Alternatives to on court officials

3TrueFans

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Sep 10, 2009
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It's a good question. But it would not change the fact that at court-level getting good angles is still going to be very difficult. I think if a change is to be made it has to be something radical, like getting officials looking down over the action, rather than trying to look through it.
Above the court officials, suspended from wires.
 
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acgclone

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I think the best route would be to add one more official who is seated and can view the TV. He wouldn't make calls, but could review and overturn obvious blown calls (like the kick).

And put a time limit on reviews. If you can't tell which is the right call after 40 seconds of reviewing, it's not worth overturning.
 
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3TrueFans

Just a Happily Married Man
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I sure hope the solution isn't increasing the number of reviewed calls. I swear in most of these games it seems like a ridiculous amount of time is spent looking at the monitor especially the last 2 minutes, adding .2 seconds to the clock, figuring out if that guy's fingernail brushed the ball last, etc. Nothing like an exciting finish to a tournament game spent watching the officials' backs for 3 minutes and the same replay 47 times.
 

theshadow

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Apr 19, 2006
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The biggest problem is that you have guys who are 40-65 years old doing 4-5 games per week all over the country, and somehow expecting them to hold up over the course of a season against 18-22 year olds who only play 2 games per week.

You see an official in Austin on Monday, Columbus on Tuesday, Lawrence on Wednesday, Madison on Thursday, and then wonder why they have a terrible day in Ames on Saturday.
 

CYDJ

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I think the best route would be to add one more official who is seated and can view the TV. He wouldn't make calls, but could review and overturn obvious blown calls (like the kick).

And put a time limit on reviews. If you can't tell which is the right call after 40 seconds of reviewing, it's not worth overturning.

Seems like a reasonable first step. Maybe an official that does not call the game but can look for 15 seconds at something and then move on.

OR, and please build something off of this because I know it is not my favorite idea and it is CRAZY.

Someone (maybe a team of people) that reviews calls as the game is going on, sees where the advantage or disadvantage is, based on completely blown calls and awards additional possession(s). I know it is radical, but, that is essentially what officials are doing now. The "kick" took away a possession from us. A completely blown call yesterday in the OSU / Houston game, gave Houston the ball back when they had OBVIOUSLY hit it last. OSU gets one possession., etc.

The only way top make the screwed team whole is to give them one possession to make up for it. Anyone with 10 seconds and review monitor could chalk the "kick" up and say ISU up 1. Then if OSU gets screwed by an obvious bad call, then we're back down to even. It could be a part of the scoreboard and every 5 minutes you have a possession check. Or at the end of the half and game you make things right. I'm not saying this is the best OR even a solution anyone should consider, but it's a major change that that could helps bring the game closer to fairness.

It WOULD be different, and humans could screw that up too, but maybe we would have some checks and balances to what is happening on the floor. And if, as most official apologists say, it all evens out in the end, it doesn't add anything to the time of the games either.

Fire away!
 

NickTheGreat

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It seems like everyone on Twitter gets the calls right. So why don't they just have an algorithm that changes the call if something is trending on Twitter.
vauEUgn.gif
 

SpokaneCY

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Apr 11, 2006
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I see your point, I agree with that. I don't want the game to slow down either. I just want to put the people making the calls in the best position to do so. I don't think they are there now and the method for arranging themselves on the court causes built in short term inconsistency.

Question; are we saying that now we just let some things go, but we couldn't do that with more technology? OR "It's a rule, but it doesn't need to be enforced (sometimes)?"

I definitely see where you are going with this, but maybe the rules need to be changed then.
Right now you say that the officials have leniency on what they call and when. Why would the "screen" officials not have the same leniency and should they?

This is not easy, I just want better and part of that might be employing more people and better technology in the process.

While we are at it, why in the heck are we using umpires to call balls and strikes when computers can do it so much better? Boggles the mind.

I wonder if you do something like football where you have the line judge who just does line judge stuff, back judge who just does back judge stuff... Maybe you have a guy (or 2?) who's primary responsibility is just stuff in the lane?

The current reviews are way too lengthy and it ruins the flow of the game as does a tightly called game.

I'm somewhat of a ref apologist and consider them like the weather or the opposing fans or the turf conditions that you play through, but a few of the blunders on Friday were just SO obvious. Maybe a coach gets 2 challenges (not fouls but OB / tipped ball plays maybe??) but again I'd hate to destroy the flow of the game any more than it already is.

With the pace of the game, having an outside official ring-down for an off-site review is a non-starter again pointing to flow but perhaps something in the last 2 minutes with the current review can be expanded.
 

CYDJ

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I sure hope the solution isn't increasing the number of reviewed calls. I swear in most of these games it seems like a ridiculous amount of time is spent looking at the monitor especially the last 2 minutes, adding .2 seconds to the clock, figuring out if that guy's fingernail brushed the ball last, etc. Nothing like an exciting finish to a tournament game spent watching the officials' backs for 3 minutes and the same replay 47 times.
I agree and I'm not sure how to make it and better without extending the game. Reviewing calls takes too long. I wonder if people who are sitting by a monitor that have a really good grasp of all the angles and replay capabilities could make it faster. Don't know, just thinking.

I also wonder if one person was in charge of a section of the floor at both ends using monitors, if they wouldn't be more consistent, maybe not BETTER, just more consistent.
 
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