Instant Replay In Sports

Are Replay’s in Sports a Good Thing

We have seen many close plays in professional sports recently and some of these plays have affected the outcome of the game. The installation of instant replay in sports like baseball and basketball has already helped correct many calls that the referees or umpires have made mistakes on. These calls can drastically alter the outcome of games and change the success of a team for the season or in the playoffs. Most sports are now adopting the instant replay in some way, whether it be reviews or the MacCam in tennis. I would predict that in the next two or three years every professional sport will have some form of an instant replay system. Now that the leagues are beginning to install instant replay into the game they should now expand on this and make more plays reviewable. As seen in cases in the NBA and MLB only certain plays are reviewable and in NBA they only do replay during certain times of the game. If this change is made and more plays and situation are review able it will make the instant replay system more effective and there will be a lot less games decided by a bad call.   

This is especially true in the NBA as replays only occur in the final two minutes of the game or the second quarter. In certain cases they will review a play throughout the game if the coach request a review and the referees decide that a review is necessary. For example the majority of the reviews in the NBA are for out of bounds plays or shot clock and game clock questions to determine if the player got the shot of in time or not. Many times there is a questionable call made on fouls, I agree that a personal foul should be a judgment call and should not be reviewable. I would say that charging and blocking fouls should be reviewable because in a lot of cases the referee has a bad angle and can’t see if the player was set or if he was moving and these calls are very important call in the game. Another play that should be reviewable at all times is traveling. This is because in the NBA traveling is never called but every player travels multiple times throughout a game and this would determine a change in possession which can change the score and outcome of the game. The league has made progress in the replay system over the past few seasons and with a couple of changes to the system the league could better its system and further help the game.

Baseball is the most recent sport to adopt an instant replay system, and so far it has been successful. There rule is that each team is given one challenge for the entire game, if you win your challenge you will be given a second one, if you lose you have no more challenges. This is similar to the way the NFL runs its replay system. For the MLB the replay system was greatly needed as many games were decided by a poor call and there was no way to challenge it. In the past season and a half of MLB play there has been many overturned calls that have helped umpires correct the calls they had gotten wrong. These corrected calls can save runs if the call is out or give teams more base runners to drive in and score more runs if the call is safe. The same goes for fair or foul as when the ball is down the line it is hard to tell if it is fair or foul and these calls are extremely important throughout the game. Balls and Strikes should be kept as a judgment call for the plate umpire and should never be reviewable because there would be challenges happening on almost every pitch throughout the game. The limit in the number of replays that you can use in a game is also a good thing to have as it makes the coaches think harder on whether or not to challenge as opposed to challenging every close play. In the MLB the main problem that needs to be fixed with the replay is the amount of time it takes as many times it takes around 4 or 5 minutes to solve the issues and that is much too long to make a decision.

The NFL has had the replay system for the longest of any sport and has been the most successful. Allowing each team 2 challenges per game and having no challenges in the last two minutes of the half or game and only official reviews can occur in this time. Overall the NFL has a very strong replay method using the booth review. In each sport that has started using replay there has been a major improvement on the number of calls that have been wrong. This therefore makes the game a lot about how the players play during the game rather than allowing the umpires or referees to decide the outcome of the game. The replays need to be solved faster is the only major problem with replays in sports. When the reviews take too long it takes away from the game so the referees need to solve the problems in a faster manner. In my opinion replays are necessary in professional sports and each sport needs some form of a replay system to help limit the number of mistakes made by referees or umpires throughout a game             

Deflate Gate Brady's Suspension

    The NFL commissioner Roger Goodell finally came out with a decision and punishment for Brady and the Patriots on Deflate Gate. Just over 4 months after the AFC Championship game against the Colts Brady's punishment was announced. The league came down really hard on Tom Brady and the Patriots organization. Brady received a four game suspension, the team lost 1 million dollars, a 2016 First round draft pick and a 2017 fourth round pick. This punishment seems to be an overreaction to something that had no affect on the game against the Colts or the Patriots Super Bowl victory. It is expected that Brady will appeal this suspension and if he wins the appeal the suspension will likely be reduced to 2 games rather than 4.

     With the way Goodell has handled recent suspension in the league many people believe that he has overreacted and gave Brady a much harsher punishment than was necessary. Before video evidence came put to the public of Ray Rice assaulting his wife, he only received a 2 game suspension. While Brady only deflated footballs and receives a 4 game suspension and the team was dealt a rough penalty as well. Earlier this month the Jets were found guilty of tampering with Darrele Revis, which in the past has cost teams second or forth round draft picks but the Jets only lost $100,000. For some reason the Patriots lost a first round draft pick and 1 million dollars which is the highest team fine in NFL history. Roger Goodell has continued to make bad decisions as commissioner and the league needs to do something about it.

     Although the punishment was an overreaction and cost Brady too many games, it will have very little affect on the success of the team. Even if Brady loses his appeal and serves all four games I believe the team will still get off to a good start. In these games the Patriots play the Steelers, Bills, Jaguars and the Cowboys. The Steelers is at home and they will be without their star running back due to suspension for drugs. The Patriots always do well against the Bills but they do have a strong defense this year, the Jaguars are still terrible and the Cowboys lost running back DeMarco Murray to the Eagles in Free Agency. This will be the first real look at Jimmy Garoppolo and with the teams the Patriots are playing i believe the team should go 3-1 and at worst be 2-2. Brady's first game back will be against the Colts and they will defiantly not lose to the Colts after what happened last time these two teams played.        

Red Sox Early Season Struggles

     The Red Sox are off to an up and down start overall this season. Their offense has not struggled much at all this season lead mainly by Hanley Ramirez and his .295 Batting Average, 9 Home runs and 20 RBI's. The Red Sox offense has not struggled much scoring an average of just over 5 runs per game. There have been 7 games where the team has scored 7 runs or more this season. The team has also had to have many comeback wins in the late inning including two walk off wins.  The problems for this team thus far have come in the pitching staff. The majority of the struggles are in the Starting rotation.
   
  The team named Clay Buchholz their number one pitcher in hopes he would be their ace. This has not happened as he is 1-3 with a 5.76 ERA in his 5 starts. Newly signed Rick Porcello was supposed to also do well and he is 1-2 with a 6.48 ERA in his 4 starts. The worst pitcher so far is Wade Miley who is 1-2 with a 8.64 ERA and has walked 11 batters in his 4 starts. Justin Masterson is 1-2 with a 5.16 ERA and Joe Kelly has pitched the best so far as he is 1-0 with a 4.94 ERA so far. So far the team is the worst in the MLB in team ERA with a 5.23 and have allowed 10 more earned runs than any other team allowing 112 earned runs so far. They are also 5th in the league in home runs allowed already allowing 25 home runs. Your rotation is expected to be able to throw the majority of the innings of them game and this far the team has had 5 games where the starter couldn't make it through the 4th inning and in 4 of them they didn't even throw 3 innings. The team is lucky to have won 11 games so far and are also lucky that their division is weak overall so they are still just 2 games out of first place. If their rotation continues to struggle they will need to trade their young prospects to pick up Cole Hamels.

    With their lineup as powerful as it is so far this rotation only needs to be mediocre for this team to succeed. Their lineup has shown that they can score 5 or more runs almost every game so if their rotation ac start keeping the game close this team will win a lot more often. No team can win consistently when they are having to come from behind in the late innings every game. I hope that the team does give up some of their young prospects to pick up Hamels because with him as the ace and their other starters just being mediocre this lineup will score runs and this team can go on a playoff run this year.  
       

NBA Playoff Match ups and Predictions

  The NBA post season is beginning in under a week and the 16 teams playing all have heir minds set on the championship. There are some teams that have very little chances wining such as the Celtics and Pacers in the East and the Pelicans ad Mavericks in the West. Teams such as the Celtics and Pacers made late season runs to clinch their place in the NBA postseason. Neither Conferences 8th sees has been clinched the Nets trail the Pacers by 1 game in the East and the Thunder and Pelicans are tied for the spot in the west heading into the last day of the regular season. Both the 1 and 2 seeds in each conference are looking to make a strong push for the playoffs.

   The Eastern Conference match ups are all almost settled with the exception of the 1 vs. 8 seed match up. For the 1 vs. 8 game the Atlanta Hawks look to take on the Nets. Either way the Hawks should have no problem with this match up as they have a combined record of 8-0 against the Pacers and Nets. Prediction 4-1 Hawks For the 2 vs. 7 seed its the Cleveland Cavaliers vs. the Boston Celtics. This series should be no problem at all for the Cavaliers either as they have the big three of Lebron, Kyrie and Love and the Celtics have a team of young kids who have had a great season. Prediction 4-1. The 3 vs. 6 seed series is the Chicago Bulls vs. the Milwaukee Bucks. This series should be close because the Bucks have a big size advantage over the Bulls and Bulls star Derrick Rose is coming of a knee injury and may not be 100%. Prediction 4-2 Bulls. Finally the 4 vs. 5 seed match up is the Raptors vs. the Wizards. This series is supposed to be the closest series in the Conference. These teams are evenly matched and played 2-2 vs each other this season. Prediction 4-3 Wizards. 

     The Western Conference standings have yet to be settled going into the final day of the season. The 2nd seed to the 6th seed is separated by just 1 game and the standings can change drastically in this final day. As the Standings are right now the 1 vs. 8 seed series will be the Golden State Warriors vs the Pelicans. With the depth of the Warriors and the guards of Step Curry and Klay Thompson the Warriors should dominate the Pelicans even with Anthony Davis. Prediction 4-0 Warriors. The 2 vs 7 seed series is Currently the Houston Rockets vs the Dallas Mavericks. This series is strongly favored by the Rockets with their star guard in James Harden and big man Dwight Howard. The Mavericks did get a good pick up in Rajon Rondo but their roster doesn't match up to the Rockets roster. Prediction 4-1 Rockets. The 3 vs 6 is the Clippers vs Spurs although the Spurs are defending champions they are old and will have trouble with Chris Paul and Blake Griffen. Prediction 4-3 Clippers. Finally the 4 vs 5 seed is the Trail Blazers vs Grizzlies. The Grizzlies should win with Mike Conely, Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph leading them against Damian Lillard and LaMarcus Aldridge. Prediction 4-2 Grizzles.

  The Warriors from the west and the Cavaliers from the East both seem to be geared for a championship run. The Cavs have been strong since the return of Lebron from injury and have been favorites in the East all season. The Warriors behind star Steph Curry have been rolling all season. I believe this will be the match up for the NBA Finals this year. This will be a very intense series and will also be very competitive. I believe Lebron will complete his goal of his return home and bring the city of Cleveland a championship as he said he would. Prediction 4-3 Cavaliers.                        

Bruins Push for the Playoffs

    The Boston Bruins are in the middle of a strong push for a place in this seasons NHL postseason. After a six game losing streak in the middle of March a playoff spot looked unlikely for the Bruins. Now they are currently on a five game win streak and hold the 3rd spot in the Atlantic Division and the 6th seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. With a win against the Washington Capitals in their next game along with a lose by the Ottawa Senators in their game against the New York Rangers the Bruins would clinch a playoff birth. This would be their 8th straight season with a playoff birth and give them a chance to bring home another Stanley Cup Finals trophy.

     The current standings in the Eastern Conference are 1st. New York Rangers with 107 points, 2nd. Montreal Canadians with 106 points, 3rd. Tampa Bay Lightning with 104 points, 4th. Washington Capitals with 99 points, 5th. New York Islanders with 98 points, 6th. Boston Bruins with 95 points points, 7th. Pittsburgh Penguins with 95 points and 8th. Detroit Red Wings with 95 points. Although the Bruins are tied with the Red Wings in number of points they own the tie breaker so are higher in the standings. They are also tied in points with the Penguins but the Bruins are in third in their division and Penguins are in fourth in theirs so the Penguins are the top wildcard seed. The Ottawa Senators have 93 points and with a win by the Bruins along with a Ottawa lose to New York they would be out of contention for the playoffs.

    With the way the Schedules of the Bruins and the teams near them in the Standings look the Bruins could go as high as the 4th seed in the Eastern Conference playoff picture. To do this they would need help from the other teams in the Conference. First off for this to be possible the Bruins have to win their final three games against the Capitals, Panthers and Lightning. If they win out they will move up to the 5th seed because they would beat the Capitals in one of their three games and pass or tie them in the points system. To move to the 4th seed they would need the Islanders to lose 1 of their remaining 2 games in either regulation or overtime. Remaining on the New York Islanders schedule is the Penguins and Blue Jackets. If the Bruins were to lose one of their three remaining games they would need Detroit to lose their game to either Montreal or Carolina to remain in 3rd in their Division and 6th in the Conference.

   With their being a number of spots the Bruins could end up in their is a number of first round matchups they could have. If they fall to the 8th seed they would play the New York Rangers who they are 2-1 against this season. If they fall to the 7th seed they would play the Canadians who they are 0-4 against this year. The 6th seed would match them up against the Lightning who they are 2-1 against on the season with 1 game remaining between the two. In the 5th or 4th seeds the Bruins could play either the Islanders who they are 2-1 against or the Capitals who they are 0-2 against. The Bruins seem ready to make a strong push for the playoffs and maybe even a deep playoff run.

  

Review of Some things you just dont forget

The author made a lot of good points in the article. With mist cases of bullying in todays society the person being bullied never tells anyone because they don't wont to be harassed even more than before. If you are being bullied you should step up and tell someone because that shows you have the courage to do what is right. Being bullied is a terrible thing to live with and can only get better if you have someone to help you get through. In the case of Jonathon Martin and Richie Incognito I believe that it took a lot of courage for Jonathon to actually come forward and tell someone what was happening. I also don't understand how if he was being harassed that badly how no one else in the organization could have noticed what was going on and helped him. I do believe that he might have exaggerated how bad the harassment really was but no team mate should harass someone else on their team. I hope that a case like this never comes up again in any sports organization across the country.

Pursuit for Perfection

     In the weeks to come the University of Kentucky Wildcats Division 1 Men's basketball team will be trying to achieve the unprecedented 40-0 season at this years NCAA tournament. This would be an amazing achievement as no Division 1 Men's basketball team has gone 40-0 before. There have been other teams to have a perfect season these teams include the UCLA Bruins in the late 1960's and early 1970's going 30-0 four times in that span. The last team to go undefeated was the Indiana Hoosiers recording a final record of 32-0 in the 1976 season. If Kentucky finishes their run for perfection then they will be in the conversation for the best Division 1 Men's basketball team in the history of the NCAA.
     The team is considered to be one of the best defensive teams ever allowing just 53.4 points per game and scoring and average of 74.6 points per game. Many people say that they didn't have the strongest of schedules this year which in a lot of case is true but they did play some ranked opponents like # 14 Louisville, # 9 Kansas, # 21 Arkansas and # 19 UNC. This team has handled there games against ranked opponents very well and has dominated against almost all of there games against unranked opponents. One key thing that the team has in there favor is a very successful coach especially in the NCAA tournament. In John Calipari's career his teams have posted a 34-12 record in games in the tournament. This team seems to be poised to get Coach Calipari yet another NCAA title.
     The Wildcats have 9 returning players from last years team including Andrew and Aaron Harrison, Willie Cauley-Stein and Alex Poythress. This is very important to the team's success as last year these players lead the team to the title game where they just came short of winning but lost to UCONN. This will help the team because the players know how to play through the pressure of playing in such important games like the Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, Final Four and even the Championship Game too. They have also added player who have played essential roles in the success of the team this year like Devin Booker, Tyler Ulis, Karl-Anthony Towns and Trey Lyles without these new freshman players the team would not be where it is at this point and would not be going for the perfect season.
      We have seen teams poised to have the perfect season before and they just haven't got the job done like the 2013-2014 Wichita State Shookers who had there season come to an end after a 35-0 start. This team seems to be different though, the Wichita State team had a very easy record playing only two ranked teams all season, Kentucky on the other hand has been tested by ranked teams and even some very good unranked teams. They have been put through some tough tests like overtime games or even a few games where they trailed by double digits in the second half but the powerful team has passed the teats with no problem at all. Just when it looks like the streak might end one of there truly great players steps up and makes the necessary plays needed to win the game. This team seems to be clicking on all cylinders and are looking to stay hot, its going to take a perfect game to end this perfect season.

Should Tom Brady Be in The Hall of Fame?

There are many current and former NFL quarterbacks who deserve to be elected into the Quarterbacks Hall of Fame but have not yet reached that point. When it comes to current quarterbacks who deserve to get to the Hall of Fame it really just comes down to three main players, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and Peyton Manning. All three of these players have different sets of skills and are better at certain parts of the position. Each player has proven themselves worthy of a spot in the NFL's Hall of Fame but if only one of them could be elected in I believe it should be Tom Brady.

Tom Brady has proven himself to be one of the greatest if not the greatest quarterback in NFL history. He has won four super bowls in his career with the New England Patriots and has been named MVP in three of those Super Bowl victories. He has been named league MVP twice and has been elected to 10 Pro Bowls. In his 15 year career to this point he has led the Patriots to a 160-47 regular season record and made the playoffs 12 times. Tom Brady needs one more Super Bowl ring to become the quarterback with the most Super Bowl rings. In comparison to Manning and Rodgers Brady dominates as combined those two players have won 2 Super Bowls and been named league MVP a combined 7 times.

In terms of regular season statistics Tom Brady fares well but Peyton Manning has put up some good stats as well. Brady has thrown for an impressive 55,258 yards in his career to go with his 392 touchdowns and only 143 interceptions. Manning has thrown for 69,691 yards and 530 touchdowns with 234 interceptions while playing two more seasons than Brady. Brady has posted an impressive .620 win percentage with Manning having a .670 and Rodgers having a .660. Overall the three players are very close in comparison in regular season stats but playoff stats are a different story.

When it comes time to the important games in the post season it is tough to compare to Tom Brady. Brady is 21-8 in playoff games, where Rodgers has a 6-5 playoff record and Manning has an 11-13 playoff record. Brady has thrown 53 touchdowns and 26 interceptions in his postseason career to Manning’s 38 touchdowns and 24 interceptions and Rodgers 23 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. Brady has thrown 7,345 yards to Manning’s 6,800 yards and Rodger’s 2,983 yards in postseason games. Most importantly Brady holds the record with 6 super bowl appearances with an impressive 4-2 record in the big game while Manning is 1-2 in the Super Bowl and Rodgers is 1-0 in the Super Bowl. Brady truly does rise to the occasion in the clutch moments and is a key reason to why the New England Patriots have become one of the best Franchises in sports history.

In my opinion the stats provided and many other stats prove that out of these three quarterbacks Tom Brady deserves to go to the Hall of Fame. There are many people who argue that Tom Brady is the greatest quarterback in NFL history and after leading the Patriots to a Super Bowl victory this year it is really hard to argue against the fact that he is the greatest to play. He has had a very successful career and has led the Patriots to be considered a dynasty over the past 15 years that he has played. It would be unfair not to put such a good player in the Hall of Fame.

     

"Sacking the Super Bowl" Reviw

The article Sacking the Super Bowl by Steve Almond brought up some very good points about the NFL and the safety of the players. I do agree with the author when he says ''citizens never see an economic return on their investments." He says in his article that the taxpayers in Minnesota pay half a billion dollars for the Vikings' new stadium. In my opinion it is not fair for the citizens to have to pay such large amounts of money for these professional sports stadiums when the franchise owners are billionaires and do not have to spend much of their money on anything other than the players. Without the citizens tax money their would be no stadium for these teams to play in but yet the citizens get no economic return. I also agree with some of the points the author brought up on the physicality of the game and the seriousness of the injuries caused. The NFL has also recognized the seriousness of head injuries and has become a lot more strict with penalties such helmet to helmet contact, unnecessary roughness and roughing the passer. Although I do agree that the physicality puts the players in danger, I also recognize that the players all know what kind of danger they are putting themselves in and the risk they are taking playing a physical sport. Watching football is one of my favorite things to do and there is nothing the league could do that would make me stop watching football on a week to week basis. I can understand his problems with how the game is played but that is what football is about and what makes it a very enjoyable sport.