Umps Against Instant Replay

Fans want it, players want it, coaches want it, but umpires don't want it.

The World Umpires Association had their governor's meeting Tuesday where they decided to boycott any conference call with Major League Baseball regarding instant replay. Such a conference call was scheduled to be held on Wednesday but MLB called off the meeting Tuesday night siting an delay on a reply from the player's union.

In a statement issued by Umpires' Association spokesman Lamell McMorris he said "A lot of the procedural issues necessary for instant replay to be implemented need to be worked out, major issues."

This one I can't understand. The objective of the Umpires should be to get the call right. If instant replay can assist this process in any way I would think they would be all for it. Look at the NFL. They brought in instant replay and it has been a huge success.

There are those people who say that instant replay takes the human element out of the game. That is ridiculous. If someone hits a ball over the fence they should be rewarded for it, not limited to a double because the umpire was not in position to see the ball go over the yellow line.

I understand how some may feel that getting one of their calls wrong will be demoralizing and make their later judgments questionable, but what they need to realize is how important it is to get the call right, all egos aside.

It is time for the Umpires Union to make the right call and allow instant replay; for everyone's sake.

Card's Star Wants Out

Cardinals' Pro Bowl wide receiver Anguan Boldin has had enough of Arizona and has asked to be traded. For whatever reason Boldin and Cardinals' coach Ken Whisenhunt do not see eye to eye.

Boldin, who has three years remaining on a four-year $22.75 million extension that he signed after the 2005 season, is under contract with Arizona through the 2010 season.

At Tuesday's practice at Cardinals camp Boldin had the following to say about his situation,

"It's a tough situation, especially when you come into a working environment. But my job is to stay professional. I'm going to do what I'm supposed to do. At the beginning of camp, I hadn't asked for a trade. As of recently, we did."

Boldin then went on to add that he felt the current situation with coach Whisenhunt could not be resolved.

It is never a good thing when a star players wants out of an organization. It puts both parties in a tough spot. If you are the Cardinals, you don't want to lose your star wide receiver, but you don't want disgruntled players rubbing off on the rest of the locker room. If you are Boldin, I can't blame you for wanting out of Arizona. They have struggled his entire time there to put a competitive team on the field and that is not for a lack of his excellent play.

The biggest question now for the Cardinals is what can you get for this guy? He has all the talent in the world, more so than pretty much anyone who will be in next year's draft. Fair value for him would have to be at least a first round pick. But who is going to give that up this time of year, and for a wide receiver no less? It is a sticky situation in Arizona. At this point it appears to be a lose-lose either way.

USA Continues To Roll

Don't look now, but the Redeem Team is starting to look an awful lot like the Dream Team.

Led by an Olympic single game high twenty-five point from Kobe Bryant, Team USA Basketball defeated Australia 116-85 on Wednesday to advance to the semifinals. Lebron James added sixteen points and Carmelo Anthony fifteen in the winning effort for the Americans.

The United States will next play Argentina for the right to go play in the gold medal game. Argentina, the defending gold metal champions from the 2004 Olympic games, is led by San Antonio Spurs star guard Manu Ginobili.

This should finally be a tough test for Team USA. Then again, we have said that about two of their last three opponents and they have gone on to run them out of the building. Their margin of victory certainly reminds you of the way the old Dream Team use to beat their opponents. By no means am I saying that this team is as good as the Dream Team was, however they deserve to at least be in the discussion. It will be interesting to see how they handle Argentina.