ShareThisImagine the fifth set of the U.S. Open tennis final at Arthur Ashe Stadium, controversial point, and after the Hawk-Eye replay conclusively shows that the ball was in, the umpire and lines people disappear into a hallway for 10 minutes to really make sure.
It sounds absurd, but that's exactly what happens in the NFL and Major League Baseball. Just watch 15 years from now, people will look back at their bungling replay execution and compare it to people traveling by covered wagon.
"Instant" is supposed to be just that, not the onset of a congressional investigation. There was a perfect example Sunday at Yankee Stadium when a fan interfered with Jorge Posada's drive into the right-field bleachers. Within seconds, a replay made it clear to every viewer that the ball was heading over the fence and should be ruled a homer.
Eight minutes later -- no kidding, now -- the umpires arrived from their summit conference and viewing session to confirm the obvious. We get the exact same thing in the NFL, where people at home know the proper call within seconds, only to be granted enough time for an In-N-Out Burger run while the referee peers into a little black box.
This is all about keeping the officials involved, so they still feel important. They don't enjoy being made to look incompetent by advanced technology, so MLB and the NFL make sure they're involved in the process. In time, once all the "blue ribbon panels" have finished their cocktails, we'll have a system that makes sense: authorized officials in every press box, ready to examine every questionable play on handy television sets and pass down a quick decision.
Refs and umpires? Out of the process. Tell 'em to go watch a big-time tennis match if they don't quite get it. That's the only sport living in the 21st century.
(E-mail Bruce Jenkins at bjenkins(at)sfchronicle.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
columnMust credit the San Francisco Chronicle
