ere we go again. After the replay-fest that was the NCAA bowl season, it is time to discuss what this means to the baseball world. But it's not just college football. Replay had a "featured role" in the NFL openers and the Gold medal game at the recent World Junior Hockey Championships (WJHC). In a span of five days, the football and hockey worlds showed how replay can fail.

First, in the Rose Bowl: With time running down and Texas needing a touchdown, the replay booth stops the game to review what was an obvious call. It allowed the clock to be stopped, giving Texas an opportunity to get to the sideline and discuss options. Without replay, Texas is in hurry-up mode. Maybe they win anyway, but in this case, the review interrupted the flow of the game and maybe gave Texas an advantage. The problem was that this should not have been reviewed. In the never-ending search for perfection, the game was stopped and possibly affected.

In the NFL wildcard playoff games between Tampa Bay and Washington, TB coach John Gruden challenged two calls. On both, it showed the officials had it right, as most replays do.

Finally, in the final of the WJHC, Canada was leading Russia 2-0 early in the second period. The Russians scored a goal that nobody saw. Not the referee, not the goal judge, nobody. Not even the Russian player knew he had scored.

But it was captured by the camera inside the net, which clearly showed that the puck was in. The problem was that it was too late. Like the NFL, once a play is run, you can't use the replay. So, two minutes after the "goal" the referee is having to tell the Russian coach that he scored. For the record, while this goal may have helped the Russians, Canada did go on to thump them 5-0 to defend the World Championship it won last year!

Continued...