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The Premier League is only two weeks into its 2019-2020 campaign and VAR is stealing all the headlines. After a wild opening weekend which saw a ton of VAR decisions come into question, Man City was once again at the forefront of VAR’s wrath and this time it may have cost them points.

Man City vs Tottenham Spurs is quickly becoming appointment television ever since the teams squared off three times last April. Two of those games were Champions League quarter final matchups, so the stakes were as high as they get.

You may remember that in the second leg, VAR overturned a goal scored by Man City in stoppage time because of a narrow offside. The decision knocked Man City out of the competition and saw the Spurs through to the semi final.

These world-class clubs faced off again over the weekend at the Etihad in another classic, one that saw Spurs earn a point in a 2-2 draw. City dominated, owning nearly 70% of the possession time while driving over twenty shots to the Spurs’ three. VAR should have given City a penalty in the opening few minutes, but it ruled play on. Despite City’s domination, the game was 2-2 in the dying minutes. A corner was swung in and took a few deflections in the box before landing at the feet of Brazilian forward Gabriel Jesus who buried the apparent winner with just seconds to play. Cue the evil empire music for VAR …

After review, it was determined the ball had inadvertently hit off the hand of City defender Aymeric Laporte before arriving at the feet of Jesus, illegally aiding City’s goal and thus called a handball. Laporte knew nothing about it, but City players along with packed Etihad fans were furious to see the tie. Spurs Coach Mauricio Pochettino joked after the game saying “I love VAR.” City manager Pep Guardiola was surprisingly calm about the whole thing.

The problem with VAR thus far is that it’s still subject to human error in many cases, particularly now examining potential borderline incidents that were not reviewed previously. Additionally, there are different VAR rules in every competition, with the Premier League VAR having different review rules than the Champions League. We fear this will be a touchy subject throughout the Premier League campaign. After just two weeks, the story has been more about VAR issues than the actual performance of players and teams. For the sake of the game, that needs to change quickly. Uniform VAR rules need to be established across leagues.

America’s epidemic of gun violence has been linked to video games by President Trump and some commentators. The data suggests otherwise. Naturally, the first to object was Stanley Pierre Louis, President and CEO of the Entertainment Software Association who claimed that video games have a positive influence on society. He cited examples of video games being used to support health and education efforts. He also claimed that scientific studies showed that there’s no link between videogames and violence. What studies?

Benjamin Burroughs, a professor of emerging media at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas says, “There are no longitudinal studies that show a link between violence and video games. Certainly, there is no linkage to gun violence.”

An AP article in the subject states, “Indiana University researchers found [in a small study] that teenagers who played violent video games showed higher levels of emotional arousal but less activity in the parts of the brain associated with the ability to plan, control and direct thoughts and behavior.”

Research by Patrick Markey, a psychology professor at Villanova University, led him to conclude, “The general story is people who play video games right after might be a little hopped up and jerky but it doesn’t fundamentally alter who they are. It is like going to see a sad movie. It might make you cry but it doesn’t make you clinically depressed.” It is pretty clear the video games do not lead to gun violence. Still, some of these games can be disturbing to young kids and teens. Their parents have a monitoring role to play. To help them, since 1994 The Education Software Rating Board has provided ratings designed to help parents decide what games are appropriate for their children with ratings that range from “E″ for “Everyone” to “Adults Only” for those 18 and older. Reviews of games designed for parents can be found through Common Sense Media.

VAR Bites Man City Yet Again

Lets Settle This: Do Video Games Cause Violence?