Instant Replay

It must be limited Peter Schmuck Baltimore Sun If ever there was a convenient argument for expanding baseball's limited instant replay system, the blown call by umpire Jim Joyce that prevented Armando Galarraga's perfect game is it. But you have to look beyond one gross miscarriage of umpiring justice to make a decision of such scope. Making video replay available regardless of the situation would slow down a sport that already is losing young fans because it moves too slowly.

It's funny. As soon as we learned that the Orioles would be playing the Yankees in the ALDS and that they'd be going to the Bronx, I knew I wanted to give Jeff Maier a call. It really had nothing to do with an “anniversary” of the day Maier, then 12, helped a fly ball turn into a game-tying home run in Game 1 of the 1996 ALCS. What people don't realize is that this week is the only other time in the history of the franchises that the Orioles have played the Yankees in the postseason.

I'm a football nut, but I'm mad at the game -- or at least angry at 11 of the 28 National Football League owners. I've tried for days to get over their votes to sack the instant television replay as a way of ensuring that close, often game- deciding decisions are correct.My first reaction is that the owners can't abolish instant replay -- unless they can bribe the TV networks and the operators of those big stadium screens not to show viewers what really happened on a crucial play. The owners won't know fan anger until TV shots show a clear, egregious mistake by an official that helps the wrong team to win because there is no official recourse to use of slow-motion television evidence.

Major League Lacrosse announced Wednesday that it will implement instant replay on scoring plays for the 2013 season. Specifically, replay will be used to determine only whether the ball had completely crossed the plane of the goal; whether a goal scored should be counted as a one- or two-point goal; or whether the last player in possession of the ball prior to the shot on goal had stepped in the crease before the ball crossed the plane of the...

Major League Lacrosse announced Wednesday that it will implement instant replay on scoring plays for the 2013 season. Specifically, replay will be used to determine only whether the ball had completely crossed the plane of the goal; whether a goal scored should be counted as a one- or two-point goal; or whether the last player in possession of the ball prior to the shot on goal had stepped in the crease before the ball crossed the plane of the...

PHOENIX -- After six years of further review and much debate, the NFL owners reversed instant replay yesterday.With four owners joining the ranks of the traditional seven opponents, instant replay fell four votes short of approval for the 1992 season. The replay has been used to take a second look at officials' calls.Supporters needed 21 votes to approve instant replay for a seventh straight season.The four votes that doomed instant replay in a 17-11 vote were cast by Norman Braman, owner of the Philadelphia Eagles; Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys; Dick Steinberg, general manager of the New York Jets; and Sam Wyche, coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

SAN FRANCISCO — The refrain is a familiar one. After television replays expose a blown call, Commissioner Bud Selig insists there is no great outcry among players and club officials for increased use of instant replay to review calls. And, on the day after a blown call heavily influenced the National League Division Series opener between the Giants and Braves, there was no great outcry. "You're taking everything that's great out of baseball — the human element," Giants first baseman Aubrey Huff said before Friday night's game.

MIAMI -- NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue is ready to put instant replay back on the table for discussion in a new form.At his annual Super Bowl news conference yesterday, Tagliabue unveiled a concept that will be studied by the competition committee at its annual meeting in March.Tagliabue said the league would study putting fixed miniature cameras in the end zone that would give the NFL more camera angles than the ones provided only by television.It would be tied to a mobile monitor on the sidelines.

PALM BEACH, Fla. - Commissioner Paul Tagliabue decided yesterday the NFL will experiment with instant replay this season.After the owners couldn't reach a consensus on replay, Tagliabue announced the league will conduct the experiment and then present the results to the owners next year when they will decide whether to implement a plan in 1997.The experiment will be used on a dress-rehearsal basis during the exhibition games on national television when the coaches will be allowed to challenge calls and the referee will view them on a sideline monitor.

First of all, there is no "instant" in instant replay. Secondly, all replay seems to do is invite more replay. The firestorm Ravens coach Brian Billick created last week after two replay calls went against him has flickered at several other venues this season. He isn't the only coach hopping mad about the ineffectiveness of a replay system that has been tweaked into silliness. After the Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost a Week 5 Monday night affair to the Indianapolis Colts, in part because the officials made a critical mistake allowing an illegal onside kick and because of an obscure "leaping rule" call, coach Jon Gruden was left scratching his head.

Here's what I wish most of all for these NBA Finals, which begin tonight in Oklahoma City: can we please stop fixating on the officials? Can we give that whole tired issue a rest? Can we just enjoy this compelling matchup between the Miami Heat and Oklahoma City Thunder without whining about all the flopping, traveling, elbowing and offensive fouls the refs are supposedly missing? Don't people ever get sick of blaming the refs whenever their team loses? Sure, there have been a number of controversial calls in the NBA playoffs so far. But you want to know something?

This is the first thing that pops into your mind when you see Armando Galarraga jogging across the field at the Ed Smith Stadium complex in an Orioles jersey: How do you go - in less than two years - from pitching what everyone on earth knows was a perfect game to fighting for your career in the training camp of one of baseball's most imperfect teams? It's not all that complicated. Galarraga, who became the poster child for good sportsmanship with the classy way he reacted when he was robbed of official recognition of his perfect game in 2010, is trying to resurrect his career on a minor league contract with the Orioles.

As poorly as the Ravens offense performed in Monday night's 12-7 upset at the hands of the Jacksonville Jaguars, the crew officiating the game had its fair share of struggles. Three of four plays challenged by both teams overturned on-field rulings, there was a comical delay while officials tried to figure out whether a pair of fouls during a punt resulted in a re-kick (they did), and the crew failed to cite the Jacksonville kickoff unit late in the fourth quarter for at least one or even two penalties.

When Bernard Pollard was flagged for unnecessary roughness for what referee Carl Cheffers described as a helmet-to-helmet hit on a defenseless Deji Karim in the third quarter of the Ravens' eventual 12-7 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Monday night, Pollard raised his hands in protest. After the game, however, the starting strong safety declined to complain about the call, which - on replay - appeared to show Pollard hitting the Jacksonville running back with his shoulder.

Have the Eagles assembled the "Dream Team," or is this another fantasy football roster built to disappoint? That's just one of the pressing questions heading into this NFL season. A few of the others: Did the lockout truly favor those teams with an established coach and quarterback? Or can the teams that really had to cram in this compressed offseason make the grade? Will the Peyton Manning saga be a pain in the neck for the Colts all season? The Seahawks made the 2010 playoffs at 7-9; is the NFC West still the NFC Worst?

SAN FRANCISCO — The refrain is a familiar one. After television replays expose a blown call, Commissioner Bud Selig insists there is no great outcry among players and club officials for increased use of instant replay to review calls. And, on the day after a blown call heavily influenced the National League Division Series opener between the Giants and Braves, there was no great outcry. "You're taking everything that's great out of baseball — the human element," Giants first baseman Aubrey Huff said before Friday night's game.

Can the Broncos get quality quarterback play from Bubby Brister or Brian Griese? Do the Jaguars have enough defense to get to the Super Bowl? Will the Vikings' dominating offense pick up where it left off last season?Those are several of the major questions on the NFL's table as another season kicks off this weekend. But every question pales next to the gigantic one everyone was asking during the exhibition season:What, exactly, are the referees watching in those instant replay booths on the sideline?

PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said yesterday he voted against instant replay in the competition committee, a move that may doom the Washington Redskins' attempt to bring back replay this year.Jones' vote means the competition committee will recommend by a 4-3 vote that the owners not reinstate the controversial officiating tool at their annual March meeting this week. Instant replay was used from 1986 to 1991."I'm a soft no, but still a no," said Jones, who was considered to be a pivotal swing vote on the committee.

For whatever reason, some issues resonate louder with fans than people in the game. Expanded use of instant replay is one of those. While Jim Joyce's missed call costing Armando Galarraga a perfect game stirred cries for instant replay, there was little response from within the game. The internal apathy — or willingness to accept bad calls, if that's what it is — was similar to last fall, when general managers barely discussed replay after a postseason in which missed calls were a hot-button topic.

It must be limited Peter Schmuck Baltimore Sun If ever there was a convenient argument for expanding baseball's limited instant replay system, the blown call by umpire Jim Joyce that prevented Armando Galarraga's perfect game is it. But you have to look beyond one gross miscarriage of umpiring justice to make a decision of such scope. Making video replay available regardless of the situation would slow down a sport that already is losing young fans because it moves too slowly.