On Video Review in Sports…and Society

tl;dr: sports leagues make every effort to have clear rules are that are uniformly applied, transparent, and fair to their games. Why do we insist on that for sports, but not for money and government?

Growing up, I was a huge fan of the Washington Redskins and (American) football overall. These days, less so.

A part of the reason has to do with Dan Snyder’s Washington Sadness Machine. Another part is the self-acknowledgement that the nickname is racist. There’s also the part that stems from the reality that 40-something men with 3 kids seem to have more responsibilities on a Sunday afternoon than 14 year old boys do.

And the last part of it comes from an uneasy feeling that sports today is das Opium des Volkes, as Karl Marx would say-The Opium of the People. (You could probably add our larger cultural fascination with celebrities to that as well.)

Yet, there are times, particularly during playoff season, where I find myself watching a few minutes of a game. Usually, it’s with my son and daughter, sharing the experience with them, trying to get back to those days of relative innocence. (HT: Don Henley)

The Obsession with Video Review
Here’s the thing that fascinates me.

The obsession with instant replay and “getting the play right.”

These are, after all, just games.

In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter all that much whether the Vikings beat the Saints (they did) or the Saints beat the Vikings.

Yet, in the course of a very exciting 4th quarter and overtime, there were two plays that were either overturned or reviewed.

And these weren’t just small plays, they were plays of massive significance.

One of them, for example, had what appeared to be a fumble by Minnesota player that was plucked out of mid-air by a Saints defender who subsequently ran it back for a touchdown.

The crowd went wild, the jubilation was palpable. It was one of those “playoff moments” where, with so much on the line (since the loser’s season would be over), the sense of the dramatic was evident.

It’s why people like watching sports. It’s unscripted drama.

And then, it was as if a huge Pause button was pushed on the emotions of every single person involved, as the word came out that the “play was under review.” [standard for a scoring play now].

A quick look at the replay and any fan knew that the play would be reversed. The Vikings runner had his knee on the ground, thus rendering the play over and the fumble a non-event.

The Tree in the Forest
It led me to wonder, “if a player scores an apparent touchdown and the crowd goes wild, but the play is called back upon review, did the play actually happen?”

The emotions may have been genuine at the time, but do they become inauthentic afterwards? After all, the excitement of moment was attached to a play that, according to the history books, never actually happened.

It’s the proverbial tree falling the forest.

Yet, with the exception of a few Saints fans who undoubtedly believe that the game is rigged by the NFL against their team (for whatever reason), most knowledgeable fans of the sport would agree on the decision.

The rules are the rules. If the runner’s knee is down before the ball comes out, then it is not a fumble. Plain and simple.

Fairness, Humanity, and Priorities
Sports leagues go to great lengths to make sure they “get it right.” There are cameras everywhere and missed calls are a source of embarrassment to leagues. It’s apparently a huge issue in the English Premier League as well.

There’s something noble about it, but it also highlights something that I don’t understand.

We want binary trust in the outcomes of our NFL and Premier League games, but when it comes to how our money is managed or leaders are elected, we’re content to have rules that are non-binary one and lacks transparency. Certainly, in those areas, there are times where the rules are not objectively applied to everyone.

Those are the “arenas” where outcomes really matter.

For me, that is why the idea of protocol software based on objective math as a foundation for a society is appealing. It offers the potential for the things that really matter to be adjudicated and managed in a way that is accordance with the rules all the time.

Maybe that’s the point.

Sports shows us what we can achieve, not just on the physical and team level, but on the societal level.

When it comes to games, we all expect to be treated fairly. Every school kid knows this. That’s the point. The rules apply equally to everyone.

And even though our emotions may want one team to win or “just let the excitement of the moment exist without being deflated,” we insist on going back and checking to make sure.

For a “game” like civilization to work at scale, the rules need to be applied equally, regardless of our emotions.

As you can tell, I’m still flushing this idea out, so feedback welcome.