Selig - who once proposed putting Spider-Man 3 movie logos on the bases - claims to honor the grand traditions of baseball, especially when those grand traditions are grandly profitable. So OK - I get the move toward instant replay. It had to happen.
But - and I hate to say this - Selig's been right: We'll lose something here. Any time baseball inches closer to the NFL, we throw overboard a little more of our humanity. Frankly, there is nothing more galling in sports than subjecting 60,000 fans in a stadium - sometimes in rain or freezing temperatures - to a 10-minute wait, while technicians haggle over some call that matters to a guy's personal stats.
It's common on Super YES-Mo for the Yankee announcers to be divided over whether a guy is out or safe. The camera angles just don't allow an easy answer. So in those moments - at times in blowouts, like yesterday - everybody in the bleachers will just stand around and wait. Three calls for each manager to challenge? We know what will happen: They'll wait for the TV replay - order the players to create a delay, while someone watches the video feed, and if it's remotely close, they'll issue a challenge.
Does anyone think Billy Martin would have ever gone a game without using all three challenges? These are like timeouts in the last two minutes of a basketball game. Need to get a pitcher up in the bullpen? Challenge the last play. You bought yourself five minutes, while the matter is considered in New York.
This could add 20 minutes to a game. Thus, the 7:10 p.m. game ends around 11:30 p.m., long after Yours Truly is in bed, dreaming of Slade Heathcott in a geisha dress.
Tonight, we play the Redsocks, which generally adds 10 minutes to a game. You could factor in another 10 to cover the booing of A-Rod. If orange is the new black, five is the new four-hour game.
Just a thought, next time we're all standing around, waiting for something to happen.
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