Tuesday, August 24, 2004

i've got the solution

I believe that I've got the solution for all this controversy surrounding Olympic gymnastics and the scoring thereof. It's so simple, I can't believe they haven't thought of it already. But, then again, I'm a pretty simplistic person, just ask my wife. She always says I only have one thing on my mind, but that's another topic altogether.

Since there's been so much backlash due to human error when it comes to judging the Olympic gymnastics, the committee should look to the NFL for the solution. INSTANT REPLAY! If a coach feels that the scoring was inaccurate or unfair, he/she could throw a red flag out onto the surface of the gymnastics floor. A replay judge, seated separately from the regular judges table, would review the routine and break it down, move by move. After 10-15 minutes of review, one of the judges would come onto the floor, flip his wireless microphone on, and say something like, "After further review, the gymnast should have been awarded 0.00054765 more points. Therefore, the previous ruling is overturned." Or, "After further review, the routine stands. There was no irrefutable evidence to overrule the call." Or maybe, the gymnasts could just perform the routine in their own countries and send in a tape of their performance. The judges could view the tapes, pause, rewind, fast forward, then compile the results. The whole thing could be done through the mail! Brilliant! Think of cost savings of these poor countries who wouldn't have to pay for airfare or hotel rooms!

Should Hamm give back the gold? I don't think so. There's always going to be human error, and gynastic judging is ALWAYS going to be subjective. If they reverse the ruling, they're opening up a whole new can of worms.

Next time I blog, I'm going to talk about a subject I discussed with friends over lunch. It's called "Prayer Request Poker".....

No comments: