NFL Replay Policy Worthy of at Least Further Inspection

The NFL’s use of instant replay as an officiating tool in hasn’t been a rousing success.

But neither was it a total failure, and NFL owners would be making a drastic mistake to give up on it after one season.

If instant replay can prevent one or two gross injustices a season, then it is worthwhile.

The television networks don’t like it because, as happened in the Super Bowl, they can be drawn into a controversy because the replay official, with two VCRs at his disposal, simply watches tapes of what the networks have shown.

After a pass to Denver tight end Clarence Kay Sunday was ruled incomplete, CBS was unable to provide a conclusive replay in time for the officials to overrule the call. A later replay, not totally conclusive, appeared to show that Kay’s catch was legal.

But Art McNally, supervisor of officials, has since said that no replay was conclusive enough to overturn the original call.

Still, had it been a close game, there surely would have been an uproar since Denver quarterback John Elway was sacked for a safety on the ensuing play. Bronco fans would have blamed CBS for not coming up with a conclusive replay immediately.

This is why the networks are an unwilling partner in the use of the instant replay. But NFL owners, who will discuss its merits at the league’s winter meetings in Maui in mid-March, shouldn’t be swayed.

It’s a good policy that’s only going to get better with time.

Add replay: A bad call that could have been corrected by instant replay kept the Raiders out of the 1978 Super Bowl.

It happened in the AFC championship game at Denver on Jan. 1, 1978. Denver running back Rob Lytle, attempting to dive over the Raider line and into the end zone, fumbled the ball into the air after being hit by Jack Tatum at the two. The Raiders’ Mike McCoy picked up the ball and took off running.

The officials ruled, however, that the play was dead when Lytle fumbled. But the nation’s viewing audience could see clearly that the fumble was legitimate. The Raiders called it a 14-point play because the Broncos scored on the next play.

The Raiders lost, 20-17, and the Broncos went to the Super Bowl.

This season, the Rams’ Kevin House, in a game against Miami, caught a pass in the end zone. But the officials ruled he was out of bounds. The replays showed he wasn’t, so the officials overturned the call and the Rams got a touchdown.

The Rams ended up losing in overtime, but at least they weren’t deprived of a touchdown by a bad call.

Even Miami Coach Don Shula praised the instant replay policy after that call.

The spirit of the replay rule is simply to correct obvious bad calls.

So when television people such as Brent Musburger, who is paid handsomely by a company opposed to instant relay, says, “Get rid of it,” such advice should be taken lightly.

Super Bowl aftermath: CBS, in an effort to keep it simple, used only 14 cameras to cover Sunday’s game. That’s six more than normally used on a regular-season game, but maybe not enough for a Super Bowl.

Additional cameras may have provided the conclusive replay the officials were looking for on the pass to Kay.

Once again, television got burned by misplacement of a field microphone. Did you hear what one of the Giant players told CBS to do with its camera during player introductions? It wasn’t a comment you’d hear on the Disney Channel.

Overall, CBS’ game coverage wasn’t perfect, but it was solid. Still, announcers Pat Summerall and John Madden, in an effort to treat it just as another game, may have been a little too low key.

A big splash: The Super Bowl has come and gone, and now here comes the World Series of yacht racing, the America’s Cup final off Fremantle, Australia.

ESPN is prepared to devote 70 hours to the best-of-seven series between Stars & Stripes and Kookaburra III. Coverage begins tonight at 8.

Plus, ABC, whose parent company also owns a majority of ESPN, will provide updates and highlights throughout the weekend.

ESPN spokesman Chris LaPlaca said the coverage of the challenger and defender finals drew considerable interest, even though it was on during the wee hours of the night in the East.

“Our ratings during America’s Cup coverage were double what they’d normally be at those times,” LaPlaca said.

Add America’s Cup: The on-board cameras and microphones ESPN uses provide some marvelous pictures and action.

“The on-board cameras are simply the race-cams you’ve seen used at Daytona,” said ESPN producer Geoff Mason from Australia. “They have allowed us to see how very organized the crews are and how well they know their jobs.

“And we’ve had zero problems with language.”

That might not be the case if the New York Giants were participating.

Fight night: Prime Ticket, in a co-promotion with Choice Channel, offers a pay-per-view fight from the Forum next Tuesday night, Bernando Pinango defending his World Boxing Assn. bantamweight title against Frankie Duarte.

The 15-round main event, plus an attractive undercard, which begins at 7 p.m., is being offered to subscribers of 21 Southern California cable companies for $12.

“Interest has been even greater than we figured,” Prime Ticket spokesman Tom Feuer said.

TV-Radio Notes Wilt Chamberlain will be interviewed by Roy Firestone on tonight’s Laker pregame show on Channel 9 at 6 p.m. . . . In case you haven’t noticed, Firestone’s show is more than your basic pregame show. It’s well written and usually offers interesting features. Tonight’s show will be devoted totally to the interview with Chamberlain. . . . Highlights of tonight’s Millrose Games at Madison Square Garden will be televised on NBC’s “SportsWorld” Sunday at noon. There’s also a fight on the same program, but NBC’s boxing coordinator, Kevin Monaghan, an avid track fan, scheduled a 10-rounder so that the Millrose Games wouldn’t get short shrift, as it did a year ago. The announcers for the meet are Charlie Jones, Frank Shorter and Dwight Stones. . . . Eamonn Coghlan, recovered from a recent attack by a dog, is entered in the Millrose Games’ Wanamaker Mile. “Instead of using a rabbit, maybe we should have a dog chasing Coghlan,” Jones said. “Maybe that would ensure us of a world record.”

David Letterman sent a Telex to the ESPN crew working the America’s Cup that said, in part: “Televised yacht racing could become bigger than professional wrestling.” . . . Attention horse racing fans: Falcon Cable is threatening to discontinue carrying Channel 56, which televises nightly replays. Santa Anita has put out a news release asking subscribers to phone the company and voice their disapproval. . . . Mailbag: Reader Elmer Dauben of Sierra Madre writes to recommend Rod Carew for the Angel announcing vacancy created by the departure of Ron Fairly. Attorney Tom Wall writes to complain that there was no Spanish-language radio broadcast of the Super Bowl, since one of the guests at his Super Bowl party spoke only Spanish.

Award Dept.: ABC’s Al Michaels has been named sportscaster of the year by the National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Assn. He beat out Bob Costas, Vin Scully and Dick Enberg. ABC’s Jim McKay was selected over Howard Cosell, Scully and Detroit baseball announcer Ernie Harwell for the group’s Hall of Fame. . . . Among recent winners of Golden Mike awards were Channel 5’s Keith Olbermann and KRLA’s Rich Marotta. For Marotta, it was his seventh Golden Mike in nine years.

Prime Ticket is now offering highlights from Los Alamitos every Wednesday night at 11. . . . Baseball’s Ron Cey, football’s Mike Haynes and hockey’s Bernie Nicholls will be profiled on “Sports Lifestyles” on Channel 7 Saturday at 1:30 p.m. . . . Fred Wallin’s talk show, “Sports Forum,” carried by KFOX-FM (93.5) at 7 a.m. Monday through Friday and Sunday at 7 p.m., can now also be heard on KPZE (1190) nightly Monday through Friday at 10 o’clock.