Typically there are two schools of thought regarding expanded replay in baseball. One one side, you have people like the LBS crew who believe Major League Baseball needs to take advantage of the available technology to prevent horrible calls like this one from affecting the outcome of games or rewriting the history books. On the other side, you have people like Jim Leyland who cherish the all-important human element of the game and are against replay.
Then, there’s Bud Selig. Here is what the commissioner had to say about expanded instant replay on Monday according to John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle:
“People in our sport don’t want any more. Given our attendance and everything we’re doing, we’re in the right place with instant replay.”
That statement is absurd on so many levels. For starters, how do the attendance numbers have anything to do with whether or not the game needs instant replay? Attendance is up across baseball this season, but are we supposed to believe that spike is due in part to the fact that the “human element” is still fully intact? In addition, a rule change in the game shouldn’t have anything to do with attendance. Selig is basically saying that whether the lack of replay is wrong or not, enough people are still coming to games so it doesn’t matter.
We know Selig is an old timer who wants nothing to do with instant replay, but this is officially the worst line of reasoning we’ve ever heard on the topic. If a bridge is unsafe but plenty of people still drive across it, I suppose the bridge doesn’t need to be repaired.
H/T Hardball Talk
Photo credit: Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE
