Sports
NFL Replaces Chain Gang With Hawk-Eye Tech—But Not Completely
In case Alexa, Siri, or Rosie Jetson didn’t tell you, the NFL is officially junking the chain gang as its primary first-down measurement system. Those noble descendants of football lore will still traverse the sidelines in 2025, but mostly as a security blanket.
Better not be an electric one.
Moving forward, Hawk-Eye virtual technology will determine whether a ball crossed the line to gain, with the chain gang relegated to secondary use in case of a glitch. The NFL tested the system last season.
Is it ironic that this Luddite is researching Hawk-Eye through an old-meets-new method available via my trusty village library card? Entering the card number on this magical website grants access to electronic editions of dozens of participating papers nationwide.
I’m reading how the Hawk-Eye system syncs with in-stadium cameras that track athletes, officials and, naturally, the ball. If a team achieves a first down (read in your best robotic voice), the system alerts officials, who then make the signal revered ’round the football world.
(I know baseball is tinkering with experimental ball-strike challenge technology, which ultimately could negate umpires’ emphatic, Frank Drebin-esque strike calls one day, but here’s hoping the tradition of extending one’s right arm after a key first down doesn’t disappear.)
Maybe this is a silly bit of catastrophizing. Most of the robots we’ll see on any given Sunday will still be the animated ones coming in and out of Fox commercial breaks, right? And it’s not as if the longstanding onscreen yellow first-down line for viewers at home is fading to black. Or has done anything other than enhance the viewing experience.
In a recent Washington Post report, NFL Senior Vice President of Football Business Strategy Kimberly Fields confirmed Hawk-Eye isn’t activated until a real, live, cheerable, jeerable human official spots the ball after using their senses to determine a player’s forward progress.
Progress (your call on the robotic voice this time). There’s that word again.
For all the concern about technology invading sports and souring the essence of people playing and deciding the games we love, Fields offered this reasoning in a separate report.
“If it’s not improving the game, making it more efficient, we’re not going to do it,” she told The Associated Press. “We will do nothing that hurts the integrity of the game.”
According to the NFL, going virtual with first-down determinations is expected to save small chunks of time, too. The league reported an average of 12 measurements per week during the 2024 season. Whereas chain gangs needed 75 seconds to make a call, their virtual cousins took just 30.
That’s enough to make Washington Commanders coach Dan Quinn want to dance the robot.
“Sometimes, you’re on that drive and you want to keep going, moving the ball,” he said. “So, having ways to do that. … Can you do it in a big pile on a quarterback sneak? Probably not. But there’s other ways you can, to spot it when it’s close. Can you identify it and work quickly? I’m down for that.”
Same here, I guess—especially since the colorful, passionate, pole-toting people on the sidelines aren’t going away.
Remember my reverence for newspapers? I’m suddenly smiling again about a recent TV grid summary for Cool Hand Luke:
“A Southern loner on a chain gang refuses to be broken.”
Should Hawk-Eye have a failure to communicate, NFL chain gangs will surely be ready to represent humanity—just like they have for more than a century.
Sports
LAFC, Rapids have quick turnaround to brush off losses
Apr 19, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Football Club forward Denis Bouanga (99) takes a shot at goal during the match against San Jose Earthquakes at BMO Stadium. Mandatory Credit: William Navarro-Imagn Images After a week of highs and lows, Los Angeles FC are set for another midweek match when they play host to the Colorado Rapids on Wednesday.
LAFC (5-2-1, 16 points) advanced to the CONCACAF Champions Cup semifinals last Tuesday but will enter off a 4-1 home loss to the upstart San Jose Earthquakes on Sunday. LAFC were steamrolled by a barrage of second-half goals in the defeat.
“I have been here many times praising us but (Sunday) was not good,” LAFC head coach Marc Dos Santos said. “We have to take the game as a lesson and move forward. If I only talk about tiredness (from Champions Cup), that’s an excuse. It was not good. We have to see why and try to improve on Wednesday.”
Goalkeeper Hugo Lloris not only gave up his first goals of the season to end a 593-minute scoreless streak, Heung-Min Son remains without a goal through his first seven league games. Son does have two goals in Champions Cup play.
Denis Bouanga leads the club with four goals and has four assists in MLS play, while Son has seven assists.
The Rapids (4-4-0, 12 points) had their inconsistencies on full display in a 3-2 home loss to Lionel Messi-led Inter Miami on Saturday. Colorado forced the action but Messi scored twice, including the game-winner in the 79th minute.
“I saw a team that performed like a big team with a proper mentality with a huge personality,” Rapids head coach Matt Wells said, while looking at the positives after his team had 15 shots to five for Miami. “… That gives me massive hope that if we keep building and stick on this path, it won’t be long before you’re asking me a question about us being the top team around Vancouver and LAFC.”
Dynamic on offense this season, Colorado’s 21 goals are second most in league play, one behind the Western Conference-leading Vancouver Whitecaps.
Rafael Navarro leads the Rapids with six goals and four assists, including a goal on Saturday.
Colorado’s loss to Inter Miami came in front of a crowd of 75,824 at the home of the NFL’s Denver Broncos, the second-largest to watch a match in MLS history. It came one week after a resounding 6-2 home victory over the Houston Dynamo when Navarro scored twice.
But while the offense has been solid, the Rapids have allowed 15 goals, with only three Western Conference teams allowing more.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Cardinals down Marlins behind Nathan Church's homer
Apr 21, 2026; Miami, Florida, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Dustin May (3) throws against the Miami during the first inning at loanDepot Park. Mandatory Credit: Rhona Wise-Imagn Images Nathan Church slugged a two-run homer and Alec Burleson also drove in a pair of runs as the visiting St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Miami Marlins 5-3 on Tuesday.
St. Louis, which has won six of its past seven games, also got 5 1/3 strong innings from Dustin May (3-2). He allowed one run on six hits and one walk while striking out five.
Riley O’Brien pitched a scoreless ninth inning to earn his seventh save.
However, Cardinals star Jordan Walker had his 15-game hitting streak broken. The stretch ended two games short of his career high, set as a rookie in 2023.
Miami was led by Jakob Marsee, who finished 3-for-4 and homered on his first swing with a new bat. On the previous pitch, the bat slipped out of Marsee’s hands and landed in the netting. That bat was given to a fan, and Marsee went deep for the first time this season the new lumber.
Marlins starter Chris Paddack (0-4) gave up five runs on eight hits and a walk in 4 2/3 innings. He fanned seven. His ERA rose to 6.38 as Miami had its modest two-game win streak snapped.
Both teams scored in the first inning.
St. Louis got a run on rookie JJ Wetherholt’s leadoff double and Burleson’s RBI single.
Miami tied the score on Marsee’s 351-foot leadoff homer, pulled down the right field line. On the play, Marsee ran hard on his way to a potential triple before the umpires ruled that the ball had cleared the wall.
Wetherholt started another rally in the third when he drew a one-out walk, advanced to third on Ivan Herrera’s single and scored on Burleson’s grounder to first baseman Connor Norby, who threw wildly to the plate for an error.
The Cardinals made it 4-1 in the fourth. Masyn Winn singled, and Church swung at an inside cutter, pulling that pitch for a 370-foot homer to right.
St. Louis kept coming in the fifth, chasing Paddack with a Burleson double and Nolan Gorman’s two-out RBI single for a 5-1 score.
Miami cut its deficit to 5-3 in the eighth as reliever Ryne Stanek walked the bases loaded before allowing Heriberto Hernandez’s two-run single.
George Soriano replaced Stanek and struck out Norby looking on a pitch that caught the corner, low and inside, to end Miami’s best chance at a comeback.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Inter Miami visits Real Salt Lake for second test following coaching change
Apr 18, 2026; Denver, Colorado, USA; Inter Miami CF forward Lionel Messi (10) celebrates his game winning goal midfielder Rodrigo de Paul (7) in the second half against the Inter Miami CF at Empower Field at Mile High. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images Inter Miami passed their first test since the surprise departure of coach Javier Mascherano. As interim coach Guillermo Hoyos would attest, having Lionel Messi at his peak helps.
The Herons complete a two-game trip through the Rocky Mountains when they play Real Salt Lake on Wednesday in Sandy, Utah.
Messi scored on a penalty kick in the 18th minute and set up his own game-winner with a nifty run in the 79th minute of Miami’s 3-2 win over the Colorado Rapids Saturday. The match was played at the Denver Broncos’ stadium before an audience of 75,824 fans.
That was the first outing for Miami (4-1-3, 15 points) since Mascherano announced his resignation, citing “personal reasons,” mere months after he guided the club to the MLS Cup title.
“The best coach in the world is on the pitch,” Hoyos said afterward. “We have the best player in history who changes the course of matches and a team that gave everything football-wise.”
Hoyos was Miami’s sporting director before stepping in for Mascherano. With the Herons now second in the Eastern Conference, it’s his task now to keep the club on a stable path.
“This result means a continuity of what was being done,” Hoyos said.
They’ll have a quick turnaround to face Real Salt Lake (5-1-1, 16 points), who’ve begun a three-game homestand with two-goal wins over Sporting Kansas City and San Diego FC.
Diego Luna scored within the first five minutes of each match and Sergi Solans potted three goals in that span. The high-powered offense was just what RSL coach Pablo Mastroeni wanted to see.
“We have to bring the fans into the game and be electric and front-footed,” Mastroeni said before the San Diego game. “Both (San Diego and Miami) offer opportunities in transition and we’ve improved drastically in that area.”
Neither RSL nor Miami has lost since dropping their respective season openers Feb. 21. They’ve each scored 16 goals on the year, Messi accounting for seven of Miami’s and Solans scoring five for RSL.
Messi’s co-star Luis Suarez could draw back in after not being utilized against Colorado.
Meanwhile, Miami forward Mateo Silvetti (hamstring) participated in practice Monday, per the Miami Herald, and his status for the match is up in the air. The 20-year-old has scored two goals.
–Field Level Media
LAFC, Rapids have quick turnaround to brush off losses
Cardinals down Marlins behind Nathan Church's homer
