A writer in The Herald laments that there is insufficient reliance on technology in soccer officiating.

It seems more than a mite odd that the imminent World Cup will still not be deploying advanced technology for referees during the 64 matches. Not for the first time some of us are asking: what is it with football - unlike rugby, tennis, cricket and most other mainstream sports - that it cannot get its head around the video age?

I am heartneed by this -- I am not a fan of too much technology in officiating, but I've an open mind about it. One argument that just doesn't cut it with me, tho, is this idea that because other sports have it, our sport must, too. That makes no sense -- sports are different not just in their rules and aims but in their aesthetics, tradition and on. So what might be good for one isn't always for another.

Here's an interesting piece on new technologies for soccer fans. Here's what I'd like to see: Ringtones that all the fans in a stadium can download that they can play all at once -- they don't chant, their ringtones chant. You'd have to synchronize it, but I would think that's possible. It would be weird but very effective.

Monty says fix the ball:

Eight-time European No 1 Montgomerie ...said golf's rulemakers had to take a step back and provide more long-term solutions to thwart the continued advance in golf club technology which helps players power the ball vast distances. "We are reaching a point where a decision has to be made," Montgomerie said. "We cannot keep spending money using new land. We don't have to, we have an option. We can change the ball. "I have said it for years and I'm not alone in my view."

Another exmaple of technology being a mixed blessing in sports.

The International Cricket Council has once again sought to defend its decision to rely more on technology, saying the proposals were aimed at minimising errors and not undermining the on-field umpires in any way.

"The on-field umpires will continue to make the decisions. Their role is no way being compromised," International Cricket Council General Manager Dave Richardson said.

The top ICC official was referring to the proposal which will allow players to make three appeals per innings to the third umpire if they feel a decision made by the on-field umpire is incorrect.

iPod and Nike, perfect together?

In a match made in branding heaven, Nike and Apple got together last week to unveil, depending on whether you're a jock or a geek, a shoe that talks or an iPod that monitors your running sessions. The Nike+iPod Sport Kit, which will sell for $29 when it comes out early this summer, consists of two pieces: a pebble-size sensor that goes into the insole of Air Zoom Moire running shoes (about $100) and a ticket-stub-size receiver that plugs into an iPod nano. Once you get on the road, the sensor constantly monitors your run, noting time, distance, pace and calories burned. Then, using a low-power radio frequency, it sends the data to the iPod.

I'll have more on this in the coming weeks.

Here's a look at how Pat Riley uses technology:

Pat Riley is a paint-by-numbers guy.

He has always seen the picture, broken it down scientifically, then presented his findings to his players so they could give him a better picture in the next game.

The only difference over the years -- from his start as an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Lakers in 1979-80 to being head coach for the Miami Heat now -- is the technology.

He has gone from working with tapes that went blank when he rewound them to having a computer operations room with a staff, which isolates mistakes from every angle and quantifies them on a spreadsheet.

Here's a fascinating article about the limits of human performance and record-setting.

The sports that still experience sporadic bursts of record-breaking are those that can boast improvements in fields and equipment, or because of new entrants into the competition. Running tracks aren't covered with crushed cinders anymore. Swimming pools have wave suppressors. Bicycles are lighter and better balanced.

This idea extends to human beings and performance enhancement. We will be debating the merits of the use of enhancers and drugs for the next few generations at least.

There are lies, damn lies and then there's Jayson Stark's claim that interleague play is one on the top 25 innovations of the last 25 years.

For the ninth straight year, many more people attended interleague games last season than intraleague games. For the fourth straight year, the World Series did not feature teams that had met during the season. And wasn't interleague worth it just to see Kenny Rogers hit a triple?

So many bad arguments, so little time. But the biggest reason interleague play stinks is that it's a goofy half measure. There isn't very much interleague play, so why should anyone care? And if there were more of it, there'd be no need to have leagues. So what is the point? Kenny Rogers triples. Thanks, Bud Selig.

I wonder how these golf simulators will be received. They look pretty cool, but my sense is half the reason or more guys like playing golf is because they are outside.

Local golfers longing for spring can choose from 26 premiere courses from around the world — all just two hours away down the New York state Thruway.

The simulators, surprisingly accurate in their reach for reality, supply sound effects as well as course views from various angles. If you're playing the 18th hole at California's Pebble Beach and you hit your ball too far to the left, you may just hear a splash from the Pacific.

The bright, spacious indoor golf arena sits next to the casino complex on the grounds of the 972-acre resort owned by the Oneida Indian Nation. Besides the simulators, you'll find two putting greens, a two-tiered hitting area with 40 stations and an Internet-based swing analysis system.

Much of the work is being done at a world-renowned biomechanics lab at the University of Calgary, where force transducers are the weapons of choice.

Force transducers — devices that measure changes in load — are being developed to study athletes' techniques. Sometimes as small as a postage stamp, they can be put inside speed skates, in ski poles or on skis to measure changes in pressure. A coach can use the data to, say, assess a cross-country skier's form to see how they are using their legs compared to their arms or shoulders.

Sounds pretty cool. More on Canadians, the Olympics and technology here.

He plainly thinks sport’s puritanical approach to performance enhancing drugs is the product of an old-fashioned mindset. “Pharmacology has developed so we can create safe drugs, administer them in safe doses and monitor them in a way we couldn’t in the past,” he says. “The world of sport has not yet caught up with advances in pharmacology in recent years. Very little in the world is as well studied as medicinal substances and drugs. The problem arises when you have backyard preparations that are not subjected to trials.”

But how far could we responsibly go in permitting the use of previously banned substances? Should we allow athletes to take the most demonised of all performance enhancing drugs - anabolic steroids?

He gives a careful reply. “The risks of anabolic steroids - although real - may in some cases have been overstated and in any case have to be put in the context of various aggressive forms of training and the risks we allow people to entertain every day of their lives.” When I raise the subject again, however, he is more forthright. “I would prefer my child take anabolic steroids and growth hormone than play rugby,” he says. “Growth hormone is safer than rugby. At least I don’t know of any cases of quadriplegia caused by growth hormone.”

That's from a contrarian take on sports doping. RTWT

Readers of this site have long known I am not a fan of instant replay technology, and the Super Blown Calls last night are further evidence in support of my argument (if I do say so). Slate's Robert Weintraub has more.