Instant Replay

NEW YORK -- Baseball umpires and management signed an agreement Wednesday that will allow the sport to start using instant replay to help determine calls on the field. Major League Baseball officials have said they hoped to start using replay in August. Installation of equipment has been going on at ballparks. Replays will be limited to boundary calls, such as determining whether fly balls were fair or foul, or whether they went over fences. The deal was signed by management lawyer Dan Halem and World Umpires Assn.

Instant replay in major sports: NCAA football: Replay officials in the press box can review all plays and make final decisions. Coaches have a limited number of challenges. NBA: Officiating crew can use courtside monitors in limited situations, including last-second and three-point shots. Major League Baseball: Umpires leave the field to review disputed home runs. Beginning this season, fan interference and trapped balls can be reviewed. NHL: Goal/no goal calls are reviewed by an on-site video goal judge and by officials in a Toronto "situation room.

Instant replay in major sports: NCAA football: Replay officials in the press box can review all plays and make final decisions. Coaches have a limited number of challenges. NBA: Officiating crew can use courtside monitors in limited situations, including last-second and three-point shots. Major League Baseball: Umpires leave the field to review disputed home runs. Beginning this season, fan interference and trapped balls can be reviewed. NHL: Goal/no goal calls are reviewed by an on-site video goal judge and by officials in a Toronto "situation room.

Back when "CSI" helped launch a new breed of forensic science dramas on television, prosecutors complained that real-life cases were being unduly influenced: Jurors walked into courtrooms expecting to see conclusive scientific evidence for every crime. A similar dynamic has become the talk of the NFL playoffs. A Green Bay Packers receiver fumbles — or doesn't fumble — as he falls to the turf. A San Francisco 49ers returner ventures dangerously close to a bouncing punt. A Baltimore Ravens receiver appears to catch a game-winning touchdown pass, only to have it slapped from his hands a moment later.

Upon further review, turns out instant replay in baseball isn't such a bad idea after all. And not just for disputed home run calls but for forceouts, tag plays on the basepaths, hit batters, even to determine if a runner missed a base. Oh, did we mention we're talking about Little League? While Commissioner Bud Selig and major league umpires continue to treat the idea of video replay as if it were radioactive, Little League President Stephen Keener is expanding its use at this month's World Series to include virtually everything except ball and strike calls.

The refrain is a familiar one. After television replays expose a blown call, Commissioner Bud Selig insists there is no great outcry among players and club officials for increased use of instant replay to review calls. And, on the day after the National League division series opener between the San Francisco Giants and Atlanta Braves was heavily influenced by a blown call, there was no great outcry at AT&T Park. "You're taking everything that's great out of baseball ? the human element," Giants first baseman Aubrey Huff said Friday.

Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig on Monday ruled out increased use of instant replay by umpires to review close calls during the postseason this season. Selig said he discussed the matter with the special committee of managers, management and ownership he appointed in December. "I brought the subject up, as I always do with everybody," Selig said. "I don't get the feeling that there's a lot of support for it, at least their conversations with me. " Baseball instituted video review to assist umpires late in the 2008 season, but limited its use to whether potential home runs are fair and whether the ball went over the fence.

Replaying the use of video When he was managing the Dodgers, Joe Torre said he opposed the expanded use of instant replay, calling it an imperfect solution. Such pronouncements didn't mean much then since Torre was just a manager. But now that he's MLB's executive vice president in charge of baseball operations — essentially the man in charge of everything that happens on the field — his words have wide influence. And Torre hasn't changed his view on expanded replays, even after video evidence showed plate umpire Jerry Meals blew a call in the 19th inning of Tuesday's Braves-Pirates game, giving the Braves a crucial win. "I have heard many discussions on umpiring and technology over the past two years, including both the pros and the cons of expanding replay," Torre said in statement.

Please, Bud Selig , for the love of Armando Galarraga , Jim Joyce and justice-seeking baseball fans: Expand the use of instant replay before the sport is embarrassed anew. … Galarraga, Joyce and Detroit Tigers fans all exhibited remarkable sportsmanship considering the circumstances. … Galarraga, believe it or not, was the 10th pitcher to lose a perfect game with two out in the ninth inning. … If you were born after March 31, 1975, when John Wooden coached his last game, UCLA has won one NCAA basketball championship in your lifetime.

The Big Ten's experiment was a big hit last season. Now instant replay is all the rage in college football. Eight more conferences and Notre Dame will join the Big Ten in using video to review certain officials' calls in 2005, and it will be used in all 28 bowl games. Replay drew such positive reviews from the Big Ten, the NCAA gave all Division I-A conferences permission to give it a try. Just about all of them jumped on board.

They're the biggest teenagers on a high school football field, the offensive linemen, and no one seems to notice them until they're called for a holding penalty. But after an exhausting weekend of driving around Southern California and watching five games in three days while getting about six hours of sleep each night, my first impression is there are some very good offensive lines this season. The quarterbacks and running backs at Anaheim Servite, Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, Orange Lutheran and Gardena Serra are going to appreciate the big bodies up front.

Replaying the use of video When he was managing the Dodgers, Joe Torre said he opposed the expanded use of instant replay, calling it an imperfect solution. Such pronouncements didn't mean much then since Torre was just a manager. But now that he's MLB's executive vice president in charge of baseball operations — essentially the man in charge of everything that happens on the field — his words have wide influence. And Torre hasn't changed his view on expanded replays, even after video evidence showed plate umpire Jerry Meals blew a call in the 19th inning of Tuesday's Braves-Pirates game, giving the Braves a crucial win. "I have heard many discussions on umpiring and technology over the past two years, including both the pros and the cons of expanding replay," Torre said in statement.

The labor fight is the NFL's focus these days, but the league is actually thinking about football too. The competition committee will convene at the owners meetings in New Orleans next week and will recommend changes on kickoffs and instant replay, as well as ramping up the penalties for illegal hits. The committee will propose moving the kickoff up from the 30-yard line to the 35, and bringing a touchback out to the 25, as opposed to the 20. That would reduce the number of kickoff returns, for safety reasons, as the league has determined there are too many concussions and major injuries on those plays.

It's a bawdy comedy for randy guys starring a nearly naked swimsuit model. Or it's a smart romance for women about finding the perfect man. If you believe Sony's advertising campaign for "Just Go With It," this weekend's Adam Sandler movie might be both of those things. Movie studios sometimes use slightly divergent marketing tactics to attract different demographics to their films, but Sony's double-barreled sales effort for "Just Go With It," a movie about a plastic surgeon who pretends to be miserably married to attract single women, provides a good study in how pitches for the same film can be dramatically distinct depending on who's being courted.

at Atlanta 39, Cincinnati 32: Carson Palmer, who pushed for the Bengals to sign Terrell Owens in off-season, wonders if they can get Roddy White (201 yards receiving) instead. at Baltimore 37, Buffalo 34 (OT): Ravens spot Buffalo 14-point lead and allow 505 yards and four touchdowns to 30th-ranked offense just to see if winless Bills could still lose. at Kansas City 42, Jacksonville 20: Can anyone name Jaguars' backup quarterback who was forced to start? If you guessed Todd Bouman, thanks for reading, Todd's mom. Pittsburgh 23, at Miami 22: Upon review, instant replay clearly showed Steelers fumbled before end zone but gave ball back to them because instant replay wasn't clear.

That didn't take long. A mere two games into the playoffs, umpires were under the heat lamp after a trio of game-altering missed calls last week led to the ejections of two managers, profanity-laced tirades and renewed calls for expanded use of instant replay. "It's unfortunate, because I still think like an official. I'm a part of that fraternity, and you hate to see guys make mistakes," said Mike Pereira, a former football referee who recently retired as director of officiating for the NFL. "But mistakes have been made for decades.

NFL owners voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to keep instant replay, for at least another five seasons. The oft-debated officiating tool passed by a 29-3 vote, with only Kansas City, Indianapolis and Cincinnati opposing it. The owners discussed making it a permanent rule but chose not to vote on that, instead approving a five-year extension of the status quo with a minor wrinkle: If a coach is successful on his two allotted challenges, he will get a third.

NEW YORK -- Instant replay might be coming to Major League Baseball in an instant. Moving faster than expected and coming after a rash of blown calls, baseball wants to put replay into effect by August for home run disputes in hopes of fine-tuning the system by the playoffs. MLB and the umpires' union need to reach agreement before replay can be tried, and the sides have started talking.

The refrain is a familiar one. After television replays expose a blown call, Commissioner Bud Selig insists there is no great outcry among players and club officials for increased use of instant replay to review calls. And, on the day after the National League division series opener between the San Francisco Giants and Atlanta Braves was heavily influenced by a blown call, there was no great outcry at AT&T Park. "You're taking everything that's great out of baseball ? the human element," Giants first baseman Aubrey Huff said Friday.

Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig on Monday ruled out increased use of instant replay by umpires to review close calls during the postseason this season. Selig said he discussed the matter with the special committee of managers, management and ownership he appointed in December. "I brought the subject up, as I always do with everybody," Selig said. "I don't get the feeling that there's a lot of support for it, at least their conversations with me. " Baseball instituted video review to assist umpires late in the 2008 season, but limited its use to whether potential home runs are fair and whether the ball went over the fence.