Baseball has a problem and it needs to be addressed immediately.

I know among baseball people this is unpopular, but I don’t care about baseball people right now. I know human error has and always will be apart of the game, but sometimes, humans really screw up.

Even with the limited use of instant replay that baseball currently uses, the umpires are getting calls wrong. Not only are the umps getting them wrong, they are terribly wrong; and Bud Selig seems happier than a pig in slop about this.

Selig, or “Captain Reaction” as I sometimes refer to him as, has tried his hardest to keep the use of technology out of baseball.

But give Selig some credit; he has talked to baseball people about the issue. You know these people; they share the same views as the Commissioner.

“The more baseball people I talk to, there is a lot of trepidation, and I think their trepidation is fair,” Selig told reporters. “Affecting the game on the field is not something I really want to do.”

Fair points, but baseball has made on the field changes in the past. Lowering the mound following Bob Gibson’s 1968 season? Adding teeth to their steroid policy after allowing the problem to run rampant for years, only after Jose Canseco decided he needed some money. I’m just saying that change isn’t a bad thing.

For change to happen, Selig has to open up his circle and not just talk strictly to baseball people. He must talk to other commissioners like Roger Goddell of the NFL, whose league uses replay on a challenge system for a ton of calls. How about Gary Bettman of the NHL whose league uses replay for goal calls, high sticks on goals and for determining suspensions. Or possibly David Stern of the NBA who’s league uses it for buzzer beaters or calling a made shot a two or three pointer.

“I think my position is clear,” Selig told the New York Times. “This is a game of pace, I’m worried about that.”

Excuse me? I love baseball, but I think I saw a snail roll by a baseball game once and comment on how slow the game was going. What would take more time? A replay official paging the on-field umps to take a second look, or a manager getting out of the dugout and in the face of one of the umpires?

The replay might take less time than Lou Piniella kicking his hat around the diamond. It would just be far less entertaining.

Sports fans are calling for Selig to react to the poor umpiring. Come on Captain Reaction…React! It’s what you’re best at.

Here are the lineups for the shows at noon:

On Baseball Show:
Mike Wilner hosting today:

Open phones with Wilner

On Leafs Lunch:

Brady and Watters:

1240 Damian Cristodero, St. Petersburg Times

College of Sports Media Game of the Night:

Imagine playing a game of HORSE to determine your mortgage rate. MLB does something similiar, the winner of the all star game gets home field advantage in the World Series. There be plenty of Canadian content in the Mid-Summer Classic. Toronto Blue Jay ace Roy Halladay gets the start for the American League and in the first inning he’ll face Hanley Ramirez, Chase Utley and Albert Pujols. Doc will have to be sharp from the get-go. He’ll be joined in the starting line up by teammate Aaron Hill who steps in for daddy-in-waiting Dustin Pedroia. Canuck Jason Bay gets the call in left field and Justin Morneau will come of the bench.

Over the last twelve games the AL has 11 wins and 1 tie (thanks to Bud Selig) and you can be sure the National League wants nothing more then to put a stop to that streak.

Follow us on Twitter at @yyzsportsmedia

Wow- first a game fixing referee and now a racist owner….Is David Stern using the Bud Selig playbook???

“NBA Hall of Famer and former longtime Clippers executive Elgin Baylor alleges in a civil lawsuit filed Wednesday in Los Angeles that team owner Donald Sterling has embraced a “vision of a Southern plantation-type structure” for his NBA franchise, accusing him of decades-long racist behavior. Baylor worked for the Clippers for 22 years. The complaint against Sterling and others, which was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court and obtained by The Times, presented Baylor’s version of an eroding relationship between Baylor and Sterling. Baylor contends, among other things, that the Clippers owner had “a pervasive and ongoing racist attitude as expressed to then-NBA player Danny Manning during contract negotiations.”

No, really you can’t buy PR this good….

“There is a news conference scheduled for this morning at Douglas’ office in Beverly Hills.

“Also named in the lawsuit was the team, the NBA and Clippers President Andy Roeser. Clippers officials said at their game against the Knicks on Wednesday they had not been served with the lawsuit.”

ummm, aside from that how was the play Mrs. Lincoln?

“Not having seen the complaint, I cannot comment on Elgin’s specific allegations,” said Robert H. Platt, Clippers general counsel and partner at the law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips. “However, I can categorically state that the Clippers always treated Elgin fairly throughout his long tenure with the team. Prior to his decision to leave the team last October, Elgin never raised any claims of unfair treatment. “It’s hard to believe that he would now make these ridiculous claims after the organization stood by him for 22 years and only three playoff appearances. It would be hard to find any sports team that has demonstrated greater loyalty to its general manager. The team intends to vigorously defend itself against these false allegations and will prevail when all the facts are heard.”

Am I the only one envisioning scenes from Fletch Lives here? And, no the claims here are no laughing matter.

“The suit alleged NBA Commissioner David Stern was present when Sterling allegedly said of Manning, “I’m offering a lot of money for a poor black kid.” That tone was echoed in another alleged incident in which Baylor claimed Sterling told him that “he [Sterling] wanted the Clippers team to be composed of ‘poor black boys from the South’ and a white head coach.” Another part of the lawsuit dealt with Baylor’s role in the organization. It alleged, as far back as 2004, Sterling and other club officials were employing “a campaign” to force Baylor into retirement — using “ageist comments” and “repeatedly hassling” him about quitting.”

This is UGLY……

Kudos to the LA times for breaking this one

“Players Association founder Marvin Miller defended the union’s conduct and accused the federal government and major drug-testing bodies of engaging in a “witch hunt” against prominent athletes.

But Miller, the 91-year-old Players Association icon, said union leaders are also now paying for their biggest mistake — the decision to bow to public and congressional pressure and enter into an agreement with Major League Baseball to institute mandatory testing in 2004.

“Everything I’ve read in the last few days is unfair and anti-union,” Miller told ESPN.com on Tuesday. “But that does not mean I agree that [union officials] are without blame. When they agreed on a testing program, I said, ‘They’re going to regret this, because you’re going to see players going to jail.’”

I was fortunate enough to see Marvin Miller speak on a couple of different occasions. Having said that, Marvin is soooooooooo off base here. Baseball is a joke. Under Bud Selig’s 17 million dollar a year leadership the game has become a sham. You want evidence of that, the entire lack of concern or outrage over what is going on right now. The most dangerous emotion out there is APATHY. People don’t care. That isn’t good at all.

You can read more from Marvin Miller here