friendship. And then later he wrote a note to Sergey Bubka

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Its a football Saturday at the Atlantic Coast Conference headquarters, and Michael Strickland sits in a windowless room scanning a wall of flat-panel televisions and monitors on a nearby table.The ACCs senior associate commissioner for football operations and two replay officials are closely watching a pair of league games. They confer with officials at each stadium to ensure any ruling on a sideline catch, dive for the pylon or fumble is the correct call, part of a season-long experiment by the ACC -- as well as the Southeastern and Pac-12 conferences -- with collaborative instant replay that has off-site officials assist on reviews.Strickland describes it as a safety net with a simple goal: get it right.Our view, Strickland said, is that two sets of eyes are probably better than just one.The ACC and SEC are using collaborative replay for all games at league stadiums, including at independent Notre Dame as an ACC member in other sports. These review centers operate in a supporting role out of the ACC headquarters in Greensboro, North Carolina, and the SEC offices in Birmingham, Alabama.The Pac-12 uses it on a limited basis. Spokesman Dave Hirsch said replay officials at California and Oregon can communicate with the leagues San Francisco headquarters.The Big Ten is studying the idea but hasnt implemented it.The ACC and SEC will report findings to the NCAA rules committee in the offseason. SEC coordinator of officials Steve Shaw called it an absolute success so far and Strickland said it has cut the number of plays that mightve gone the other way.Data from both leagues show the added scrutiny was catching more errors. The ACCs rate of calls reversed on review is up from about 24 percent last season to 29 percent through last weekends games, while the SEC was up from about 37 percent to 41 percent. The average review times -- roughly 90 seconds for both -- are up slightly.Theres so much in fairness to players, coaches and fans, ACC Commissioner John Swofford said. Theres a lot riding on these games. What you always want is, at the end of the day, a game had been fairly won or lost.Swofford said the league spent about $500,000 in upgrades to an existing gameday operations center for collaborative replay. The ACC recently allowed an Associated Press reporter inside to spend about 45 minutes observing how it works.Replay officials can turn a dial to conduct their own frame-by frame evaluation on monitors at their seats within seconds and talk to a stadium replay official via headset if something requires a closer look. They watch games carried via online stream to minimize delays.The days first stoppage reviewed whether a called fumble shouldve been an incompletion or if the receiver was down before the ball came out. Replay official Ralph Pickett ran footage back and forth, and it didnt take long to confirm a clear fumble while conferring with the stadium official.I agree, I agree, he said into the headset. Play quickly resumed, illustrating how the burden still rests largely with stadium officials.Once we get the game stopped, we collaborate and we come to the right answer, Shaw said. But we still are dependent on that replay official inside the stadium to stop the game. Thats his primary role.At times, you could get a collaborative discussion with him from the video center in Birmingham, `Hey, you need to stop this game. But in our up-tempo world today, really the guy in-stadium has got to make the decision to stop it.Still, it cant prevent every mistake.During North Carolinas win at Miami last month, replay officials never saw the angle that could have overturned a first-quarter touchdown catch by the Tar Heels in the 20-13 win. Footage focused on Austin Proehls right foot landing inbounds but the ESPN production crew didnt send angles showing Proehl bobble the ball while falling out of bounds.Regardless, no one has to sell Duke coach David Cutcliffe on steps to reduce the chances of an officiating mistake.His Blue Devils lost to Miami last year on an eight-lateral kickoff return for a final-play touchdown that shouldnt have counted. The ACC later suspended officials for two games for botching calls on the field and during review.I like the idea because you know theres an extra set of eyes and theyre seeing it immediately, Cutcliffe said. And they can buzz the box and say, `Whoa, wait a minute here, lets look at this.---AP Sports Writers Joedy McCreary in Durham, North Carolina, and John Zenor in Montgomery, Alabama, contributed to this report.---Follow Aaron Beard on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/aaronbeardap---More AP college football at http://collegefootball.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/APTop-25 Cheap MLB Jerseys Authentic . Vancouver Whitecaps and Toronto FC failed to make the postseason while Montreal Impact fell at the first hurdle losing heavily to Houston Dynamo in the Eastern Conference Knockout Round. Cheap Rockies Jerseys China . Boucher previously coached the Tampa Bay Lightning and had a 97-78-20 record over two-plus seasons. He was dismissed by the team last March after the Lightning struggled in the lockout-shortened season with a 13-18-1 record. http://www.cheaprockiesjerseys.com/ .C. -- Manny Malhotra had two goals and an assist, leading the Carolina Hurricanes to a 6-3 win over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday. Cheap Todd Helton Jersey . Louis Blues. Shane Hnidy joins Brian Munz for the broadcast on TSN 1290 Radio at 7pm ct. Cheap Rockies Jerseys . Both players have lower body injuries that will keep them out of the lineup until at least January 31, which is the first game they can be activated from IR. The former chief investigator for the World Anti-Doping Agency claims that the organizations president dragged his feet on the Russian case, leading to the 11th-hour debate on whether athletes should be allowed to compete in the Olympics.The International Olympic Committee has decided not to ban the entire Russian federation despite evidence of a state-sponsored doping program. The decision comes in part because there was not enough time to implement changes in light of WADAs July 18 McLaren report that detailed Russias transgressions.In an interview with Pro Publica that was posted on Thursday, former WADA investigator Jack Robertson says that the timing was no accident.WADA handed the IOC that excuse by sitting on the allegations for close to a year, Robertson said. We knew since last August and WADA waited until May to name an independent commission to investigate all Russian sport and the lab. In November, after the first investigation press conference, [Olympic cross-country ski champion and chair of the WADA athletes committee] Beckie Scott demanded that WADA investigate other sports, not just athletics. [WADA president Craig] Reedie said hed take it under advisement, and he blew her off. WADA waited until the 11th hour, only once it was exposed to the public by 60 Minutes and the New York Times, and so the IOC could say there wasnt enough time.WADA issued a statement this week saying that it did not have evidence to launch a commission until after the Times and 60 Minutes stories. Robertson disputes this.How investigations work is that you receive allegations and then you investigate and search for evidence, he told Pro Publica. You dont wait for evidence to magically show up on its own, or in the media. But the truth of the matter is, we did have evidence, because [former head of the Russian anti-doping lab Grigory] Rodchenkov confessed to sample switching in the Moscow laboratory to cover up positive tests of their athletes, to the WADA science director. He promptly made that known to me, and I had him put these admissions into a written statement, for the purpose of the first independent commission. So the independent commisssion was aware of this during the course of the investigation.ddddddddddddobertson claims that Reedie was more interested in protecting his relationships with Russian athletic leaders than he was in investigating claims of cheating. This claim has been made in other publications over the past few months, but Robertson is now on the record.?I led this investigation, and at no time did Craig Reedie talk to me about this investigation, Robertson said. Ever. Never. Not even to get briefed on it. It is insane. Its the most important investigation in WADAs history, in Olympic history. Even after the first independent commission press conference, when [the chair of WADAs athletes committee] asked him to investigate all sports, he didnt contact me for additional information or evidence.Instead, Robertson said Reedie sent an email to the Russian sports minister saying WADA had no intention of harming their friendship. And then later he wrote a note to Sergey Bubka [a Russian former gold medalist and vice president of IAAF, which governs track and field] to warn him about another doping documentary coming out, and it said, Hope no more damage will be done. To me, these showed his mindset, more committed to preserving his friends reputations than discovering the truth.Robertson has been dealing with throat cancer. WADA said earlier this year that he retired.Let me just say something, I wont go into details about my dismissal; I think it was unfair, but what Im saying here has nothing to do with that, Robertson told Pro Publica. But let me say: I did not retire.?With the Olympics set to begin, many Russian athletes will be allowed to compete. Robertson doesnt believe they are all clean.For Craig Reedie to say he assumes that a large percentage of Russian athletes who will be in Rio are clean, hes talking out of his rear end, Robertson said. The whole ruse of clean Russian athletes is a farce. The investigation showed that to be on the national team, at least for athletics (track and field), you were required to dope. ' ' '