The inventor of instant replay died Jan. 18 at the age of 81.
In a way, I blame him for ruining sports and perhaps culture in general.
Because IR is so pervasive, there is no “dead time,” pardon the expression, any more. If you watch a baseball, you will invariably see at least two replays of every pitch from different camera angles. When the ball is put into play, there will also be replays from multiple views. If you’re actually attending a game, you actually have to pay attention, because if you miss something, it might be gone (at least until you get home and catch it on the news or SportsCenter).
It’s pretty much the same in every sport, but baseball is the worst because there’s so much time between the action. And now that there’s the ability to overturn rulings on the field/court, the use of video replay isn’t just filler, it can extend the game.
It creeps over into other aspects of life, too. As an avid podcast listener, whenever I listen to the radio and miss something, I am dismayed when reminded I can’t “rewind.”
Here’s Verna’s obituary in The New York Times, written by Bruce Weber. And from the Los Angeles Times
is available on Amazon.com,
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