Replay dominated sports in 2019, and expect more this year

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — From the moment two officials failed to throw a flag for obvious pass interference on a play that helped decide the NFC championship — stunning the players, coaches and millions of fans — officiating and replay became a constant theme in 2019.

No matter the sport, fans and competitors were frustrated by inconsistent standards and rules that prevent some obvious mistakes from being changed. But those same fans and competitors also complain about long delays to determine something as mundane as whose fingernail last touched a basketball before it went out of bounds, even in a regular season blowout.

"I don't want any instant replay in my life personally, but if we are going to have it, let's use it properly," Oakland Raiders coach Jon Gruden said after getting an apology for a blown call that led to a loss. "I don't think it's that hard."

But no one agrees on the proper way to implement video review. Some argue the technology takes away the human element and is too intrusive, and others counter that all wrong calls should be overturned. Some even want to let technology call balls and strikes in baseball.

From that no-call at the Superdome that helped send the Rams to the Super Bowl instead of the Saints, to the Final Four where Virginia was helped to a title by some calls that couldn't be reviewed to another that was, to the Kentucky Derby where for the first time ever the apparent winner was disqualified for interference on video review, to controversy from the Video Assistant Review system at the Women's World Cup and across Europe's biggest soccer leagues, replay has confounded nearly everyone.

The only constant seems to be more of it.

"I don't think you can go backward anymore," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said when the NHL expanded...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Replay-dominated-sports-in-2019-and-expect-more-14943419.php