For every sports debate there’s always someone who stands up and takes the most unpopular stance on the subject, a stance that may seem outdated, nonsensical and yet somehow justifiable. The debate is on instant replay in sports and I’m the guy against it.
We saw this debate start to gain momentum with the blown perfect game call in baseball, and now the cry for more machines on the sporting field is reaching new heights after England got screwed out of a legitimate goal in the 2010 World Cup. Read more.
So now there’s real consideration for adding instant replay to soccer matches, which if that happens, would mean the end of the beautiful game as I know it. I’m just going to come out and say it, I like it when referees or officials miss calls. There, I said it. Let me rephrase that, I don’t just like it, I love it. To me, there’s nothing better than a huge win or upset except other than a controversial win or upset. To me that’s what makes sports 100% unpredictable, the human error factor.
I though we had all learned valuable lessons from movies like the Matrix and Terminator, but I guess those lessons have been forgotten. We can’t leave everything up to machines! There’s a place for technology and to me, it’s not on the field. What about getting the call right? That’s all I hear these days, how people just want to make sure calls are right or that one team isn’t cheated or this or that. It’s nonsense. You learn very early as kid playing sports, where there’s no such thing as instant replay, that things aren’t always going to go your way, it’s called being part of the game. It’s a factor that athletes have to overcome.
Instant replay in soccer would ruin the game. Right now everyone knows who Diego Maradona is, the “coach” of Argentina, but would he be the legendary figure he is if it wasn’t for the Hand Of God?
Funny how that moment involved England as well… If instant replay had its way, that moment would never have happened and you can add hundreds of other special moments to that list as well.
The only thing instant replay is good for is for us to see just how wrong a call was and then to laugh or cry about it, and then talk about how controversial the game is because of the call. Otherwise, what else do we have to talk about in a 4-1 game? There are those that will argue that if England had gotten that goal it changes the entire complexion of the game at 2-2. Maybe, but is there anyone who can argue that Germany wasn’t the better team? Let’s be real, that England team wasn’t all that good.
Obviously my stance on this is the unpopular one, seeing how everyone is obsessed with getting things “right”. But to me, sometimes when things are wrong they’re still right. In the end, I’ve probably already lost this argument, as undoubtedly instant replay and the use of machines to govern and officiate sporting events will slowly be implemented. Shortly after that happens and the human race is overrun by robots, you will find me living in a deserted cave, clenching my fist, cursing the NFL under my breath, because they started all of this.
