Easier Doesn't Always Mean Better
A football thought while waiting for the World Series to begin.
For more than a century, football has relied on three people, two poles, and ten yards of chain to answer one of the game's most consequential questions:
Did he pick up the first down?
The old chain gang actually predates the NFL—and not just the Cool Hand Luke prison types. Football was using chains in the 1890s, and by 1907, the recommended equipment became two six-foot poles connected by ten yards of cord or chain.
When the NFL arrived in 1920, the chain gang was already a veteran.
And it kept its starting job for another 105 years. Not a bad career for three people lugging equipment that wouldn't look terribly out of place in a nineteenth-century surveyor's kit.
The gang endured freezing temperatures, blazing sunshine, the occasional collision with a 300-pound lineman, and the indignity of being summoned onto the field to determine whether a football gained another half-inch.
It was unique, part of the NFL's fabric. An institution. It worked, most of the time.
Who Brings an Index Card to a Football Game?
In December 2017, the Dallas Cowboys and Oakland Raiders found themselves in a close game when quarterback Dak Prescott scrambled on fourth down.
The refs called for a measurement, and out came the chain gang. Referee Gene Steratore took one look at the distance between the football and the marker, reached into his pocket, and pulled out a folded index card.
Yes, an index card.
He attempted to slip it between the ball and the marker. Apparently satisfied that the card wouldn't fit, Steratore signaled first down, Dallas.
For those keeping score at home, a multibillion-dollar professional sports league had just used office stationery to help decide possession of the football.
That may have been the moment somebody at NFL headquarters decided it was time for an upgrade.
Yahoo! Sports, Shalise Manza Young, Columnist (Dec 21, 2017)
Meet the new starter
Enter Sony's Hawk-Eye Virtual Measurement system.
Using cameras positioned around NFL stadiums, the technology measures whether the spotted football has reached the line to gain. It's designed to make first-down measurements faster, more precise, and more consistent.
Ho hum.
A traditional chain measurement could consume roughly 75 seconds. The electronic system can reduce that interruption to around 30 seconds.
It's a meaningful improvement in a sport where the final two minutes of a game can occasionally take longer than a trip to the grocery store.
I get it. It's the plays that matter. But still, I like old school.
And my old-school chain gang? Benched. Second-string backups.
But did he really make it?
There's just one little wrinkle. The refs still decide where to spot the football. Hawk-Eye measures from there. Which means they can now measure a bad spot with extraordinary precision.
Progress!
Was the chain gang better? Maybe not. But I still miss the old guys. Oh, they're still on the sidelines, ready and watching.
Just stay off the field. It's a virtual measurement now.
The NFL may have found an easier way to measure ten yards. Whether it's found a better way to determine a first down…I don't know about that.
If we're all about making things easier, maybe they can work on what constitutes a catch? Or pass interference? Or the Tuck Rule (we'll leave that one alone, thank you.)
Ask the chain gang. They'll know.
What's next?