Instant Replay: A Game Changer

Over the last decade, instant replay in sports has evolved greatly and has become a normal part of most sports, especially football and basketball. Instant replay has changed the way games are watched, played, and most importantly, officiated. Sports can now be viewed from a variety of different angles, speeds and zoom, allowing officials and viewers watching television an unparalleled perspective of true in game action frame by frame. Instant replay has slowed game play down in sports like football where every scoring play is reviewed. Coaches can now challenge an official’s ruling on the field with instant replay and get a call overturned. What happened to the idea of sport officials and referees being the judges of a game in which their calls during competition are made from their own personal decision? Is this not the point of having referees in a game? With instant replay becoming the ultimate judge and jury during competition, there have been strong arguments for both sides of instant replay.

With the recent emergence of instant replay in baseball, there has been much controversy over what and how much instant replay should be used. The game of baseball is known as “America’s Pastime” and for over a century the game has seen little change to its rules. Baseball games have always been called by an umpire’s judgment and never been allowed to be overturned --- until now. Instant replay has now allowed umpire’s to look at close calls during a game and overturn them with substantial evidence from replay. A homerun, or a bang-bang play at first base or home plate, can all now be seen and called one hundred percent correctly through the all-seeing eye of instant replay. In my opinion, the idea of taking away an umpire’s authority and their judgment call during a game takes away from the excitement and passion of the game. The reason umpires are on the field is to call the game fairly…as they see it…no matter if it is the right call or not…that is their job.

Baseball is “Americas Pastime” for a reason --- the tradition and consistency it has held for over a century. Baseball has seen the least amount of rule change within the sport out of all mainstream sports and bringing instant replay into baseball is neither needed nor necessary for making baseball better.