Excuse the interjection

Friday, Jan. 20, 2006 | 8:24 a.m.

Ron Kantowski's take: Necessary? No. Can it be a good thing? In theory, yes. But the NFL had better call Pythagoras after last weekend's games. I guess Troy Polamalu's knee formed a right triangle that when squared was equal to the sum of Peyton Manning's underthrown passes. Or whatever logic was applied to rule that pass incomplete when it was obviously intercepted.

Jeff Haney's take: Keep instant replay in the NFL, but continue to fine-tune the process. Consider establishing an independent crew of replay officials in a skybox with all the available video feeds -- and a copy of the rule book, which might have come in handy on the Polamalu call.

RK: Rule book? You didn't need no stinkin' rule book to make that call, just a pair of baby blues. I know an interception when I see one and that was an interception. I'm starting to think that replay officials are like the ones on the field. That, at least subconsciously, they must be influenced by their surroundings and the game situation.

JH: I came around late to supporting the use of instant replay in football, mostly for the reason you're driving at: If they can't get it right even with the replay, then what's the point? But now I'm going to stand behind it. Given the bad calls from last weekend that everyone (including me) is still ranting about, imagine how much worse it could get -- and how high my blood pressure could rise -- if there were no replay option at all.

RK: But in the case of Polamalu, the refs actually had it right the first time. Besides, I kind of like the human element. Heck, a blown call is what made Don Denkinger famous. Maybe if they did away with instant replay, officials would bear down and try to get it right the first time. And maybe if the NFL had pros instead of insurance salesmen as officials, they would have a better chance of getting it right the first time.

JH: But this Polamalu noninterception was really a weird incident. Did you see how referee Pete Morelli explained his call, and the subsequent comments from the league? They were all filled with arcane standards of what precisely constitutes a "catch" in a football game. Reminded me of the old debate over what the definition of "is" is.

RK: And then there's the Tuck Rule. At this point, instant replay is sort of like a date with Glenn Close. It seemed like a good idea at the time. But upon further review (or until they iron out the bugs) I guess I come down on the side of "kill the ump" over "pull the plug" on the replay official.

JH: In the immortal words of George Carlin, baseball is a pastoral game while football is a technological struggle -- meaning instant replay should be a perfect fit. "Kill the ump" is fine in baseball, but so is "In my heart, I never called one wrong." That doesn't fly in football. I remain (fatally?) attracted to instant replay.