A little quick background on this one: Wednesday night, the Detroit Tiger's Armando Galarraga was pitching a perfect game in the 9th inning. (If you don't know what a perfect game is, frankly, I don't know why you would be reading this blog. Just know this - they are rare. There have only been 20 in history.) With two outs, a slow rolling grounder was covered by the Tiger's first baseman, who threw to Galarraga and he tagged first. The runner was out... only he wasn't. First base umpire Jim Joyce called the man safe in what was clearly a bad call. The runner was out by a foot. Galarraga got the next guy out, game over - but no one went home happy. Joyce immediately went back into the clubhouse and saw his mistake, while the rest of the baseball world started calling for increased use of instant replay, the call to be reversed and Galarraga to be awarded a perfect game. Baseball has said since that they will not reverse the call, but they will start to look at expanding the use of replay. Now, I'm not usually a big fan of major league baseball's front office, but in this case I feel like they got it right in not reversing the call.
The problem about reversing the call and awarding a perfect game is that, no matter what the record books may say, it was not a perfect game and everyone with eyes knows it. There was a 28th batter and a man on base when the final out was recorded. Yeah, he shouldn't have been there, but he was. This is what happens when you're sport has to be dragged kicking and screaming into the technology age. Replay should have already been in place, but it wasn't and Armando Galarraga is the guy who has to pay for that. Sucks for him. And I feel worse for him because he handled it so well: he didn't yell and scream when the call was made; instead he half-laughed and smiled about it. He told Joyce it was ok because no one was perfect and Galarraga even threw his arm around Joyce when he brought the line-up card to home plate the next day. Hell, the fans even handled it well by giving Jim Joyce an ovation for how quick he was to admit his mistake. Everyone in the situation conducted themselves with class and dignity. That should be enough. I know that everyone wants everyone to take home a trophy these days, but this is the major leagues - stuff happens. I just hope this shows baseball that maybe it's time for them to enter the age of technology.
-I have to laugh at all the people who think that Tom Brady and the Patriots aren't going to get a contract extension done. The national sports talk show hosts are falling all over themselves to declare that Brady and the Patriots' relationship will soon be over and Brady will end his career in another uniform like Namath, Montana and Unitas before him. Let's all calm down. First off, it's June and Brady still has another year on his contract. There is time to get this done. Secondly, are these people new at this? Have the Patriots under Belichick ever gotten a contract extension done easily? They made Vince Wilfork fight for every last cent on his deal and Bill has said he's the best defensive lineman he's ever coached. It's just their way - they don't hand out money and contracts quickly or without a lot of back and forth. Now, a lot of guys out there hang on for a couple years too long and sign with other teams in a last ditch effort to stay in the league (Patrick Ewing with the Magic), so I'm not going to sit here and say Brady will never wear another uniform. But, I personally would be stunned if Brady didn't play at least a few more years in New England before that happened.
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