Sports Rules

Baylor vs. KU.  It was a great game except for the first and fourth quarters.

In the fourth quarter, Baylor came back from a three touchdown deficit.  Not a good day to be a Jayhawks fan.  That, however painful to watch, was not the worst part of the game.

Apparently, replay has taken over sports, and not just in the professional arenas.  In the first half, around 8 plays were reviewed.  It was strange though; most of them were reviewed without flags thrown by the coaches.

The fact that so many plays were reviewed wasn't even the main problem.  The problem was that there was  a string of several plays in less than a quarter of football that were reviewed.  It seemed like every time the fans got a chance to watch some football, the play was being reviewed.

It became so ridiculous that at one point in the first half, while waiting for the refs to make a decision, a Baylor player picked up a leaf off the field and started tearing it slowly watching as it flew in the wind.  It was like watching a bored child trying to find something entertaining to fill his time.

It is sad when the rules of a game are restricted to the point that the rhythm of the game is so drastically changed.  It is becoming this way in a lot of sports that have replay.  Refs are so afraid of getting a play wrong that anything and everything is reviewed.  

Part of the game is getting screwed.   How many plays can we watch in the past and see that the decision was wrong?  Oh well.  Those games are in the record books.  All teams will get plays called the wrong way; it kind of evens out.

Everyone loses with such strict replay decisions.  Games are lengthened, rhythms of games are changed by the refs, and players lose momentum.  The refs are not the players and should not be the main attraction of a game.  Just call the game as you see it.  If a coach throws a challenge flag, then review it.  If it's under two minutes and the play is contested and could change the game, fine, review it.

But for everything else, the KU fans chanted the right answer Saturday.

"Let them play."