Technology taking fun out of NFL

At the risk of being a huge hypocrite, Sunday's Super Bowl telecast convinced me that the use of instant replay by officials does major damage to the viewing experience.

Which, I'll readily admit, flies in the face of my frequently expressed support for the use of the technology.

Just to make it clear, this is not a complaint about any of the calls that were reviewed during the Steelers' win over the Cardinals. Yes, I am a big Pittsburgh fan going back, oh, 35 years or more. But, no, I'm not complaining that the video review took a touchdown away from the Steelers. It was the right call.

But instant replay takes the spontaneity out of the game for anybody who actually cares about the results. And it takes away a big chunk of the joy, even when the team you're rooting for wins.

It was impossible to celebrate when something great happened for your team. Score the winning touchdown? Refs raise their hand signaling a touchdown? Yeah, so, does that really mean the winning touchdown was scored?

Maybe not. So don't get too excited.

And, when all the video footage is reviewed and the determination is made that, yes, it was indeed a touchdown, the spontaneity is gone.

It's like, um, hurrah. As opposed to, HURRAH!!!!!!!

No big deal for the casual fan, I suppose. But not nearly as much fun as having your team score and being able to jump up and down and yell and scream with delight. You know, not having to worry about whether the officials on the field are going to be overruled.

I don't know what the answer is. And, again, I'm not suggesting that we want a game to be decided on an officiating error that could have been corrected.

But technology is making the NFL less fun than it used to be.

SPEAKING OF TECHNOLOGY, NBC deserves a lot of credit for having angles that were as conclusive as they could possibly be on any play that was reviewed.

As well as a few that weren't.

PROVING THAT YOU CAN'T make everyone happy, we are now led to believe that the second-to-last play in Sunday's Super Bowl was actually reviewed by the replay officials.

"We confirmed it was a fumble," NFL vice president of officiating Mike Pereira told NBC. "The replay assistant in the replay booth saw it was clearly a fumble. The ball got knocked loose and was rolling out of his hand before it started forward. He has to have total control."

Once again, I'm not complaining about or even commenting on the call. But it is interesting that, because the replay officials made a quick decision and didn't delay the game by several minutes, there are those who feel the play wasn't reviewed at all.

Sigh.

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E-mail: pierce@desnews.com