Friday, January 17, 2014

Now that they hold the key to a managerial challenge, will home team broadcast booths run instant replays in a timely manner?

Last season was a disaster for the New York Giants and coach Tom Coughlin. But early on, one game seemed to hinge on an instant replay challenge. There was a critical first-down pass, which might have been dropped, and Coughlin was ready to throw his challenge flag. But you could see him awaiting word from a coach upstairs, who was waiting for the FOX TV crew to replay the pass. When FOX didn't do it, Coughlin called a timeout. Obviously, he wanted more time for FOX to run the replay, so he could see if it was worth issuing a challenge. But FOX cut to a commercial, and when the game returned, Coughlin threw the challenge and lost - and the Giants lost two time outs. A miserable moment in a miserable season.

Last night, I was remember that moment, after MLB announced it will use the instant replay. Because the Yankees have the YES Network, which will be quick to run the Super YES-MO replay on any call that goes against us. Joe Girardi will never have to blindly challenge a call, because YES will be on it. But if the play goes against us, will YES hurry to run it?

Baseball isn't like the NFL, where all games are broadcast by a major network. Each MLB team has its own TV network, and some in the booth are notorious homers. (Not the Yankees, of course. Other teams, obviously.) 

If the Yankees are hosting, say, Houston. Will the Astros broadcast crew be using the YES camera feed? Or will they bring their own camera crew? Will there be conflicting booth reviews, before the managers decide whether to use one of their challenges? This will never be a big issue - unless the day it becomes one. Then it will be a doozy.

2 comments:

KD said...

Finally! A change in rules the Yanks can take advantage of. And why shouldn't we when every rule change seems to be designed to keep us down?

Angel Hernandez said...

To eliminate the need for replay almost entirely, how about if I just quit?