Instant replay rule for Soccer? Discuss.

[This is a repost from the last world cup. I thought it was even more appropriate today. Enjoy the finals this weekend, everyone!]

(Lady with cool contact lenses via CNN)

Sure, video evidence would slow the game down slightly, but not as much as the luddites would have you believe. The ball is only in play for 60-odd minutes anyway and double-checking, say, a goal-line clearance, penalty or offside appeal would add seconds not minutes. If there were any doubts at all about the TV replays, the referee's original decision would stand.

Introducing technology would also change the risk v reward debate that zips around a player's head: there'd be no incentive to dive for a penalty when someone in the stands could alert the referee, who would soon be waving yellow in your direction. And why pretend to be punched, when in 30 seconds' time you'd be receiving red for play-acting?

Clearly there's a balance to be struck between maintaining the flow of the game and making the right decision but if other sports can do it, so can football. Ultimately, it boils down to what is preferable: a 30-second delay in play, or the Hand of God? Getting it right, or allowing cheats to get away with it? Certainty, or random chance?

Guardian.uk (thanks, dad!)

Print this out

Put the print out by your TV. And prepare for some early morning drinking (if that's your thing).

It's time for World Cup 2010. England v USA (USA! USA!) on Saturday, June 12:

Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair

Howard Schnellenberger coached the Oklahoma Sooners for just over a season in 1995, putting up a 5-6-1 record. Upon his hiring he predicted, "They'll write books and make movies about my time here." Instead, this:

Prince finished 17-20 in three seasons at KSU. It was the the second-shortest coaching tenure in Big 12 history behind the two seasons Dave Roberts coached at Baylor. |ESPN|

Manny!

Manny Ramirez has tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs and will be suspended 50 games starting today, The Times has learned. |LA Times|

First of all, every writer who condemns Manny (and A-Rod, and McGwire, and Palmeiro, and Clemens, and so on) had better start marking down Jim Rice and Andre Dawson on their Hall of Fame ballots.

Second, I still don't understand why drugs are bad but performance enhancing eye surgery is fine and dandy:



Lastly, when oh when will the prohibition end? The wonders of juicing are no secret:

The ponies

The post draw is done and the odds are set for the Derby. The favorite is I Want Revenge at 3-1, probably on the strength of the Wood Memorial. In that race, I Want Revenge had an absolutely horrific start but wormed his way through the field (I imagine Ulysses Everett McGill as the jockey muttering, "We're in a tight spot!") for the win.

Also strong is Pioneerof the Nile at 4-1. At the Santa Anita Pioneerof the Nile outclassed a strong field. It will be interesting to see what the horse can do when facing an even bigger challenge.

The best value is probably Friesan Fire at 5-1. People who know a lot more about the ponies than I do (doesn't take much, but still) had been talking about this horse early in the season, but he seems to have been forgotten a little bit since he didn't run in any of the premier tune-ups.

Something similar could be said about Dunkirk, though at least that horse ran in the Florida Derby. It says here that if Dunkirk wins then it'll set up an interesting Florida Derby rematch with Quality Road in either the Belmont or the Preakness, depending on when Quality Road makes it back from the cracked hoof.

For a longshot, I'd go with Chocolate Candy at 15-1. He has a good starting position and was the only horse to mount any kind of challenge to Pioneerof the Nile in the Santa Anita. Papa Clem will probably get some love too, but I don't think that horse has even a ghost of a chance.

Day two

KC: So far they've picked up a pass rushing DT and a tall, fluid CB with character issues. Throw in Tyson Jackson at DE (not to mention last year's numer one Glenn Dorsey) and the defensive line is looking pretty good. I itch for offensive linemen, but I came of age in the Schottenheimer era. The team needs a linebacker. Are there any tight ends available?

Detroit: The fans aren't happy. They didn't like Stafford, and they had their hearts set on a linebacker that the team passed on twice, so DeAndre Levy will face an uphill battle with them. Then again, I've heard fans seriously suggest that Detroit should have passed on the number one pick, just passed four or five times, until the decision about who to pick was easy enough not to screw up. So there's not a lot of confidence in management.

Cleveland: Wheeling and dealing! Is the team geographically close enough for me to root for?

Draft matters

Lions: I'm not sold on Stafford, but I don't see anybody offering to move up and I think you have to take a quarterback at that position. The real story for the Lions will be their next two picks at 20 and 33. Local fans are hoping for Maualuga out of USC to drop, and if he's there maybe you have to take him. I think the Lions would do better to focus on the offensive side of the ball, particularly the offensive line. The Lions don't have enough good players and never will have enough until they learn to bear down and fix the team one unit at a time.

Kansas City: Man, do I want them to trade down! You've got to think that somebody will want to move up to get Sanchez, and would be willing to give KC some picks. Assuming that Smith goes second, and KC keeps its pick, and KC picks a defensive player named Aaron, I'd rather see Maybin than Curry. Just as with the Lions, KC doesn't have very many players. Adding another top pick on the D-line would put them on the road to a dominant unit up front.

Freeman: Bust, bust, bust. I can't believe he's projected in the first round.

Gonzalez: I don't really see how KC didn't get jobbed on the trade. Unless, that is,they trade down a bit, steal Crabtree, and leverage that 2010 second round pick into something in the top 40 picks this year. Then I'd be impressed. I'd also like to see KC get younger in a deal that involves Larry Johnson, Chris Wells, and a pony.

Blog-o non grata

(2)DET vs. (7) CLB Despite having seen them choke up a 3-goal lead live, my main impression of the Red Wings is just the obvious one: that they're scary, scary good. Lidstrom -- who I think might be the best defenseman of my hockey-watching lifetime, including Bourque -- has barely lost a step, he's well backed-up, and the forwards remain superb. Hossa was a terrific signing. I generally don't like to pick teams in their first playoff run. And yet -- partly to send a message that I don't think the Wings will get out of the strong conference again -- I'm going to pick the upset. Hithcock's superb defensive coaching will, I think, mitigate the first-year jitters effect, and the general profile of the team seems similar to the ones that have pulled similar upsets (especially the Ducks). I also think Mason is the real deal, which brings us to the one thing about the Red Wings' slight playoff underachievement Michael didn't mention: Holland has, for reasons I can't fathom, repeatedly taken his Bentley of a team and outfitted it with Lada goaltending. The rest of the team is so good that he's gotten away with it more than he should, but I don't think they can win with by far the first goaltending in the playoffs again. It may not catch up to them in Round 1, but it will. BLUE JACKETS IN 7. |Scott Lemieux|

There are some truths which must not be spoken.

The ponies

Baseball!

Just saying.

Adding: I've heard a lot of talk that the World Baseball Classic should be moved to a different time of year because the Major League players aren't in shape, risk injury, and so forth. I can't say that I see much merit in that precise argument, but I would agree that spring training is not real baseball and that when you play the World Baseball Classic during spring training you thereby relegate it to the category of not real baseball.

The ponies

What, you were watching basketball?

Note: Now not featuring Blogger's non-functional video upload function.

Of course Curt Schilling isn't a Hall of Fame pitcher

First, just so you don't think the HOF campaign sprang from my own fevered brow, here's Bob Ryan, who has a TV gig and everything:



Now, here's how Schilling looks compared to his contemporaries:

• Greg Maddux, 355-227, 3.16 ERA, 4 Cy Youngs, 18 Gold Gloves, 11-14 postseason, won WS, appeared in 3 WS
  
• Roger Clemens, 354-184, 3.12 ERA, 7 Cy Youngs, 12-8 postseason, Won 2 WS, appeared in 6 WS
  
• Tom Glavine, 305-203, 3.54 ERA, 2 Cy Youngs, 14-16 postseason, won WS, appeared in 5 WS
  
• Randy Johnson, 295-160, 3.26 ERA, 5 Cy Youngs, 7-9 postseason, won WS
  
• Mike Mussina, 270-153, 3.68 ERA, 2 WS appearances
  
• Jamie Moyer, 246-185, 4.19 ERA, 3-3 postseason, won WS
  
• Kenny Rogers, 219-156, 4.27 ERA, 3-3 postseason, won WS, appeared 2 WS
  
• Curt Schilling, 216-146, 3.46 ERA, Won 3 WS, appeared in 4 WS
  
• Andy Pettite, 215-127, 3.89 ERA, 14-9 postseason, won 4 WS, appeared in 7 WS
  
• Pedro Martinez, 214-99, 2.91 ERA, 3 Cy Youngs, 6-2 postseason, WS

The juice

A-Rod. Another martyr for the movement.

Datsyuk!

A Canadian told me a few weeks ago that I have boring taste in hockey players, but how can you not love this?

Notes on sport

Item: The Lions are playing on the road in Green Bay today where, it turns out, they've lost 17 straight. Naturally, the Lions Report did a feature about how the rookies still have a positive attitude because they haven't yet been touched by the Lambeau Curse.

Item: I can't say that I fully understand who is and is not champion of what, but I'm looking forward to a Mir / Lesnar rematch.

Item: Since we need some cliche ridden end of year blogging around these parts, these are my nominees for top sports stories of 2008:

• Tiger Woods grits out 91 hole victory at US Open.


• Nadal defeats Federer at Wimbledon


• Michael Phelps


• Giants put an end to Patriot streak at Superbowl XLII

Confirmed

Hockey is pretty awesome in HD.

Every now and then I get a little bit nervous that the best of all the years have gone by

Snyder will return to the Wildcats after three years away. Snyder, who is 69 years old, compiled a 136-68-1 record at Kansas State from 1989-2005. He replaces Ron Prince, who finished with a 5-7 record this season and 17-20 overall in three seasons with the Wildcats. |ESPN|

Three cheers for the Big Ten Network

All last year Comcast ran ads telling me how evil the Big Ten Network was. Then, Comcast caved, and now I've got the Big Ten twenty four seven. Tonight it's Drew Brees and Purdue taking on the Kansas State Wildcats of Michael Bishop in 1998's Alamo Bowl.

...the convention? Maybe later. They're watching at the OG.

Utah, I knew Appalachian State, and you sir...

...lead by two early in the second quarter.

...I mean to say, up by five.

...I mean to say, up 12 at the half.

There you go

I think I just witnessed Brett Favre's agent coming to terms with the Packers on live TV. Favre comes back, is acknowledged to be the best QB, and there is an "open competition" with Aaron Rodgers for the job.

But who cares about the deal. The point is that they seem to have negotiated it on live TV while staring into cameras in separate studios. That's a new phenomenon, right?

Maybe it was a put on. Maybe the deal was really made over the weekend and this was just a clever way of announcing it. But whatever. It still seems noteworthy that they'd elect to perform the farce.

Addendum: Or not. I swear I saw the conversation, but there's no news of it anywhere. Odd.