Replay booths and screens during the course of a sporting event have proven to be a blessing and a curse. At first, the new replay technology was great for referees to make sure they got the call right, but at this point they are taking way too much time away from the game, allowing referees to miss calls because they rely on these replays.

Obviously replay technology has made a big impact on the games of basketball, football and even baseball, so there are times when referees looking over a call is necessary. I think there definitely is a time and a place for replay, such as times when a player is injured. Another important time to use replay is before making a call such as targeting in football or flagrant fouls in basketball because these can make a very big impact on the game, resulting in players getting kicked out. Sometimes these types of plays need to be reviewed because they are hard to see from an officials viewpoint.

The con to allowing replays is that referees can fail to do their jobs and still get away with it. It allows officials to rewatch and review calls that they should clearly have gotten correct in the first place. When a referee is not even five feet away from a play, he should not have to go to the replay booth to see who the ball went off of. Replays give officials a cushion that they never had before, because before replay they had to get the call right the first time; referees were held accountable for their calls. Now it seems that every other play the officials are consulting with the replay booth because they failed to see the play that was right in front of them. They have gotten too comfortable with this technology that was supposed to improve games.

The other problem with reviewing so many plays during a game is that it stops the flow of the game. During the course of a basketball game, it is very easy and fairly common for a team to get hot and go on a run, forcing the other team’s coach to call a timeout to try to stop the run. Now, it seems that every time a team goes on one of these runs, the referees make an incorrect call and have to go to the replay booth at some point during the run. This basically gives both teams a free time out to regroup and talk and effectively ends one team’s momentum. Sports games are about runs and momentum, and replay kills them both.

Replay technology has gotten to the point where it makes games so long and boring to watch, and it allows officials to do their job wrong. While replay has played an important part in reversing some calls, it takes away from the game being played.