3-Dot Lounge:
Instant replay needs to be reviewed
It seemed like such a good idea at the time. Baseball would bring instant-replay technology into the game, reversing potentially damaging calls and solving arguments before they started. It remains an invaluable piece of innovation, but it has gone too far.
Commissioner Rob Manfred expressed his frustration this week over the average time of games, which has lengthened from 2:56 in 2015 to the current 3:05. He seems obsessed with pitch clocks — one of the really terrible ideas in the history of sports — and ignores a crucial factor: This alarming increase is all about instant replay. “I’m not a huge fan of it, to tell you the truth,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said this week. “Certain plays demand it, but we’re having to stop the game way too often, and the decisions (from New York headquarters) take far too long to come down. What really bothers me are the overturned calls on slides into second base — guys being called out because they came off the bag for a split-second.
“A couple of years ago, if it was really close, they wouldn’t overturn it. Now they have these incredible camera angles that capture these minuscule little moments. Tell you what, if you slide feet-first into second base, you are going to come off the bag a little bit. So guys are holding their tag until that happens — something you’d never see with the naked eye. So essentially you’re telling guys to slide in headfirst, and now you’ve got broken fingers, dislocated wrists, stuff like that. You’re thinking maybe they should have like a 7-foot bag there (laughter), or a wall, and maybe you could put Velcro on the bottom of your feet.
“I understand the idea of ‘getting it right,’ but it bothers me that they’re starting to make the game more impersonal,” Melvin said. “We’re taking more and more personality out of the game, through technology. And you wonder why we’re playing 3½-hour games.”
Of pipes and dreams
For any Giants fan with perspective, there’s no need to ponder a trade for Giancarlo Stanton — if the Marlins even put him on the market. Contractual issues and a lack of elite minorleague prospects have put San Francisco well behind a number of interested parties. Remember, though, that Brian Sabean is profoundly embarrassed over this lost season. He’d tear up things in an instant, if he could. Acquiring Stanton would change everything about the team’s fortunes. Whatever the Giants can offer for Stanton, it would be fascinating to know the details ... The Dodgers’ Dave Roberts looks like a cinch for the National League’s Manager of the Year award, and that sounds right, but nobody’s doing a better job than Dusty Baker. One after another, key Washington players have hit the disabled list — and the team doesn’t miss a beat. That’s because Baker makes a point, all season, of making every single player feel important. Players come off his bench ready to perform, and the results have been spectacular ... The editors at Sports Illustrated laid out a 13-week, off-the-beaten-path travel plan for fans touring the college football landscape by RV. Stop No. 1: San Jose State hosting South Florida next Saturday. “The game should be over in time to catch the second half of Stanford-Rice in Australia (7 p.m. start),” read the piece. “Settle into a sports bar in charming downtown San Jose, grab some dinner, then head east for Utah, spending a night or two at Lake Tahoe.”
Even at their lowest point, the Warriors rule. In March, with the team staggering into San Antonio at the end of an eightcity, 13-day stretch that included a game in Minnesota the night before, head coach Steve Kerr rested four key players and launched a huge controversy. It was nothing new (see Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich), but it carried significant weight. Presto: No team will have road trips longer than six games this season, nor will any team play four games in five nights ... It makes so much sense for the NBA to shorten its exhibition schedule and start its season a week earlier. You wonder why baseball can’t do the same, when most everyone thinks spring training is too long. If this year’s World Series goes to a seventh game, it would be played Nov. 1 — inexcusable ... Alex Smith to the Kansas City Star on his old rival on the 49ers, Colin Kaepernick: “It’s crazy to think he’s not playing. Young, strong, I felt like he had a long career ahead of him. Crazy that at this point he’s out of a job” ... Excellent officiating: After scoring an early goal for Real Madrid in Sunday’s game against Barcelona, Cristiano Ronaldo ripped off his shirt and flexed, to reveal his super-buffed torso. For that pathetic display of narcissism, he drew a yellow card — and it proved to be costly when he drew another one later in the game, pushed the referee and drew a suspension totaling five matches ... Sorry to hear that Tommy Hawkins died this week. Youthful “insiders” dismiss the 1960s as some sort of dinosaur age in the NBA, hardly worth any kind of recognition, but it housed some of the world’s greatest athletes — just like today. Hawkins, who played most of his career with the Lakers, joined Joe Caldwell, Johnny Green and Elgin Baylor among the great leapers of their time, or any, time ... And remember, all you TV types, to be at your pompous best, never say “NFL.” Too obvious. Always go with “National Football League.” You’re so much more self-important that way.