With the World Series shifting back to Houston tonight, Rich Griffin is arguing that it's time for replay review to be brought into the grand old game.
Griffin is calling for it in the postseason only -- hear, hear. Can you imagine this trifecta one summertime date at the ol' ballpark: a rain delay, replay review, and Bartolo Colon on the mound? They don't make the day long enough.
For a look at the overall arguments against replay in baseball, here's a good read from the St. Petersburg Times earlier this year, before we'd ever heard of Doug Eddings (and a bonus there for you, so go to the link): "Human error has always been part of the equation," Bud Selig says, putting forth the major leagues' party line.
Upon further review, I'm inclined to a qualified agreement with Griffin (despite his reaching in including an Andy Pettitte pickoff as one of Game 2's controversial moments. That bang-bang play looked to be a case of the umpires making the right call, as they almost always do).
The NFL experience has shown us how not to go about the business of correcting those wrong calls, though -- the 90-second "limit" on deciding yay or nay seems to be routinely ignored, the beanbag toss from the coach is replaced by automatic review in the final two minutes, and even after all of that there are times where the answer is not definitive and instead of the referee getting it wrong, it's the replay angle that's to blame. The delays and challenges slow the game to a crawl.
In baseball, the games are already going on long and late, so adding another minute and a half seems a small price to pay to try to get it right. As long as it doesn't have the potential to be overused -- I'd allow one challenge per team per game, and that's it -- I don't see the problem.
We've survived Fox turning their broadcasts into PlayStation. Why not use all those cameras for something that might be useful, instead of another shot of Ben Affleck in the stands?
Bartolo Colon excepted, that is.
Some other links this morning:
Geoff Baker talks to J.R. Richard, the former Astros great who has survived a stroke, living on the streets, and never being invited by his old team to their new ballpark: "Baseball is simple," says Richard. "It's life that can be very hard."
Oh yeah, tonight? The roof is supposed to be open in Houston for the first time in the playoffs, and the Astros can't be too happy about it.
The Raptors had another preseason loss last night, in Winnipeg (don't look now, but there's only one more exhibition game to go). If you're looking for some NBA odds of a different kind, check out these, with the Raptors 7-to-2 to take the league's "wooden spoon" for worst record.
China has completed its first rehearsal for the 2008 Olympics, and failed miserably, reports the Independent: "A farce of alleged match-rigging, bribery, unfair judging and doping scandals."
Rick Westhead is in Pakistan, where in the wake of a killer earthquake, the England vs. Pakistan Test is being seen as relief: "Everybody's in such deep sorrow. People really need entertainment right now."
And yes, we'll be seeing a few of these more, I reckon: another hazing incident makes the news, this one at Ridley College in St. Catharines.
I agree with R. Griffin's call for instant replays in the playoffs. Years ago, we had the Black Sox scandal. This year, in games involving the White Sox, there have been many instances of umpire mistakes going to the Sox advantage. Indeed, if I didn't "know" better (no one knows...) this year could be called the "black-suited (dark blue?) scandal," because the umpiring has been scandalous. To deny the advancements in technology simply so that codgers can strut the "purity" of the game is taking a world-is-flat-view, and saying black is white. Indeed, it would, as Mr. Griffin says, be for the betterment of the game. During a year that has opened my eyes to the wonders of fast, skilled teams playing the game to its top level, it is shameful to have this cloud over many of its results.
Posted by: doug | October 25, 2005 at 06:37 PM