NBA To Have Centralized Replay Center Next Season

Replays make the games much longer, to be sure. But what I like even less about them is that they interrupt the flow of the game. Runs and momentum are a major part of the game, both physically and emotionally; and I hate to see some artificial factor exacerbate the interruptions.

I feel the same way about inbounds plays. Hand the ball to the inbounder immediately, zebras. Don't wait until every player is finished picking his shoelaces and tying his nose, or whatever.

Sam

I think this will be an improvement. We won't be subjected to seemingly endless scenes of the refs' backsides as they hunch over the scorer's table while the monitor is set up. With a centralized review center, it could speed up the process a bit.

Now that I've stuck my foot in it, does anyone have an impression of how speedily centralized replay review works for MLB? I haven't watched any games -- I follow baseball, but with a 1,062-game season, I barely pay attention before August -- so I don't know if my thought that centralized replay will be faster has any validity or is the most ignorant, comical idea I've come up with.

Another potential benefit is removing the wild card of individual ref interpretations or tendencies to want to do an instant make-up call because a foul was missed and that type of thing.

On the downside, it's centralized control, bringing up images of David Stern sitting in front of monitors cackling over his new-found power to decide championships. I'm not a believer in league office conspiracy theories, but this adds more fuel to that fire.

Outside, I've seen a couple of replay incidents on Red Sox games.  I believe both involved calls at home plate.  The umpires convened in or near one of the dugouts, and the procedure seemed pretty similar to (and as long as) the NBA approach.

I believe the way to improve the refereeing  with centralized replay is to station snipers in the rafters of NBA arenas and, each time a referee reaches 10 blown calls in a season, to issue orders to shoot him.  Gives a new meaning to the term new blood." Also new reinforcement for, "Kill the umpire!"

Sam

I'm not quite as optimistic as Outside is when it comes to this. Can a 3rd party option speed up the process of analyzing a crucial call at the end of the game? It isn't impossible but I have my doubts.



KJ