This year was, in my mind, one of the most entertaining years of NFL football to date. We saw many new teams emerge, stars take flight, and rivalries take center stage. Problem is, no one was really talking about those things for a majority of the season. Instead, people were talking about how bad the NFL’s officials and video review system was. In fact, the horrid NFL catch rule ended up determining the number one seed in the AFC.<\/p>\n
I’m a New England Patriots fan, family has had season tickets for years. That said, the catch rule determined a game New England shouldn’t have won. Sure, you love it when it helps your team, but boy, does it suck seeing such a great and important game determined by such a horrible rule.<\/p>\n
This brings me to Thursday night in Edmonton. After Ryan Strome’s overtime winner was overturned, I felt I couldn’t keep silent anymore. The NHL’s video review system is flawed in a major way and the rule book is, for a lack of a better term, a complete joke when it comes to off-sides and goaltender interference. It is impacting games and has had an impact on playoff series.<\/p>\n
Enough is enough. This isn’t what video replay is for. Video review is to overturn egregious calls, not nitpick over a half an inch here and a half an inch there, or “What am I supposed to tell Corey?”.<\/p>\n
The problem with video review is that it takes all the human era out of the game. Now, we have five minute reviews to determine whether or not a player’s skate was a centimeter off the ice 30 seconds before a goal was scored. Half of these replays look at things that had no impact on the play, and they draw negative attention to a league far behind the NFL, NBA and MLB as it is.<\/p>\n
In fact, you need to look no further than last spring’s Stanley Cup Playoffs. In game five between Edmonton and Anaheim, the Ducks stormed back to tie the game with 15 seconds to play in regulation. The goal was allowed to stand, but it was blatant interference by Ryan Kesler. That goal impacted the series, one which the Ducks would win, in a very big way.<\/p>\n