The English Football League system has been infiltrated by this American mindset of "EVERY play needs to be reviewed because we have to morally get every call correct". Well now you see the result of this American mindset. 20 years ago in America, we thought certain plays needed to be reviewed because you could see a live play should not have happened due to XYZ (pending sport): shot clock goes off in basketball before/after the ball was in the players hand, a 4th and 1 in American football and play happens with a ball being placed short of the first down maker, or a fan reaching over the wall in baseball to interfere an outfielder from catching a ball.
But where did this play review start?
In my opinion, this fever of plays NEEDING to be reviewed started on October 9, 1996 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York. Quoting the historical event from wikipedia just for summary purposes:
"During Game 1 of the
1996 American League Championship Series between the
New York Yankees and the
Baltimore Orioles, Maier deflected a batted ball, hit by
Derek Jeter, into the
Yankee Stadium stands for what umpires ruled to be a
home run, rather than
fan interference. His interference altered the course of Game 1,
[1] as the resulting home run allowed the Yankees to tie the score.
[2] They emerged victorious from the game and won the series four games to one en route to
winning the World Series."
If yall watch the replay this kid, who was 12 at the time, literally stuck his glove over the wall and interfered with the outfielder.
"
Jeffrey Maier (born November 15, 1983) is an American
baseball fan who
received media attention for an incident in which he was involved as a 12-year-old at a baseball game."
The national outcry at the time was WE NEED TO GET ALL THE CALLS CORRECT. So gradually we started seeing reviews in all sports. One of the more famous plays NOT REVIEWED was the 2002 College Football National Championship game between the University of Miami and Ohio State University =
THIS IS NOT PASS INTERFERENCE!!!!!!!!!!!! A simple review would have overturned that call and Miami would have (should have) won this game. But now we review every stupid pass interference in 2023/2024.
The catch by Dez Bryant of the Dallas Cowboys, another famous replay overturn WHICH WAS A CATCH:
The catch by Calvin Johnson of the Detroit Lions in 2010, a replay overturned this catch:
I have even sat through replays in meaningless college volleyball matches my wife takes me to in the San Diego area. You sit there watching one team beat the crap out of the other, but yet they want to review one play that is worthless to the outcome of the match. I am 35, born in 1988, so I have seen a lot of change in sports specifically in the last 25 years. Replays overturning good plays and replays not being used to overturn bad calls. This disease of "WE HAVE TO GET EVERYTHING RIGHT" has caused plenty of old dogs, like me, to because frustrated in watching sports. There are multiple reasons we, as sport viewers, do not like replays which are very obvious. However, at the end of the day this is an American mindset in my opinion. My brother-in-law is Irish. My sister and BIL reside in Dublin with their 3 kids. He is a Liverpool supporter. I have warned him for over a decade to resist ALL American mind sets in the game of football and daily life. All American business minded people care about is PROFITS AND MARGIN. So = AVOID AVOID AVOID especially in football. My advice = "Say NO to Drugs and Americans", except me I am cool.