[The Poet]

I was talking the other night with a buddy about working the chains on the sidelines in football. So, the team on offense runs a play, a tackle is made, and the ref spots the ball . . . BY EYE. Then the ball is moved to the nearer hash mark and is respotted . . . BY EYE. Then the guys holding the down markers place the back end of the chain at the percieved spot of the ball from 15 yards away . . . BY EYE. But when the team drives for about another 10 yards, and a measurement is made to determine if they've gotten a first down or not, it is expected that the chains will be used to measure that precisely to within the nose of the ball, one way or the other.

Don't tell me instant replay would make baseball as "accurate" as are other sports. Besides, there's already no clock in baseball. Do you really want to watch a game where each inning takes an hour?

I vote "no" on replays. The ump's judgement is part of the game, and if you don't like it, don't watch. Or better yet, listen to it on the radio. Baseball works just fine that way, and you don't have to agonize over you seeing things differently than did the umpire.