Jonathan Says: The CT sports editor sounds off

BASEBALL

    I’ve been contemplating my stance on the issue of instant replay in Major League Baseball for the past couple weeks. Now that an official decision has been made, I’ve come to my own conclusion: Don’t even bother with it. Instant replay has done a lot for officiating in football and certainly has helped with last-second shots in basketball, but I find it unnecessary. I say this, because, more often than not, replay has re-affirmed the views of the referees on the field and court in these sports—rather than overturned them. There is certainly a human-error factor in being an umpire for a baseball game, but it’s part of the game. Stuff happens; mistakes happen. Replay doesn’t always catch these mistakes, even if they seem obvious. A team (cough … cough … the Yankees … cough … cough … ) losing out on a couple runs or losing a game because of a close call doesn’t make the entire system flawed—it just makes the game human.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

    I know I’m merely a college student and a journalist, but perhaps my promotion to the big leagues should happen soon. Why? Because, unlike the many, many, many members of The Associated Press who thought Virginia Tech was a Top 25 team, I knew better.
    The Sean Glennon experiment was bound to fail sooner rather than later, and the offensive line can be compared to post-“war” Afghanistan (enter Chappelle’s Show joke here). The fact that East Carolina “Beamer-balled” the Hokies to win was poetic justice. Now that Tyrod Taylor’s redshirt has been lifted, the offense should receive a jolt from Taylor’s ability to scramble—but according to the coaching staff, Taylor’s passing ability is equal to Glennon’s. At the end of the day, unless Taylor can improve drastically in the passing game, Tech essentially will go from using an interception-throwing tackling dummy for a quarterback to using an interception-throwing scrambler. Coastal Division champions? Maybe next year.
    I don’t want to rip on Virginia Tech without shouting at the rest of the ACC. With the exception of Wake Forest, Miami, Georgia Tech and Duke (What?), the entire conference has reason to be embarrassed. Maryland and North Carolina barely got past FCS division opponents, Boston College struggled with Kent State and Clemson was defeated easily by Alabama. Good news—basketball season isn’t too far away; maybe then the conference will be more competitive.