After years of discussing instant replay, baseball’s collective general managers have now voted to institute a limited form of instant replay starting next year. There are no guidelines on how instant replay will be administered, so Bud Selig is going to draft guidelines with the help of other leading baseball officials. I’ve got a better idea. Baseball doesn’t need to go through all these procedures to administer instant replay. They just need to disallow instant replay but have their umpires review anything they want, anyway. Worked fine for the Browns-Ravens game yesterday.

Down 27-30, the Browns drove into field goal territory after a long kick return by Josh Cribbs, the NFL’s #2 kick return man (Complete Kick Return Stats), Phil Dawson was attempting a 51-yard field goal. It bounced off the sidebar and fell through the uprights, onto the bar holding up the uprights and poles, then out onto the field. The refs did not immediately signal anything, but they eventually ruled it no good.

So, that was the game. Ray Lewis did a little dance, made a little love, got down tonight. He and his Ravens celebrated their win served on a platter by the refs and went to the locker room. After more discussion, the refs decided to go against everything Roger Goodell had told them and (according to Ravens fans anyway) review a missed field goal!!!!!

(The ref himself said he was just communicating to the replay officials, but Ravens fans know better.)

The review brought to light a chilling fact: The field goal really was good!!! The refs called it good and brought the Ravens back to play.

From the locker room, where he was untapping his ankles, Ray Lewis was distressed. When confronted with the fact that he would have to play, he said in denial, “It’s over. We won.” Little did Ray Lewis know that the Browns would in fact win the coin toss and drive down the field for the game-winning field goal.

With a team havng won, that did indeed deserve to win, because of an illegal instant replay review, Roger Goodell must be fuming. How could officials display such reckless abandon for the rules? No NFL rule is actually supposed “make sense” in the classical definition of the phrase. Mr. Goodell has specific purposes for each rule, and by undermining him, the refs are messing with the integrity of the game.

However, dispite the NFL’s integrity being undermined, I actually think it is a good thing when the team that deserves to win does get credited with the win. It’s a concept the MLB would be smart to adopt.

More on Roger Goodell
NFL’s Imperialism May Have Dire Consequences
Un-American Commish Wants Super Bowl Out of America

Other Interesting Links from Elsewhere
SVP Style Interviews John Maroon, Former PR Director for Orioles and Redskins