We were down to Ft Lauderdale this past Holiday to visit a few friends and to remember the 50th anniversary of "Where the Boys Are", that golden oldie with Connie Francis. In fact, the city had her life at the Elbow Room that evening. However, I digress, as the sports officiating theme was in the Sun Sentinnel. 4 writers all agreed that football, with its instant replays, can be the tell all if a call is corre ct or not. These same people thought that for getting it right in an instant, that you can not beat baseball umps. No instant replay, unless it is a home run that could decide the game in the late innings. However, the ummp that made the call on the Detroit pitcher that had gone 8 and 2/3 with a perfect game, that one took the cake. The ump admits that he blew the call after he saw the TV replay. He says that this will bother him for a long time. Good. Baseball needs the instant replay as far too many umps are missing the calls. The strike zone is what each plate umpire determines. How does the first or third base umpire make a call on a close play when the ump is 10 to 15 feet away from the bag. The other night the Tampa Bay Rays were close to getting beat in a 2 to 1 game when a runner from Tampa scored from second on a single to left. But wait, the Toronto team appealed that the runner missed third, and the ump ruled in their favor. What he was doing 10 feet behind the bag is beyond me as the ball was now in play, so get your ass in gear and get close to the base where you could see that the runner had the heel of his shoe touch the bag.
So, lets not talk about basketball as that is no a sport, rather an entertainment venue. I believe that baseball should get its act together with the Umpire Union and get an instant replay program in the works for calls that can affect the game, at the time it happens, and not into the late innings.