And Now For Some Football

Not only has my schedule prevented me from blogging regularly, I have only caught a grand total of 5 minutes of football.

Granted, as a Packer fan, there isn't much to watch but I spent my youth watching whatever was on TV and miss playing armchair quarterback. So I don't have much to say about any actual games, but I caught an interesting proposal about instant replays that I thought I would share.

Get rid of instant replay. Stop delaying the game while we sit around debating what constitutes a "football move." Stop tempering our excitement when we see a spectacular catch because we know we're going to have to wait to find out if the receiver really got both feet down. Tell the coaches they don't have to worry how far they throw their red flags. Tell the referees they don't have to stick their heads into a peep show on the sidelines.

Oops, I quoted the wrong part. Mike Smith actually proposes five changes to the instant replay system. I'm not sure that instant replay should be eliminated, but it certainly needs to be changed.

The incentives are all wrong, coaches get three challenges that bare no cost. As any economist will tell you, when something is free it will be over consumed. That being the case I can completely get behind his his proposal to provide unlimited challenges with severe costs.

Let the coaches decide when calls are important enough to challenge, the 15 yard penalty will essentially eliminate all challenges except ones that are game changing which is the way that it should be.