The Crock That is In-Stadium Replay

Instant replay in any sport has traditionally been a volatile subject.  Bob Costas, of course, hates it, along with his other targets of spite ranging from Dennis Rodman to the baseball wildcard to undercooked coho salmon to Gordon on Sesame Street.

Pamela Anderson — based on her personal collection of videos with Tommy Lee, Bret Michaels and others — is clearly on the other side of the argument. She loves replay, which is good news for fans of video.

Replay in sports was designed to pacify the outraged fan watching games on television. Within several seconds the TV viewing audience can see whether the ball was caught or if the receiver had two feet in bounds, and then it is replayed over and over again on ESPN.

But did you ever think replay would be an issue for fans sitting inside of a stadium?  The assumption has been that, at least in more modern ballparks, fans at the games who come to see the action live can always catch anything they miss — like the smokin’ hot chick in section 147-A, Row 12, Seat 4 — on the Jumbotron. Even in the NFL, when coaches aren’t looking grossly overweight, they often throw their red flags for a replay after watching a play on the big screen.###MORE###

But in Major League Baseball parks, the story is different.

This summer, while in search of the perfect meat byproduct shaped into a bratwurst and bacon wrapped bacon, I was visited a number of modern baseball parks. And it dawned on me — teams are less frequently showing instant replays on their Jumbotrons.

So I got curious and poked my extraordinarily large mustache around MLB, finding that there are stringent rules for teams about how in-stadium replay can be used. It’s actually become somewhat of a point of contention between many teams and MLB, as it limits a team’s ability to show close, exciting plays to the paying ticket holder and enhance the in-stadium experience for the paying fan.

Used car salesman Bud Selig’s MLB has gone so far as to mandate that teams are not allowed to specifically show “close” plays, the start of double plays, or called third strikes.  And outside of showing Sausage Races, Kiss Cams, and the robust sexual follies of the San Diego Chicken — isn’t that the reason teams ideally installed multi-million-dollar Jumbrotrons in the first place?

Remember the diving grab Clint Barmes of the Colorado Rockies made to start a game-ending double play and preserve a win over the St. Louis Cardinals last Sunday? It was the one that there’s been a lot of speculation that he didn’t actually catch the ball. Do you think the catch was shown on the Coors Field big screen? Nope. The Rockies were not allowed to show it.

So why restrict what should be a tool for teams to enhance the in-stadium experience for fans?  Why would MLB diminish the value of the Jumbotron for teams?  Certainly, quality replays give fans more reason to look at the big board, allowing teams to better value the advertising investments they ask of team sponsors to place their logos next to the screens.

It’s essentially a labor issue between the league and the umpire’s union, and who doesn’t love a good labor issue in sports? Oh, yeah, no one.

So because MLB doesn’t want to show up its umps, as we increasingly pay through the nose to go to see an MLB game, we won’t get to see a decent replay in the ballpark –- no matter how Jerry Jonesed the Jumbotron might be.

Whether its players strikes, steroids, collective bargaining agreements, or the NBA locking out its refs — the paying public is sick of conflict between unions and leagues in sports.  And MLB tip-toeing around its umps to rob fans of important replays — fans who are already paying $10 for a beer in the stadium — is just a crock.

I guess we’ll just have to wait for SportsCenter to replay the close calls roughly 500 times in a 24-hour period. Either that or hope that Pam Anderson is involved.

Carry on.

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