Right and Wrong: In a recent ESPN interview, Jimmy Rollins called Phillie fans "frontrunners." Rollins may be a cocky, arrogant motormouth and baseball's answer to Allan Iverson, but you know what? He's right. Sports fans are frontrunners. Everywhere. Last year Rollins claimed his Phillies were the team to beat and - with a
lot of help from the Mets - he backed up his words. But considering the way the Phillies are going this year after what Rollins said in spring training ("100 wins, easy,"), by ripping the fans he's shot himself in the foot, no matter how right he may be.
Pros and Cons of Instant Replay in Baseball. Pro: There's been a rash of blown calls by umpires on home runs this year. In fairness, all ballparks are different and it can be a very difficult snap-decision for an umpire to make. The instant replay ruling will go a long way towards solving that problem.
Con: What in the world are they thinking by suddenly rubber-stamping instant replay completely untested into the middle of a pennant race? Look how long it's taken the NFL to work out the kinks. (And they're
still working on it!) This could really spell trouble in the post-season when just one crucial ruling can cost a team it's entire season. Will a call be reversed? Will it stand? Will the umpires be intimidated? And how long will the delays take? If the umps have to look at all the different angles before ruling, it could kill the rallying team's momentum, especially if the call goes against them. And how will those frontrunning home fans react? Stay tuned because this has the potential to become a bigger problem than the blown calls.
Signed, Sealed, Delivered: Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon made history recently by ordering his pitcher to issue a bases-loaded intentional walk to Texas's Josh Hamilton with two outs in the bottom of the ninth with a four-run lead. The next hitter, Marlon Byrd, struck out to end the game, and everyone hailed Maddon for his ingenuity. Well, fine, when you're hot, you're hot. But I'd never,
ever hand out a freebie under any circumstances and here's why: On a simple percentage level, you still have a better chance of getting the batter out without a run scoring than you do by just gift wrapping an RBI for him. Maddon was thinking along the adage of not letting the opposition's best hitter beat him. Understandable - but only to a certain point. In this case, Byrd could have cleared the bases and tied the game with
any extra-base hit - a much more likely scenario than the potential game-tying grand slam by Hamilton was. If Byrd had done that instead of striking out, everyone would have dog-piled onto the other bandwagon. Maddon was lucky...this time. Similar praise was given in 1989 to Don Zimmer, then the manager of the Cubs who finished in first place that year. In one game they had the bases loaded and Zimmer actually called for a
triple-steal. It didn't work, but everyone applauded him anyway for taking a risk. When you're talking about the Chicago Cubs and Tampa Bay Rays, you have to cut some slack, I suppose.
The Good Guys: Have you noticed how much respect the US Olympic men's basketball team has gotten? The 2004 team was a complete train wreck and the overall percption of the Americans had become one of obnoxious entitlement. But this group, dubbed "The Redeem Team" by many, is certainly playing like the original Dream Team of '92 and acting like respectful (and respectable) people. Mucho kudos to Jerry Colangelo, who knew exactly what kind of players - and people - he needed to repair the image of the US team. One of the interesting results is that Kobe Bryant (at least according to merchandising experts) is now more popular than Yao Ming is in his own country. The real funny thing is, now that the American basketball team is acting the way they're supposed to, the rest of the world doesn't even mind getting the holy hell beaten out of them by the Redeem Team.
Right and Wrong: In a recent ESPN interview, Jimmy Rollins called Phillie fans "frontrunners." Rollins may be a cocky, arrogant motormouth and baseball's answer to Allan Iverson, but you know what? He's right. Sports fans are frontrunners. Everywhere. Last year Rollins claimed his Phillies were the team to beat and - with a lot of help from the Mets - he backed up his words. But considering the way the Phillies are going this year after what Rollins said in spring training ("100 wins, easy,"), by ripping the fans he's shot himself in the foot, no matter how right he may be.
Pros and Cons of Instant Replay in Baseball. Pro: There's been a rash of blown calls by umpires on home runs this year. In fairness, all ballparks are different and it can be a very difficult snap-decision for an umpire to make. The instant replay ruling will go a long way towards solving that problem. Con: What in the world are they thinking by suddenly rubber-stamping instant replay completely untested into the middle of a pennant race? Look how long it's taken the NFL to work out the kinks. (And they're still working on it!) This could really spell trouble in the post-season when just one crucial ruling can cost a team it's entire season. Will a call be reversed? Will it stand? Will the umpires be intimidated? And how long will the delays take? If the umps have to look at all the different angles before ruling, it could kill the rallying team's momentum, especially if the call goes against them. And how will those frontrunning home fans react? Stay tuned because this has the potential to become a bigger problem than the blown calls.
Signed, Sealed, Delivered: Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon made history recently by ordering his pitcher to issue a bases-loaded intentional walk to Texas's Josh Hamilton with two outs in the bottom of the ninth with a four-run lead. The next hitter, Marlon Byrd, struck out to end the game, and everyone hailed Maddon for his ingenuity. Well, fine, when you're hot, you're hot. But I'd never, ever hand out a freebie under any circumstances and here's why: On a simple percentage level, you still have a better chance of getting the batter out without a run scoring than you do by just gift wrapping an RBI for him. Maddon was thinking along the adage of not letting the opposition's best hitter beat him. Understandable - but only to a certain point. In this case, Byrd could have cleared the bases and tied the game with any extra-base hit - a much more likely scenario than the potential game-tying grand slam by Hamilton was. If Byrd had done that instead of striking out, everyone would have dog-piled onto the other bandwagon. Maddon was lucky...this time. Similar praise was given in 1989 to Don Zimmer, then the manager of the Cubs who finished in first place that year. In one game they had the bases loaded and Zimmer actually called for a triple-steal. It didn't work, but everyone applauded him anyway for taking a risk. When you're talking about the Chicago Cubs and Tampa Bay Rays, you have to cut some slack, I suppose.
The Good Guys: Have you noticed how much respect the US Olympic men's basketball team has gotten? The 2004 team was a complete train wreck and the overall percption of the Americans had become one of obnoxious entitlement. But this group, dubbed "The Redeem Team" by many, is certainly playing like the original Dream Team of '92 and acting like respectful (and respectable) people. Mucho kudos to Jerry Colangelo, who knew exactly what kind of players - and people - he needed to repair the image of the US team. One of the interesting results is that Kobe Bryant (at least according to merchandising experts) is now more popular than Yao Ming is in his own country. The real funny thing is, now that the American basketball team is acting the way they're supposed to, the rest of the world doesn't even mind getting the holy hell beaten out of them by the Redeem Team.
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