Photo: Harry How, Getty Images  Changed the game: The College Football Playoff  Finally! We can all agree that was more exciting, right? Next step: eight teams in. (Pictured: The Duck greeting fans at the Rose Bowl after a thrilling National Playoff Semifinal on Jan. 1, 2015.)  Changed the game: The College Football Playoff  We can thank the BCS for two of the best college football games of all time (the 2006 National Championship between Texas and USC and the 2007 Fiesta Bowl between Boise State and Oklahoma) and a lot of rankings drama. We could do without the latter. (Pictured: Auburn coach Gus Malzahn before the final BCS National Championship in Jan. 2014.)  We can thank the BCS for two of the best college...  Changed the game: The first-down line  Bay Area company Sportvision introduced the yellow first-down line with zero fanfare on ESPN in 1998, and allowed viewers everywhere to forever utter "he totally got the first down." The system relies on complex sensors placed on TV cameras and a lot of computer processing power.  Unlike the first-down line, the glowing puck was introduced with MUCH fanfare by FOX for its NHL broadcasts in 1996. The glowing trail following the puck was supposed to make it easier to view on TV, but ended up being too cartoon-like for die-hard viewers. But the failure allowed Stan Honey to spin off Sportvision into its own separate company and eventually create the yellow first-down line, so in the end it was completely worth it. (Pictured: a FoxTrax puck at Sportvision headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. in 2013.)  Unlike the first-down line, the glowing puck...  Changed the game: Instant replay and replay reviews  The inventor of instant replay, Tony Verna, died Jan. 18 just as his creation had blossomed into a real game-changer. With Major League Baseball instituting replay reviews in 2014, most leagues have finally joined the fans at home who know more than the refs about each play. (Pictured: Chris Marinak sits in front of a bank of television screens during a preview of Major League Baseball's Replay Operations Center, in New York, Wednesday, March 26, 2014.)  Changed the game: Instant replay and replay reviews  Flopped: Announcers discussing replay reviews  We get it, there has to be enough visual evidence to overturn the call on the field. You don't have to mention that EVERY TIME. (Pictured: sportscaster Joe Buck in a 2012 file photo.)  Flopped: Announcers discussing replay reviews  We get it, there has...  Changed the game: Goal-line technology  The English would still be looking for their first World Cup title if this technology had been around in 1966, their overtime goal against West Germany has been long disputed. (Pictured: Referee Anthony Taylor shows the watch that is used to tell the referee when a goal is scored during a Goal Decision System Media Event at the Emirates Stadium on Aug. 8, 2013 in London.)  Changed the game: Goal-line technology  The English would still be...  Around the same time as that England World Cup win, the shootout came into form. Previously, if matches were tied after overtime they would be replayed or determined by a coin toss. On the luck scale, penalty kicks seem just above a coin toss. Let teams sub freely, and just keep playing. Think of how exciting it would be to see a forward crawling toward the box for the game winner! (Pictured: Netherlands goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen sits on the turf after failing to save the penalty kick of Maxi Rodriguez, as Argentina win the semifinal at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Sao Paulo, Brazil.)  Around the same time as that England...  Changed the game: The 3-point line and the shot clock  The year before the shot clock was introduced, in 1954-55, NBA teams averaged 79.5 points per game. The year after, they averaged 93.1 points, and the average hasn't dropped below 90 since. Since the introduction of the 3-point line in 1979, teams have attempted more 3-pointers almost every year. That's a little more exciting than teams holding the ball and dribbling out the game in the pre-shot-clock era, eh? (Pictured: The Warriors' Klay Thompson hits a 3-pointer at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., on Jan. 5, 2015.)  Changed the game: The 3-point line and the shot clock  Fouling, on purpose, in a feeble comeback attempt, should be outlawed. Curse Don Nelson for introducing this strategy to exploit the weakness of Shaquille O'Neal, and all the coaches after who turn 1 minute on a basketball clock into 15 minutes in real life as they hack, hack, and hack again. (Pictured: Warriors' Adonal Foyle hacks O'Neal in a game in 2001.)  Fouling, on purpose, in a feeble comeback...  Changed the game: Hybrid icing  Nobody understands icing anyway, and the collisions from the race to the end boards were taking a toll on players. Just don't outlaw fighting, NHL! (Pictured: Nicklas Grossmann of the Philadelphia Flyers fights for the puck with Marcus Johansson of the Washington Capitals in a game on Jan. 8, 2015 in Philadelphia.)  Changed the game: Hybrid icing  Nobody understands icing anyway, and...  Will they ice the kicker here? Won't they? Said no fan ever. (Pictured: 49ers head coach Mike Singletary watches Saints kicker Garrett Hartley, right, set up for a game-winning field goal in 2010, which he made after Singletary didn't call timeout. If only Singletary had iced the kicker...)  Will they ice the kicker here? Won't they?...  Changed the game: Magic spray (for free kicks)  No more creeping up toward the kicker. Though refs look ridiculous doing this, it eliminates some ridiculous gamesmanship and that makes it worth it. (Pictured: referee Carlos Velasco of Spain marks a line with a spray during their semi final soccer match between Raja Casablanca and Atletico Mineiro at the Club World Cup soccer tournament in Marrakech, Morocco, Dec. 18, 2013.)  Changed the game: Magic spray (for free kicks)  Flopped: Magic spray (for injuries)  Was it the magic spray that cured you? Or was it the fact that you were never injured in the first place? Probably the latter. (Pictured: Andriy Nesmachnyi of Ukraine receives attention on the sideline during the FIFA World Cup Germany 2006.)  Flopped: Magic spray (for injuries)  Was it the magic spray that...  Changed the game: Title IX  According to Mother Jones magazine, in the first 40 years of Title IX female participation in college sports increased 600 percent. There's still a long way to go toward a fully equal playing field, but Title IX has helped. (Pictured: actress Geena Davis speaks at a news conference defending Title IX on Feb. 26, 2003, in Washington, DC. The U.S. Department of Education had proposed changing Title IX but ultimately the most controversial changes were discarded.)  Changed the game: Title IX  According to Mother Jones magazine, in...  The coach doesn't want to be there. The viewers don't learn anything. Why are we here? (Pictured: ESPN sideline reporter Allison Williams interviews coach Jim Larranaga of the Miami Hurricanes at halftime of a game in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 2013.)  The coach doesn't want to be there....  Changed the game: Ordering from your seat  The Levi's Stadium smartphone app, pictured here, allows users to order food to their seat, find the shortest bathroom line, and get directions around the stadium. The Silicon Valley company that created it, VenueNext, will market the technology to teams around the world. Now if only they can get it to work in your living room...  Changed the game: Ordering from your seat  The concept of selling megabucks seat licenses, which only offer the chance to buy season tickets, seems silly to the average person. Others consider them a good investment because of limited quantities. But Forbes reported that since teams started jacking up seat license prices -- up to $80,000 at Levi's Stadium (pictured here) and up to $150,000 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas -- they have become more risky investments.  The concept of selling megabucks seat...  Changed the game: Giant scoreboards  You'd never know Tim Lincecum had pitched this no-hitter unless it was displayed in 2 million-point type on a giant video board in center field. One downside: The hat game has gotten too easy for fans.  Changed the game: Giant scoreboards  You'd never know Tim Lincecum...  If a punter can hit the scoreboard, like Cowboys punter Chris Jones did at AT&T Stadium, then your scoreboard is a little too big.  If a punter can hit the...  Changed the game: The score box  It's hard to believe that as recently as 1994, a consistent graphic overlay showing the score of a game was a novel concept. That year, ESPN and ABC introduced it for the World Cup in the U.S., mostly as a way to put a sponsor's logo on the screen throughout a game. But it soon caught on and changed the way we flip channels forever. (Pictured: a baseball broadcast is seen at The Public House Restaurant at AT&T Park on March 2, 2014, in San Francisco.)  Changed the game: The score box  It's hard to believe that as...  When college baseball switched from lightweight aluminum bats to more wood-like standards in 2011, some missed the "ping" and the long home runs that came with the old bats. But the drastic reduction in potential for injury and death made the switch worth it. (Pictured: Vanderbilt's John Norwood hits an RBI single in a College World Series game against Texas in Omaha, Neb., on June 21, 2014.)  When college baseball switched from...  Changed the game: NFL RedZone  Individual NFL games may only have around 11 minutes of actual gameplay action, but the RedZone channel has six straight hours on Sundays. Whether you watch for fantasy purposes or to see Scott Hanson take it to the quad box, the RedZone channel is heaven for football fans.  Changed the game: NFL RedZone  Individual NFL games may only have...  Flopped: Comedians in the press box  The Dennis Miller debacle on "Monday Night Football" in 2000 and 2001 was perhaps foreseeable, but we thought Tony Kornheiser would do better. Alas, he lasted only one cringe-inducing season longer than Miller. Even though current color commentator Jon Gruden has inspired Twitter parody accounts, unintentional humor is better than very intentional humor.  Flopped: Comedians in the press box  The Dennis Miller debacle on...  The greatest thing to hit tennis, unless you miss all those epic John McEnroe-style meltdowns. (Pictured: Andy Murray reacts to a Hawk-Eye decision during a fourth-round match at Wimbledon in 2013.)  The greatest thing to hit tennis, unless...  Let's make everybody go back to the wood rackets that were the norm on tour before the 1970s and see if anybody can smash 1,185 aces, like Ilo Karlovic did on the ATP Tour in 2014. (Pictured: Maria Sharapova plays a shot in the women's final at the Brisbane International tournament in Brisbane, Australia, on Jan. 10, 2015.)  Let's make everybody go back...  Changed the game: Swimming goggles  Swimmers have been fashioning goggles for centuries, but before the 1970s people were still stringing plastic cups to their heads with elastic and suffering the consequences of water creeping in. (Pictured: Natalie Coughlin at the Stanford University Invitational Grand Prix swim meet in 2008.)  Changed the game: Swimming goggles  The full-body swimsuits caused world records to fall at a shocking pace. Twenty-three world records were broken in the suit at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, and after 17 months in competition, 93 world records fell. FINA limited the size of the suits in 2009 and order was somewhat restored. (Pictured: Missy Franklin at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.)  The full-body swimsuits caused world records...  Changed the game: Charlie Finley's colorful uniforms  The former Oakland A's owner was known for challenging baseball conventions, and advocated for night games and the designated hitter. He also introduced the now-classic yellow and green A's unis in 1962. Baseball went from gray and white to multicolored in no time, and now we have third jerseys available in every color imaginable. (Pictured: Reggie Jackson of the A's during a game in Baltimore in 1974.)  Changed the game: Charlie Finley's colorful uniforms  Flopped: Charlie Finley's orange baseballs  Another colorful idea of Finley's famously failed. After the A's won the World Series in 1972, he convinced Major League Baseball to try orange baseballs in preseason games in March 1973. Finley thought the balls would be easier for fans and hitters to see, and lead to more offense. But hitters couldn't pick up the seams (and thus the spin), pitchers said they were slippery, and there was no offensive explosion. But oh, what could have been... (Pictured: Finley with two of the orange baseballs on ABC's "Good Morning America" in 1981.)  Flopped: Charlie Finley's orange baseballs  Changed the game: Air Jordans  Yes, there was a time when colorful sneakers were outlawed in the NBA, and Michael Jordan was fined $5,000 every time he wore his Air Jordans in 1985-86. But Nike picked up the tab and launched a sneaker revolution that lasts to this day. (Pictured: Kristopher Rush, 14, shows off one of the Air Jordan shoes he got on Dec. 23, 2011, in Indianapolis.)  Changed the game: Air Jordans  Yes, there was a time when colorful...  Long shorts: OK. Long sleeves: Terrible. But for some reason, the sleeves keep rolling out in the NBA, despite complaints from players and "meh"s from buyers. The Warriors wear them every Saturday night and recently unveiled sleeved Chinese New Year jerseys. (Pictured: The Warriors' Stephen Curry and David Lee during a game at Oracle Arena in 2013.)  Long shorts: OK. Long sleeves: Terrible....  Changed the game: Fantasy sports  Fantasy sports have been letting statheads win their own trophies since the 1980s. (Pictured: King's X Fantasy Football winners on a plaque at Grand Oaks restaurant in Oakland in 2012.)  Changed the game: Fantasy sports  Fantasy sports have been letting...  This is how you know you're too much of a fantasy geek: When you flip on the TV to see Matthew Berry debate the merits of starting Joique Bell vs. Jeremy Hill. If those names mean nothing to you, consider yourself lucky. (Pictured: Greg "Opie" Hughes, Jim Norton and Anthony Cumia of the Opie & Anthony Show attend the 2011 SiriusXM Celebrity Fantasy Football Draft at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square in New York City.)  This is how you know you're too much...  Changed the game: 64-team March Madness  The NCAA basketball tournament has expanded throughout its history, but from 1979-1985 it grew from 40 teams to 64. There's just something about that bracket, three weekends of play, and just the right amount of upsets that make the 64-team field the true Big Dance. (Pictured: Kentucky vs. Connecticut in the 2014 championship game in Arlington, Texas.)  Changed the game: 64-team March Madness  Not even President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron, seen here at the "First Four" in 2012, can raise the interest level of those Tuesday play-in games. Nice try, NCAA.  Not even President Barack Obama and...  Changed the game: Hockey-style catcher masks  Debate rages over whether hockey-style masks are better than traditional masks for preventing catcher concussions. But they definitely protect the sides of a catcher's head better from swinging bats, and that has many catchers switching. (Pictured: The Giants' Buster Posey and manager Bruce Bochy during Game 6 of the World Series at Kauffman Stadium on Oct. 28, 2014 in Kansas City, Mo.)  Changed the game: Hockey-style catcher masks  Like the catcher masks, there's some good and some bad in the new home-plate rules. Good: they prevent more collisions like the one that devastated Buster Posey in 2011. Bad: nobody has any idea what the rules actually are. Catchers are supposed to give runners a clear lane to the plate but in 2014 that seemed hard to determine. Stay tuned for more controversy. (Pictured: Posey and Billy Butler at the plate in World Series Game 7 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. on Oct. 29, 2014.)  Like the catcher masks, there's...  First-generation AstroTurf was like playing on concrete, but more modern FieldTurf is closer to the feel of grass. FieldTurf still has its issues, including flying rubber pellets that seem to find their way into your eyelids and your ears, but we look forward to more field innovations in the future. (Pictured: Pieces of AstroTurf lay across the stadium floor at the Astrodome on March 21, 2013, in Houston.)  First-generation AstroTurf was like playing on...
The best part of being a sports fan is the high drama around minor changes, or lack thereof, to the games we love. This month has shown those highs and the lows. Finally, the College Football Playoff we all wanted! But here comes the surreal "Deflategate" controversy. It's 2015, and we can't regulate the pressure in the footballs being used in key NFL playoff games? Really? No wonder the news cycle is running with the deflated footballs. No Tom Brady, it's not ISIS, but it is fun.