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The technology involved in today's broadcast is obviously as good as it's ever been, which is a boon to the viewer and an absolute curse to the official. Multiple cameras with multiple angles and multiple speeds pretty much leave nary a square inch of the gridiron uncovered or unable to be broken down to the molecular level. Any given play on any given Sunday, which occur at literally breakneck speed between men the size of small cars, can be slowed to the nanosecond, zoomed to the millimeter, and scrutinized under the cozy artificial conditions of non-instantaneous judgment.
The officials, unfortunately, are saddled with the constraints of limited human senses.
True, instant replay gives them somewhat of a reprieve. But that only affects the small percentage of completed plays that are actually reviewable, and it's nearly impossible to expand that universe of reviewable plays without significantly altering the manner in which the game is played and the time it takes to play it. Games are too long as it is...more replay reviews would completely destroy whatever continuity is left in the game (no thanks to you, Mr. TV Timeout).
Until the Japanese invent a robot official that has the same abilities as modern day digital video equipment, the problem seems like it will only get worse before it gets better. Football could consider some rules changes, but it won't change the fact that it, like virtually all sports, is a game of inches...but is judged by men.
Therefore, I propose as a solution that we revert back to 1991 game technology - no super slo-mo, no overhead cam on guy-wires, no 75 camera angles that can zoom in on every drip of sweat that trickles off every offensive lineman's nostrils. The ignorant fan is the happy fan - if nobody ever knows that the receiver's toe actually knicked a blade of white-painted sideline grass, the referees can continue doing their job - making instantaneous decisions on events that are over before they start - anonymously, just how they want it.
