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By Patrick McManamon
Beacon Journal sports columnist
POSTED: 08:18 p.m. EDT, Oct 21, 2009
Instant replay in sports should be a simple proposition.
Yet some professional leagues choose to make it way more complex than it needs to be.
Major League Baseball has replay in limited uses.
Meanwhile, MLB is having a nightmare of a postseason with its umpires, whose calls cannot be reviewed.
In the American League Division Series, Joe Mauer's line drive was touched in fair territory, then landed inside the line. Joe Cuzzi somehow called it foul.
In the Yankees-Angels game Tuesday in Anaheim, umpires missed three easy calls.
There was a pickoff play at second base when Dale Scott called Nick Swisher safe, even though he was tagged well before he got to the base.
There was Tim McClelland calling Swisher out for leaving the base too soon on a fly ball tag-up, even though he didn't.
And there was McClelland inexplicably missing a tag of Robinson Cano as he waited to step on third.
McClelland was admirable for taking questions after the game and admitting that he missed the calls.
''I'm just out there trying to do my job and do it the best I can,'' McClelland said. ''And unfortunately there was, by instant replay, there were two missed calls.''
Fortunately, by instant replay, we now know what can and should be done.
Fox Sports showed the rundown at third when the Yankees had two runners at the base.
Fourteen seconds into the replay, it was obvious two Yankees had been tagged, not one.
''They're both out,'' commentator Tim McCarver said on Fox Sports. ''This is an easy call.''
Yes, it was.
And that is exactly the point of replay: It can easily and quickly fix the obvious calls that are wrong.
Replays slow down the game and take the human element out of the game.
But if a call can be corrected quickly, easily and obviously — like the rundown play — well, then it might be time for baseball to consider it for more than it's using it.
The increased scrutiny means that umpires will become like NFL refs — afraid to make a call.
But if a call is wrong and fixable in 30 seconds or less, why not use replay?
Witness the rundown at third. Wrong, fixable, finished — in 15 seconds.
The NFL's system, meanwhile, has become a caricature of itself.
Witness Hines Ward's touchdown catch last weekend in Pittsburgh against the Browns. That was a touchdown Sunday, it was a touchdown today and it will be a touchdown tomorrow — regardless of what replay ruled.
Ward caught the ball. He landed with two feet. He fell down inbounds. Then he rolled once inbounds and once out of bounds. Then he let go of or lost control of the ball.
By that point, he had caught the ball and landed in the end zone.
He had broken the proverbial plane.
But the standard is different for a receiver than it is for other players.
A running back can break the plane while he's tackled, go to the ground and lose the ball.
But the play is a touchdown.
A receiver, though, is held to a different set of standards. Presumably, he could be tackled in the end zone in the process of making a catch, roll over four times and keep the ball, then lose it on the fifth rollover and it's incomplete.
Ward's ruling was partly rules-based.
But it also was replay-based.
Which means it was not based in logic.
Any cognitive mind could have looked at the replay, seen him get two feet down and roll over inbounds with the ball.
A quick review, and it's over.
Replay was never designed to go frame by frame, in high definition, to determine a call.
When it was put in place, it was announced as a solution to fix the easily correctable mistake.
The NCAA has it right. After a questionable play, the buzzer goes off and the replay commences. It's a quick, common-sense review. Not slow-motion, frame by frame.
Hockey has it right, too. It reviews goals, and it does it quickly. Same with the NBA, which reviews whether shots left the hand before the end of a half or game. It's quick and painless.
NFL replays give time to paint the woodwork in the family room before a decision is announced. The NFL can and should fix the process.
Too, baseball has a chance for some common sense additions to the game.
McCarver provided the mantra: ''This is an easy call.''
If it is, review it fast and change it promptly.
If it isn't, let it go and live with the consequences.
Patrick McManamon can be reached at pmcmanamon@thebeaconjournal.com. Read his blog at http://www.ohio.com/mcmanamon/. Follow Pat on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/patmcmanamon.
Instant replay in sports should be a simple proposition.
Yet some professional leagues choose to make it way more complex than it needs to be.
Major League Baseball has replay in limited uses.
Meanwhile, MLB is having a nightmare of a postseason with its umpires, whose calls cannot be reviewed.
In the American League Division Series, Joe Mauer's line drive was touched in fair territory, then landed inside the line. Joe Cuzzi somehow called it foul.
In the Yankees-Angels game Tuesday in Anaheim, umpires missed three easy calls.
There was a pickoff play at second base when Dale Scott called Nick Swisher safe, even though he was tagged well before he got to the base.
There was Tim McClelland calling Swisher out for leaving the base too soon on a fly ball tag-up, even though he didn't.
And there was McClelland inexplicably missing a tag of Robinson Cano as he waited to step on third.
McClelland was admirable for taking questions after the game and admitting that he missed the calls.
''I'm just out there trying to do my job and do it the best I can,'' McClelland said. ''And unfortunately there was, by instant replay, there were two missed calls.''
Fortunately, by instant replay, we now know what can and should be done.
Fox Sports showed the rundown at third when the Yankees had two runners at the base.
Fourteen seconds into the replay, it was obvious two Yankees had been tagged, not one.
''They're both out,'' commentator Tim McCarver said on Fox Sports. ''This is an easy call.''
Yes, it was.
And that is exactly the point of replay: It can easily and quickly fix the obvious calls that are wrong.
Replays slow down the game and take the human element out of the game.
But if a call can be corrected quickly, easily and obviously — like the rundown play — well, then it might be time for baseball to consider it for more than it's using it.
The increased scrutiny means that umpires will become like NFL refs — afraid to make a call.
But if a call is wrong and fixable in 30 seconds or less, why not use replay?
Witness the rundown at third. Wrong, fixable, finished — in 15 seconds.
The NFL's system, meanwhile, has become a caricature of itself.
Witness Hines Ward's touchdown catch last weekend in Pittsburgh against the Browns. That was a touchdown Sunday, it was a touchdown today and it will be a touchdown tomorrow — regardless of what replay ruled.
Ward caught the ball. He landed with two feet. He fell down inbounds. Then he rolled once inbounds and once out of bounds. Then he let go of or lost control of the ball.
By that point, he had caught the ball and landed in the end zone.
He had broken the proverbial plane.
But the standard is different for a receiver than it is for other players.
A running back can break the plane while he's tackled, go to the ground and lose the ball.
But the play is a touchdown.
A receiver, though, is held to a different set of standards. Presumably, he could be tackled in the end zone in the process of making a catch, roll over four times and keep the ball, then lose it on the fifth rollover and it's incomplete.
Ward's ruling was partly rules-based.
But it also was replay-based.
Which means it was not based in logic.
Any cognitive mind could have looked at the replay, seen him get two feet down and roll over inbounds with the ball.
A quick review, and it's over.
Replay was never designed to go frame by frame, in high definition, to determine a call.
When it was put in place, it was announced as a solution to fix the easily correctable mistake.
The NCAA has it right. After a questionable play, the buzzer goes off and the replay commences. It's a quick, common-sense review. Not slow-motion, frame by frame.
Hockey has it right, too. It reviews goals, and it does it quickly. Same with the NBA, which reviews whether shots left the hand before the end of a half or game. It's quick and painless.
NFL replays give time to paint the woodwork in the family room before a decision is announced. The NFL can and should fix the process.
Too, baseball has a chance for some common sense additions to the game.
McCarver provided the mantra: ''This is an easy call.''
If it is, review it fast and change it promptly.
If it isn't, let it go and live with the consequences.
Patrick McManamon can be reached at pmcmanamon@thebeaconjournal.com. Read his blog at http://www.ohio.com/mcmanamon/. Follow Pat on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/patmcmanamon.
Comments
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Posted 09:50 PM, 10/21/2009
Do away with instant replay.....or have computers call games, especially baseball. How would you perform if every call is reviewed by instant replay? You tend to make mistakes when someTHING is watching your every move. Watching football last Sunday I was in and out of the living room for about five minutes. No less than THREE, I repeat three times in five minutes a play was being reviewed!!! ENOUGH! Hockey is the only sport that has it right. Because of the speed of the puck there is only one question. Was it a goal? Enough is enough with replay...it`s getting absurd!
Bethesda, MD
Posted 01:43 PM, 10/22/2009
The second was a make-up call.
