Instant replay in baseball? I don't think so


They use it in football, then they managed to integrate it into basketball, but enough is enough. Baseball needs instant replay like I need a case of poison ivy.

As I see it, when the players start playing the game perfectly, it will be time to use electronic devices to ensure perfect calls are made on every ball, strike, putout, home run, foul ball and any other call you can think of.

Until then, let America’s pastime stay as is.

TV analysts and commentators, along with sports journalists, love to downplay the role umpires play during the game. They’re constantly spouting off the old cliché: "People don’t pay to see the umpires."

I don’t necessarily pay to see the umpires, but I do respect and enjoy the role they play during the course of a game.

Unfortunately, instant replay will eventually filter its way into baseball and not solely to protect the integrity of the game. Like most professional sports, it has as much to do with protecting the gaming industry as it does with protecting the integrity of the sport.

When it does happen, I hope the decision to use instant reply lies solely in the hands of the umpires. At a time when Major League Baseball is trying to speed up the game, the last thing it needs is to slow it down with the use of instant replay.


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You asked for it, you got it: Since the regular NBA season has ended and the playoff teams were determined, it seems to me most everyone from the top of the heap to the bottom has been pulling for the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics to advance to the NBA finals.

In the business savvy world of professional basketball, the possibility of a Lakers vs. Celtics final certainly has the potential to be a financial bonanza. By renewing this great rivalry, the NBA could quite possibly see ratings go right off the charts and that is really what it’s all about.

If you turn back the clock to just one year ago, the prospect of a Lakers-Celtics matchup in the finals was remote at best. Laker star Kobe Bryant was demanding a trade and the Celtics were nearly as bad as the Knicks.

Keep in mind, however, that the NBA, like all pro sports, is big business.

Los Angeles is the biggest market on the West Coast and the Lakers are certainly the most storied franchise.

Though Boston is not the biggest market on the East Coast, the history of the Celtics in terms of winning championships is unmatched by any professional franchise outside of the New York Yankees.

The Lakers went out and found the missing link, stealing Pau Gasol from the Memphis Grizzlies, and proceeded to compile the best record in the Western Conference.

As for the Celtics, they traded away seven players just to secure Kevin Garnett from the Timberwolves and added Ray Allen from the Sonics to join holdover Paul Pierce to form a new version of "The Big Three" (you remember the original group — Bird, McHale and Parrish).

Obviously, this is the matchup the NBA wanted, and though I don’t particularly like either team, I must admit both teams have proven they are worthy of competing for an NBA Championship. If I had to make a sentimental choice, it would be for Ray Allen to earn a championship ring.


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Professional baseball’s new hot spot: After years of waiting for a subway series, the Yanks and the Mets finally made it a reality following the 2000 regular season.

Now, eight years later, could it be possible that the state of Florida will play host to this year’s World Series?

Granted, it’s not the same as two teams coming from the same city, but the Sunshine State may be in for a hot World Series with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the Florida Marlins at or near the top of their respective divisions

The success of these teams is no fluke. They are providing Major League Baseball with a wonderful early season story while introducing a large crop of fine young position players and pitchers to baseball fans across the country. The best part of the whole story is that both teams are doing it with two of the lowest payrolls in baseball.

The success of these two franchises just goes to prove that spending tens of millions of dollars isn’t the only way to build a winner. (Are you listening, Yanks, Red Sox, Mets, Dodgers, Angels, Cubs?)

Every now and then it is great to be reminded that it isn’t always a case of how much money you have, but more importantly, how you use what you do have. These two teams certainly give merit to that idea.

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