Friday, January 17, 2014

Could more replay make Yankees-Red Sox games even longer?

The news in baseball is that instant replay.
I would be in favor of that development if
1) We're not just substituting possibly wrong umpires' decisions for possibly wrong replay rulings.
2) Umpires don't use replay as a crutch by making a safe ruling they know could be overturned.
Both of those problems have occurred to some degree with football replays.
But the really big one, which has slowed NFL games and made some college football games interminable:
3) The average game time for all major league games doesn't move to more than 3 hours, and the average game time of Yankees-Red Sox games still allow them to play the whole game in one day.
Other than that, no real movement in baseball
* * *
Hockey. Got to see Zdeno Chara and Jarome Inginla play Thursday night for the Bruins. Chara made his presence felt on defense and in a fight with Dallas' Vernon Fiddler. They received penalties just for roughing. My team could have used the three extra minutes for a fighting major. As it was, Chara had the only two penalty minutes from my roster.
Speaking of Chara, he's going to be leaving early for the Olympics because he has been chosen to carry Slovakia's flag in the opening ceremonies. He's likely to miss Boston's games Feb. 6 and 8.
Inginla, one of my favorite players, is not -- or at least hasn't been lately -- the same player he was just a couple of years ago. I barely noticed him on the ice.
My team had plenty of shots on goal (34), but just three goals.
I did regain the point I'd lost in save percentage. Neither Steve Mason, who lost in a shootout, nor Tim Thomas, won, but they each had save percentages above .900 and goals against averages under 3.00. I sent Vancouver's Eddie Lack packing and replaced him with Chicagos' Antti Raanta. He won't play a lot, but his team should help him do well. Like a few NHL teams Thursday, I may be making another change to my goalie configuration.
Well, maybe not. I just noticed that new Nashville Predator Devan Dubnyk already was owned in our league before Edmonton traded him.
* * *
Basketball. I'm leading 7-1 this week, and trail only by one 3-pointer. Both my opponent and I have full 10-man active rosters Friday. To try to overcome the lead in 3-pointers, I have four players listed as shooting guards in my lineup, plus 3-point-shooting forward Carmelo Anthony. Unfortunately, Joe Johnson's Brooklyn Nets are not playing so he'll be on my bench.

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