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.

On the heels of two controversial calls that angered fans in two cities, Major League Baseball appears to have decided on an expansion of instant-replay review by umpires in time for the 2014 season. Commissioner Bud Selig has gone on record in past years as wanting very limited video reviews, including only trapped-ball plays and fair/foul calls down the lines. The new guidelines, if approved, would allow replay review of almost everything except for balls and strikes. Currently, only home run calls are subject to review.

No matter how much the old men in dark suits kick and scream and wring their hands, sooner or later soccer will be dragged into a more sensible future. That future that, like it or not, will include the use of technology to resolve disputed calls on the field, and the game will be the better for it. Did the ball cross the goal line? Was the forward offside? Did the defender handle the ball? The choice is simple: rely on the possibly obstructed views of the referee and his assistants or use the tools that other major sports happily employ.

PHOENIX -- Despite complaints that they are fundamentally changing the game, NFL owners voted almost unanimously Wednesday to ban players from ducking their heads to initiate contact in the open field. The rules change, which capped the league's annual meeting, passed by a 31-1 margin, with the only vote against it coming from the Cincinnati Bengals. The rule imposes a 15-yard penalty if a runner or tackler initiates forcible contact by delivering a blow with the crown (top) of his helmet when both players are clearly outside the tackle box. The tackle box is defined as an area extending from offensive tackle to tackle and from three yards beyond the line of scrimmage back to the end zone behind the line of scrimmage.

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.

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.

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.

* Coaches will get two challenges a game, with "a replay assistant" to determine if something is to be reviewed in the final two minutes of each half. * Coaches will have to act in the 40 seconds between the time a play ends and the ball is put back into play again to make the challenge. The referee on the field will then review the play. If he turns down the challenge, the team making it will lose a timeout. If he upholds the challenge, the team will retain the timeout.

The NBA approved the use of instant replay Monday, only months after several controversial last-second calls in the playoffs. Beginning with the 2002-03 preseason, referees will automatically review any shot that goes in with no time left on the clock in any quarter or overtime. They will also be able to use video to determine if a player had his foot on the three-point line or out-of-bounds line.

Major League Baseball will not expand its instant replay system this year, according to Joe Torre, the league's executive vice president of baseball operations. Commissioner Bud Selig told the Los Angeles Times four months ago that expanded replay would be in place for the 2013 season "for sure. " Torre told The Times that the timetable has been delayed one year. "Next year, there will be something, for sure," Torre said. "It's not like we're afraid to do something. I don't want to do something unless we feel like it's the right thing to do. " Torre, who is Selig's point man on the issue, said he understood the commissioner's oft-stated intention to broaden the replay system to include calls of fair balls, foul balls and trapped balls.

The NFL said the 76-yard punt return by Denver's Trindon Holliday against Carolina on Sunday should have been ruled a touchback, not a touchdown. In the second quarter of Denver's 36-14 win at Charlotte, N.C., Holliday, the Broncos' 5-foot-5 returner, raced up the sideline and appeared to score. Replays showed that he prematurely celebrating the TD by flipping the ball out of his hands before crossing the goal line. Replay official Bob Boylston confirmed the touchdown and, as a result, referee Alberto Riveron did not stop the game for an instant replay review.

California Coach Jeff Tedford said he expects to meet next week with Athletic Director Sandy Barbour to discuss his future after the Golden Bears finish their worst season during Tedford's tenure. Tedford said Tuesday he will begin a thorough evaluation of what went wrong for the program as soon as the season ends Saturday night at No. 15 Oregon State. "The first place I will look is in the mirror," Tedford said. "We'll do a deep dive and figure out where we can improve. " Tedford said he will meet with assistants and each player to get their input on how to improve the situation at Cal. The Bears (3-8, 2-6 Pac-12)

Who caught the ball in Seattle? Was it simultaneous possession on the Hail Mary pass? Did Seattle's receiver pull the ball away on the ground? Shouldn't even matter. So says the NFL in a statement released Tuesday morning. The final play in Monday night's Packers-Seahawks game should have been decided by blatant offensive pass interference by Seattle receiver Golden Tate, the league said. He shoved a Green Bay defender in the back before the ball arrived, knocking him to the ground.

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.

The NCAA is using instant replay reviews throughout Division I-A this season, and it played a significant role Saturday in two games between top-25 teams. Sixth-ranked Louisiana State lost, 7-3, to No. 3 Auburn after replay officials overturned a pass-interference call on Auburn in the waning moments and No. 15 Oklahoma lost, 34-33, to No. 18 Oregon after the Ducks recovered a disputed onside kick and then scored.

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.

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.