (well, I don't think there's much doubt about that).
October 1st, 2018 at 8:10 PM ^
This thread is based on the assumption that the NCAA cares about correct calls. They don't.
October 1st, 2018 at 8:12 PM ^
This is my officiating wish list:
- Increased transparency. Officials and individual calls/lack thereof are reviewed after every game. The results are publicly disclosed. Brian I’m good with weekly officiating UFR for Michigan games for starters ;)
- Professional NCAA officials. Officials today have other normal Joe Schmo day jobs. You can’t expect to get top quality refereeing when this isn’t their top career priority.
- On the replay topic, I’d decrease the amount of intervention. I’m tired of 2:30 media timeouts and 5:00 replays. You can review whatever you want, but if you don’t have a conclusion within 30 seconds then you go with the call on the field. This is a hard deadline, not a guideline. Correct obvious mistakes; don’t treat replay like analyzing the Zapruder film.
- Targeting. It sucks. Fix it. Whatever encourages safety but at the same time can be consistently applied and rule clearly interpreted.
October 2nd, 2018 at 7:47 AM ^
I know it would be hard to dial back the current targeting enforcement and not have a backlash that things are being made unsafe, but I would just make targeting a personal foul. It is too harsh a penalty for what can often be a zig when you should have zaged scenario. Two personal fouls and you are ejected for the remainder of the game. Additionally the conference (or NCAA) reviews all personal fouls (and possibly other plays submitted by the teams) the following day and can hand out 1 game suspensions for targeting, intent to injure, etc.
October 1st, 2018 at 8:34 PM ^
Did we ever get an answer about the penalty from Mars?
October 1st, 2018 at 8:44 PM ^
Nope. I’m waiting. I guess I’ll wish in one hand, and shit in the other, and see which one fills up first.
October 1st, 2018 at 9:06 PM ^
I wish there was a sensor in Jim Harbaugh's hat that would buzz loudly every time he thinks of running the ball up the middle on 2nd and 9 with 18 men in the box.
October 1st, 2018 at 9:27 PM ^
The same reason that college athletes aren't getting paid and the NFL has idiotic 53 man rosters: money. Oh and I guess "tradition"
October 1st, 2018 at 9:46 PM ^
Your assumption that the head official can be in the booth and make the correct call is flawed. I have seen way too many play reviewed by the replay officials and called incorrectly to believe that a head official in the booth will get it right.
October 1st, 2018 at 10:18 PM ^
I also want a camera on the first down marker and pylons at all stadiums as well. It seems like the referees are rounding the spot up to the next yard line every time. I can't count how many times I've seen a defense make a close stop on 3rd down, to see the ref give a first down by spotting the ball at the next yard line.
October 1st, 2018 at 10:17 PM ^
It's part of sports. Don't be a dweeb. Injuries, bad calls, dumb play-calling. It's human error. If you want logic and repeatability play video games.
October 1st, 2018 at 10:39 PM ^
Eh, bad calls are not the same as bad play calling. I don't recall many folks shrugging their shoulders when a shitty (e.g., incorrect) call goes against Michigan and chalking it up to 'sports'. Maybe I've just been doing this whole sports thing wrong.
October 1st, 2018 at 10:45 PM ^
If tennis can do it, football certainly can. But I think that a certain amount of talk, clicks and therefore, money, come with poor officiating especially at the college level. Therefore, don't count on technology making the game more legit.
October 1st, 2018 at 11:11 PM ^
Taking the human element out of the game doesn't make the game better. It just seeks to solve an impossible standard for precision which even replay can't guarantee. Replay is a technique to improve accuracy in officiating, it's not a panacea.
The NFL officiating standard is pretty darn high and effective. The officials who work that game know their stuff. I think the professional standard in officiating in the NFL far surpasses that of college officials who are dedicated and mostly solid but are not subject to the kind of organic intimidation factors which clearly impact college officiating.
October 1st, 2018 at 10:56 PM ^
Depending on orbital positions, radio signals can take between 4 to 24 minutes to get from Earth to Mars. So I don’t think reviews will be very practical, unless we want very long commercial breaks.
October 2nd, 2018 at 1:39 AM ^
under rated comment. well done.
October 1st, 2018 at 11:13 PM ^
One thing that seems really certain is that they aren't using technology very well. Yeah they can sure zip those cameras all around and over the field but they cant get a wireless cam on the first down marker or behind the pylon so you can always see if the ball crossed the line. It's just stupid. The whole game is just getting worse. These betting sites or whatever you want to call them(sports books) have everyone bought out. They want to keep the game from becoming awesome so they can keep making money. Those guys behind the scenes of these businesses (probably greasy haired smelly Italians) know all the money that is bet and all they have to do is make a call to their guy to get ahold of the inbred officiating crews in the B1G and tell them how the game has to go. So no, I don't think anything will improve. It'll be the downfall of the sport. I was thinking about this all day too while I'm getting pissed here. Baumgartner that sissy homer. I think that little punk is part of it. I'd bet anything that piece of shit takes money on the side. Every time you hear him ask a question at a Michigan press conference, it's about what player has an injury. Every once in awhile the putz sprinkles something different in. Oh man....goose fraba.
October 2nd, 2018 at 1:03 AM ^
Agreed. You can't control game outcomes if you use technology.
October 2nd, 2018 at 12:24 AM ^
AI will replace officials eventually
October 2nd, 2018 at 8:19 AM ^
Yes, soon the game itself will be played by drone-like programmed bodies.
October 2nd, 2018 at 1:08 AM ^
I do not trust The Machines.
October 2nd, 2018 at 7:36 AM ^
I look forward to watching sports where officials are not part of any game. It should be about the athletes, not referees. This is a trailer to a Real sports segment. I watched the full segment awhile ago but can’t find it. The stats where shocking. A pitch within 2 inches of the strike zone was called wrong around 25% of the time for the home team and around 30% wrong for the visiting team.
October 2nd, 2018 at 8:19 AM ^
Are you referring to golf ? No officials ... but clearly some very stupid rules /s
Go Blue!
October 2nd, 2018 at 9:37 AM ^
The human element has proven not to be effective.
I'm all for whatever comes next.
And baseball needs to go electronic for balls and strikes. Baseball umpires are atrocious. Not only do they suck, they're allowed to get dramatic when they punch you out on a shit call.
October 2nd, 2018 at 9:51 AM ^
I hate all officials. I hope they are all replaced by AI sooner than later.
October 2nd, 2018 at 10:38 AM ^
It's really way more simple than all of this.
1) Coaches should have the option to challenge a set number of penalties per game, and during a spot/catch/ etc. review penalties should automatically be reviewed and changed as needed.
2) Refs should receive a base salary and a separate weekly bonus based on the job they did that week, and the bonus should be larger than the base pay. Every game would be reviewed after the fact by some neutral party and the officials given a detailed scorecard of their performance so they know exactly which calls they blew and what they did well. Blow a bunch of calls, make minimum wage. Call a great game, make a nice living. Get a bad scorecard for several weeks in a row, or regularly against the same team/conference, lose your job. Any incentive for bagmen to influence the officiating needs to be quickly removed. Highest scores at the end of the season get to ref the big $ games at the end of the year.