They're all taught to cheat, hold with your hands this way vs that way and you won't get called, etc.
"Make them make the call!"
It's a standard strategy. Happens all the time.
How about the strategy of intentionally underthrowing a pass so the the receiver puts on the brakes, gets run over, and gets the pass interference penalty?
It's all part of the game. It isn't really cheating, it's honest. If an official wants to make the call, he can - it's happening right in front of him. If he lets it go, that's his choice. And there are other officials looking at the play from other angles, too. Sure, sometimes things happen so quickly they don't get caught, or sometimes the officials have a brain vapor lock, but that's just the human aspect of any officiated sport.
In some cases, like the holding, players are taught how to hold so they don't get caught. But that's so prevalent, and the officials know it, that it's not called even if it's seen...as long as you are doing it right.
Oh, man, now I got onto instant replays:
In some ways, the instant replay has changed the way a sport has been played: I generally look at baseball as an example. Used to be, for the whole history of the game, if a player beat the throw he was safe. Simple. Now, thanks to multiple replay angles, slow motion, and HD, the replay official has a better view than the umpires on the field. Did the runner's foot pop over the bag for a tiny fraction of a second? These are calls being made now that aren't possible, and never were possible, for a human to make in real time. Players have had to adjust how they slide into 2nd and 3rd now to avoid being called out on a replay review. All in the name of "getting the call right".
I'd personally like to see instant replay reviews only allowed at full speed. If it was missed, fix it. But don't give replay officials information that wasn't available to the officials on the field during the flow of the game.
