Weird and Wacky Engineering
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Simon7382
What the heck is wrong with all of you? We have 8%+ unemployment and are ...
MindTech
With the availability and quality of current replay technology I would not be ...
Silicon Valley Nation: Of touchdowns and technology
Brian Fuller
9/27/2012 11:00 AM EDT
SAN FRANCISCO -- There was a lesson among those falling bodies in the end zone in Seattle on Monday night (Sept. 24), on the Hail Mary touchdown pass that wasn't.
But before we get to the lesson, let's roll the tape: Two NFL teams, the Green Bay Packers and the Seattle Seahawks battled down to the last play of the game. In desperation, the Seattle quarterback heaved a long pass--a "Hail Mary"-- into the end zone toward a single Seahawks receiver covered closely by at least five Packers defenders.
[Get a 10% discount on ARM TechCon 2012 conference passes by using promo code EDIT. Click here to learn about the show and register.]
The receiver, Golden Tate (Golden? Really?) shoved one defender in the back (which is a illegal) just before leaping to catch the ball (video below) and then wrestled for the ball with another defender, M.D. Jennings. One referee signaled a touchdown; another one appeared to signal that the ball was intercepted by Jennings. Packers fans were howling for a pass-interference call, which would have given their team the win.
The officials then looked to the replay booth, where all the technology sits, to settle the call on the field. Replay officials confirmed--to the chagrin of virtually sentient being in America, Seahawks fans included--that there was no pass interference, that Tate had achieved "simultaneous possession" of the ball and that had Seattle scored the winning touchdown.
All hell (and we mean all hell) broke loose on the field, on Twitter and on the NFL phone bank, where reportedly 70,000 phone messages were left immediately after the call. Bookies claim a half a billion dollars changed hands on that one play.
All this despite replay technology that clearly showed the pass interference. The situation is all the more controversial because the league is using replacement referees this season because of a dispute with the referees' union.
Technology history
Replay technology was first introduced in the mid-1950s and has been used in the NFL and other sports for decades. The technology has moved from film, to analog disk storage and to today's HD cameras and high-capacity digital storage and instant playback. The speed of NFL games is frequently beyond human comprehension, so fast that the human eye can't always comprehend infractions. The replay cameras don't blink. When the technology doesn't settle the issue, the referees' ruling on the field stands.
Now, influential people associated with the league are starting to talk about adding sensors to footballs, microphones and speakers to helmets all in the name of improving play or officiating.
As technology evolves, however, it won't matter. The reason is that no matter how granular or high speed or sensitive the technology, it still takes a competent human being to use it and interpret the data properly.
This comes as little solace to Packers' fans, but it's worth remembering in an age when we deploy astonishing technology to improve our world but often dismiss what it tells us.
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george.leopold
9/27/2012 11:45 AM EDT
Full Disclosure: Brian Fuller's blog post was edited by a Green Bay Packers shareholder.
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David Benjamin
9/27/2012 1:08 PM EDT
A few additions to the record. According to what the two ESPN idiots (Tirico & Gruden) were saying... (OK, they're idiots, but they seem to know the rules better than the replacement refs.) According to T&G, once a ref has signaled a touchdown, even if another ref disagreed, it's a touchdown. This can be overruled by a conference among the officials on the field, but the officials on the field did not even THINK about conferring. Apparently, it is up to the ref signalling the touchdown to determine the issue of "simultaneous possession." I'm not sure if this is true, but according to T&G, possession was not decided by the replay officials. According to T&G, the ONLY issue they were allowed to decide, since the touchdown call was irrevocable, was whether the player scoring the phantom "touchdown" (Golden Tate) was in bounds when he pretended to "catch" the ball. Admittedly, all these issues are extremely muddy. Two things are more certain: 1) If a field official MISSES an act of pass interference call, even one as blatant and criminal as Golden Tate's Eternal Moment of Shame, the replay officials cannot correct this gross injustice. Penalty calls (and non-calls) are, by rule, not reviewable -- and probably should nt be. 2) M.D. Jennings caught the ball.
One other sidelight: The official, Lance Easley, who blew the call and became a laughingstock for the rest of his worthless life, was -- before his elevation to Monday Night Football, a high school ref. Shades of Eddie the Eagle!
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Brian Fuller2
9/28/2012 12:32 PM EDT
Benji, how do you really feel?
; )
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Duane Benson
9/29/2012 1:49 AM EDT
I can certainly see this interpreted as a case of human action not keeping up with available technology.
In my mind, the true objective of a referee is not to avoid second guessing a fellow ref. The true objective is to ensure a fair game. I may be ignorantly idealistic in thinking that, but not allowing calls to be reviews strikes me as being quite similar to the corporate version: "I don't know why we do it that way, but we always have."
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DutchUncle
10/1/2012 8:43 AM EDT
The objective of a referee is to apply the rules of the game properly. The problem is that when replay review was permitted, the *scope* of review was *restricted* in order to maintain the importance of the officials on the ground live, as if there were no video available (like the typical high school or college game). Otherwise *everything* could be done remotely (at the NFL level) and there would be no need for officials in the midst of the action.
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sudo
9/29/2012 3:10 AM EDT
Panem et CIRCENSES!
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MindTech
10/1/2012 10:58 AM EDT
With the availability and quality of current replay technology I would not be surprised to see the head referee position move to the monitor banks. Refs on the ground act as eyes, ears, and enforcement narrowing down the global field of view that the cameras have. All calls then come down from "On High", with review as needed.
On ground refs submit calls to the head ref, play is reviewed as needed, official call is made by head ref/review team. With the speed of technology, this could be almost as fast as current live reffing, and (usually) more reliable.
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Simon7382
10/1/2012 11:25 PM EDT
What the heck is wrong with all of you? We have 8%+ unemployment and are crawling out of the worst recession in decades and you worry about a bad call in sports? Who the heck cares?? No one should.
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