Apr 11, 2020 5 min read

It appears the NFL’s one-year experiment with having pass interference up for in-game review by the league office in New York has run its course.

It was not among the rules suggested by the NFL Competition Committee for the owners to vote on at their meeting in May. As such, the rule, which was wildly unpopular among coaches last season, will likely go away.

Owners could vote to keep it in place, but they typically adhere to the advice of the committee.

The problem with the rule was that the target seemed to change from week to week, depending on the whim of NFL vice president of officiating Al Riveron.

On-field calls were regularly changed or interference was deemed to have occurred via replays early in the season. Then, after the first month, calls were rarely changed and coaching challenges of non-interference calls were ignored, even when it was obvious there had been interference.

The rule was put in place in reaction to an obvious blown call that went against the New Orleans Saints in the NFL Championship two years ago that sent the Los Angeles Rams to the Super Bowl. That was a terrible mistake.

But keeping a rule in place the league has no intention of using the way it was written would have been an even bigger mistake.

• While on the subject of mistakes, is Major League Baseball seriously considering doing away with league designations this season in order to play its games in Florida and Arizona once permitted to do so safely?

That is what is being reported by USA Today.

The leagues would be split by where they hold their spring training – Florida or Arizona.

That would put the Pirates in a division with the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Philadelphia Phillies, among others. If you thought the Pirates playing the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs, with their massive payrolls, each year was tough, then you ain’t seen nothing yet.

Other parts of the “plan” include the use of a DH in all games, a World Series between the winners of the Grapefruit and Cactus leagues and the possibility of a postseason tournament that would include all 30 teams.

We’re living in unprecedented times, but this idea is, well beyond unprecedented, and beyond stupid.

Either play the games in the cities where the teams reside and keep things as close to normal as possible, or don’t do it at all. Don’t make a complete joke of the 2020 season.

Nobody’s in a joking mood.

• That’s especially true for high school athletes across the state and country.

Pennsylvania called it quits on children returning to school this week for the remainder of the year and the PIAA followed suit and ended its winter sports seasons – which were at the state playoff level in the case of basketball – and spring sports.

It might not mean that much in the grand scheme of things, but for those high school seniors who might never get the opportunity to compete in the sport they’ve played for years, it’s a big deal.

They’ll never get that senior season – and the life experiences gained from it – back.

Again, when compared to people losing their lives, it’s a small thing. But at some point, life will return to normal, or at least what will pass for normal once we’re done. And those experiences will be gone.

• Plenty of people are running with a report that said 72 percent of people said in respone to a poll that they won’t return to attend sporting events until there is a vaccine for the coronavirus.

What seems to be overlooked is that this was hardly a scientific poll. Only 762 people were polled.

What didn’t make headlines was that when sports fans were identified, the percentage dropped to 61 percent.

Given that the poll itself included only 762 people, and obviously not all were sports fans, both numbers are highly suspect.

• Want a name to keep an eye on during the NFL Draft in two weeks? Try former West Virginia safety Kenny Robinson.

The Imani Christian graduate was expelled from WVU for academic violations and instead of transferring to another school, declared himself eligible for the XFL.

Robinson had a strong season – or partial season – picking off two passes for the St. Louis Battlehawks and is now eligible to be selected in the NFL Draft.

Robinson is expected to be a mid-round draft pick and will be the first XFL player to be selected in the NFL Draft.

Will he hold that distinction forever? Who knows? The XFL laid off all of its employees last week. We’ll see if the upstart league can recover from a devastating first year.