Less than two weeks removed from one of the most controversial calls in the history of both the Kentucky Derby and major championship sports in general, an NHL playoff game between the St. Louis Blues and San Jose Sharks last night saw one of the most disgusting finishes in recent memory.
Timo Meier got tripped up in the offensive zone on the attack, fell to his knees and batted the puck out of mid air (a clear as day hand pass) to Gustav Nyquist. The former Detroit Red Wing one-touched it over to Erik Karlsson for the game winning goal at the side of the net in OT, and the entire place went chaotic. All four referees seemed to have missed the blatant hand pass, which led to the unfortunate ending to Game 3.
Since the call on the ice was a goal, the game is over as the play is non-reviewable. The Blues were robbed of the possibility to take a series lead of their own, while the Sharks left with a pivotal win on the road.
Now let’s flip the switch to Lexington, Kentucky, where quite possibly the most interesting decision was made due to a jockey challenge. What seemed like a dominating win for Maximum Security at the Derby, turned into an absolute debacle in the matter of 22 minutes.
Upon further review, the judges came to the conclusion that Maximum Security drifted outside of his own lane (which is super vague by the way) and caused a flurry of jockeys to ease up on their horses to prevent a catastrophic accident. They decided to essentially DQ the winning horse and name the runner-up, Country House, the 2019 Kentucky Derby champion.
As a basic fan who knows the bare minimum of horse racing, I would argue that the call was total bulls**t. Sure, he drifted a touch to his right after his horse got spooked from the crowd noise, but is that really how we want to decide one of the greatest sporting events in history? A 22 minute replay delay in which the majority of the country was thinking… “just what in the hell are we even looking at?”
I get it, you want to get it right on the biggest stage in one of the biggest purse events in the world, but 22 bloody minutes? If it is legitimately going to take that long to make a call, and if the obstruction by the jockey was so minimal that it needed to take that long, then by all means please stick with the horse who crossed the finish line first.
Let’s get back to the NHL Playoffs. I understand that the call is non-reviewable, however, if something like this occurs in a playoff game that leads to an OT goal, then it must be reviewed. Yes, people in 2019 are so damn impatient that they hate if replay takes more than a minute, but in this instance it would have taken less than 10 seconds. The review would have saved the league the embarrassment that was brought forth this morning, and could have altered the outcome of the game for the better.
Replay in general is so judgmental and the rules that allow for it be be utilized play a major role in these heated debates. Last night was the fourth time in this calendar season alone that three different sports have been impacted by, with, or against replay.
What’s up New Orleans? Still salty? I would imagine very much so. Who Dat Nation’s non-PI call in the NFC Championship game back in January has already led to a change in rules for the upcoming season, which I can only imagine will bring added controversy and more angry fans. This was the first replay related argument of 2019 and history proved that it was not going to be the last.
San Jose fans will likely hate what I am going to say next, but it’s the truth. I don’t know what is going on, but it appears to be December 25 in every big game for the Sharks this postseason. The amount of gifts that have been handed to this franchise in the past four weeks is pure insanity. The 5-minute major power play in the third period of Game 7 against the Vegas Golden Knights in the first round, the offside call against the Colorado Avalanche on a game-tying goal in Game 7 of the second round, and now the Joe Montana shovel pass last night. Replay saved the fins’ bacon in round 2, but the rules also helped them escape some major calls while coming out on the positive end.
The NFL, NHL and Professional Horse Racing have been enormously impacted by the use of replay or the non-use of replay both for and against the sport. Some for the better, some for the worst, and simply some for a greater argument to be had.
Replay has been argued to slow every sport down, especially the MLB, which is already long enough as is. Was he out at first base? Did the ball actually leave the park? Was the batter nicked by a lace on the baseball? The list goes on and on, but one thing still remains – the majority of fans tend to hate the amount of replays used in regular season games.
The NFL has far fewer games than any other sport, which is why replay is extremely beneficial in football. The rules however, cause the greatest amount of pain for the fans when it comes down to the final 2 minutes of a half. Then challenges are determined by the refs, but only for specific rules like a first down, catch or touchdown. Not for pass interference calls that can change a game in a second.
I am still undecided on this entire topic of replay and challenges, but I do no that this debate will go on for as long as technology continues to advance. The slow-mo feature, the six angles, the hawk eye view, whatever…it has literally taken the refs out of the game in key moments and allowed for robots to decide an organizations fate.
Once again, I am not saying that I do not like replay, because I actually love it from the seat of the common fan, rather I am stating that the rules in which a referee can go about the use of viewing multiple camera angles outside of the game clock are so challenging in itself.
The Derby used a jockey challenge in order to review the race, while the NHL was restricted from challenging due to a tactical rule of a hand pass and a penalty that was determined on the ice by the entire crew because they could not take an extra look at what happened.
So is replay ruining major sports? Well, that will continue to be debated for many years to come. We could broaden the use of replay by allowing the refs to take an extra look on game-altering plays or penalties in the final minutes of games, but that would likely lead to more grey area arguments.
Replay hasn’t ruined sports at all, but the way it has or hasn’t been utilized has caused a flurry of pain across all sports at some of the most inopportune times.