Fred Bowen's "The Score" column,
Friday, January 13, 2006, Washington Post

Instant Replay Raises a Red Flag

Some big plays in recent football games have me thinking about instant replay. That's when referees look at video to see if the call made on the field was right.

In the Texas-Southern California national championship game, TV cameras showed that Texas quarterback Vince Young's knee was on the ground before he tossed the ball to a teammate who then ran for a touchdown. The officials did not use instant replay and so the touchdown counted. If the referees had stopped the game and taken another look, the touchdown might not have counted, and USC, not Texas, might have been the national champion.

In last Saturday's Redskins-Buccaneers game, a Bucs wide receiver appeared to catch a game-tying touchdown pass. But the official in the end zone ruled it was no catch. Instant replay showed that the call seemed right (it was really close), and the Redskins hung on to win.

These days, instant replay is a part of lots of games. Just about every pro football game has a handful of plays that are reviewed by the referee. Some college football games have instant replay, too. In pro basketball, certain plays at the end of the half or the end of the game can be reviewed. Tennis and baseball officials have talked about using instant replay.

I don't like instant replay. I know that fans want the referees to get all the calls right. And I understand that professional coaches and players can lose their jobs -- and lots of money -- if they lose a game because of a bad call.

But I think instant replay sends a terrible message to kids. The message is that a game is not fair unless every call by the referee is correct. Kids see the pros screaming for instant replays and think that arguing about calls is the way games are played. Maybe that's why I hear more kids (and their parents) complaining about the referees and umpires at kids' games.

The better message -- and one that would be clearer if there were no instant replay -- is that officials' calls, even the bad ones, are part of the game. Refs and umps are like players: Sometimes they make mistakes.

Unfair stuff happens all the time. In real life, people get sick or are injured in accidents that are not their fault. In school, the kid next to you might get the A+ even though you worked harder on the project or thought your paper was better.

One of the hardest things to learn, but something that playing sports can teach, is to keep trying even when everything, including a referee's call, is going against you. Every time a mistake is made in a game, you can't stamp your feet and scream, "That's not fair!" You have to keep your cool and keep playing your best.

And that's something you can't learn by throwing a red flag and going to instant replay.