It's like the NFL is trying to "ice" the fans

This past Sunday night, I was watching the epic Steelers game against the Ravens. As usual, it was a very vicious and hard-hitting affair.

The Steelers had just given the ball back to Baltimore with a little more than 4 minutes left in the game. The Ravens got a quick first down and with the Steelers trailing, 10-6, I feared that they were about to be swept straight into the wildcard bracket of the AFC playoffs.

But just like that, there was Troy, like Superman with luxurious hair, blitzing around the left side, nailing Flacco and stripping him of the football simultaneously. Lamarr Woodely scooped it up and went rumbling down inside the Ravens' ten yard line. The entire course of the game had changed. The Steelers were now minutes away from taking the lead and stealing a very important game.

What did I do when this very pivotal play transpired? I sat there motionless because I was unsure whether or not Flacco's arm was moving forward when he was separated from the ball.

My girlfriend wasn't worried about such things. She screamed for Woodley to "GO BABY!" which I should have been doing. But I did nothing because I assumed John Harbaugh would throw out the challenge flag and everything would be under review.

Same thing happened the week before. Shaun Suisham, the Steelers' new placekicker, had just won a very important overtime game in Buffalo with a 40plus-yard field goal and I didn't move a muscle when the ball went through the uprights because I was waiting for the officials to blow their whistles and call the play dead. I was sure that Buffalo's coach had called a timeout to ice the kicker. There was no time out.

Two perfectly good reasons to let my emotions loose and I didn't do it because the NFL has conditioned me to "wait and see."

It's not just with reviews and timeouts, it's with penalties, too. The Steelers have been penalized so much in recent games, I just assume that everything will be called back.

And the networks don't make it any easier with their graphics. I think on both FOX and CBS, the color they use to alert us of a penalty is the same as a touchdown: yellow. Who's bright idea was that? Maybe the "flag" graphic is on a different part of the screen than the "touchdown" graphic, but when you're going nuts after a big score, you can't remember any of that. I can see them using yellow for a penalty, but why can't they pick a different color for a touchdown? Any other color would be fine.

Back to instant replay. How did the NFL manage to survive so many years without it? I say that with a sarcastic tone because, off the top of my head, I can only think of a handful of plays that might have been reversed had there been instant replay at the time. Like the Immaculate Reception in 1972, Rob Lytle's fumble in the 1977 AFC championship game, Butch Johnson's touchdown reception in Super Bowl XII, or the hotly debated play involving Houston's Mike Renfro in the 1979 AFC title game.

The NFL managed to survive all those years with very little controversy, right?

However, they didn't have has many camera angles in those days. I'm sure there were countless plays that would have been overturned had the games been covered like they are today. I've watched a lot of old NFL games, and there were numerous receptions that should have been incomplete passes and vice versa.

I don't expect them to make any changes with instant replay. It's always going to be with the game. And I like it much better with the challenge system than the way it was in its original incarnation back in the 80's when a play could be challenged at any time. And it wasn't the referee passing judgement, it was some masked official up in a luxury box.

I just hate having to wait and see if a play will count. Two years ago, when most Steelers fans were going nuts during Troy's "pick six" in the AFC championship game, I was wondering if Lamarr Woodley was flagged for going low on the quarterback when Flacco was attempting to pass. And that yellow piece of whatever in the endzone didn't help matters any.

The only thing I wish they would change is that stupid rule where a coach can call a timeout right before a field goal attempt.

I hate that rule!

Don't get me wrong. I won't deny a coach his right to call a timeout from the sideline, and he should have a right to ice the kicker. However, I don't think he should be able to call a timeout right as the ball is being snapped.

I don't know if there is a real solution to that other than forbidding a timeout call after the play-clock is inside five seconds or something.

I kind of miss how things were in the old days. Remember how the 1995 AFC championship game ended with that Hail Mary pass that was nearly caught as time expired?

Imagine having to sweat out a booth review for that. I think the entire city of Pittsburgh would have imploded from the anticipation.

Are the days of the innocent "GO BABY!" gone forever?