Talk » not. That did happen in the end,

NEW YORK -- Major League Baseball is moving ahead with plans to expand instant replay next year. "Were pretty confident well have it in place for 2014," MLB Executive Vice-President Joe Torre said Tuesday before the All-Star game. Video review has been in place for umpires on home run calls since August 2008. Commissioner Bud Selig initially wanted to add trap plays and fair-or-foul calls down the lines for 2013, but the change was put off while more radical options were examined. Still, Selig has wanted to proceed cautiously. "Look, life isnt perfect. The sport isnt perfect, but we live with it, and its been great," he said Tuesday during his annual meeting the Baseball Writers Association of America. "We have to be careful in our zest to improve things not to affect the game as weve all known it." Part of a replay subcommittee that includes former St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa and Atlanta Braves President John Schuerholz, Torre has said all options are being considered, including an NFL-type system that would give managers the ability to challenge calls. He hopes to have plans for owners to consider when they meet next month in Cooperstown. "We certainly dont want to get stuck in the mud saying were not going to do anything when technology is out there saying that we can improve it somewhat," Torre said. "Weve got to decide, how much replay do we want? Because if you start doing it from the first inning to the ninth inning, you may have to time the game with a calendar." Selig said the calendar was an issue in MLBs refusal to make players available for the Olympics. Baseball was an Olympic medal sport from 1992-2008, then was dropped for last years London Games. IOC President Jacques Rogge says baseball should make its top athletes available, as they are in basketball and hockey. The IOC will vote in September to select one sport from among baseball-softball, wrestling and squash to add to the 2020 Games. Stopping the baseball season for the Olympics is impractical. "First of all, wed be playing to Thanksgiving, maybe Dec. 1," Selig said. "It just isnt possible. I wish it was." Selig said baseball had stopped discussing a possible future shift of the All-Star game from its traditional Tuesday to a Wednesday slot. He said hes not concerned that the tied All-Star game of 2002 in Milwaukee, when the teams ran out of pitchers, is mentioned as part of his reign. "I dont regard this as part of my history. It happened," he said. "The fate of western civilization, by the way, wasnt changed one iota as a result of that tie, lest anybody get too concerned about it." He also repeated his concern about the Tampa Bay Rays, who are next-to-last in the major leagues with a home attendance average of 17,791 despite contending in the AL East. Selig called the situation "beyond disappointing" and "economically not tolerable." "You look at a club in the major leagues thats competitive thats averaging 18,000 people a game. That may have been OK in 1956. Its not OK today," he said. "Theres no question theres a stadium problem there. Theres no debate about that. The question is what to do about it and when to do and where to do." Selig repeated his intention to retire in December 2014 after 22 years in office but said there are no definitive succession plans. "Ive always operated under the theory that if I get hit by a beer truck tomorrow, theyd have to find somebody," he said. "Somehow, some way theyll find somebody."Air Max 98 Saldi . Third-seeded Murray had the easiest path to victory on New Years Eve, barely breaking a sweat during his 6-0, 6-0 win over 2,129th-ranked Qatari wildcard recipient Mousa Shanan Zayed. Air Max 90 Saldi . After the whistle, Thornton skated the length of the ice, pulled Orpik to the ice from behind and punched him in the face several times. http://www.airmaxscarpescontate.it/scarpe-air-max-95-prezzo-basso.html . -- The goal posts lying flat on the field, Arizonas fans lingered on the field, congregating around the locker room entrance nearly 30 minutes after rushing out of the stands. Scarpe Air Max 97 Scontate . With their top three point guards and Kobe Bryant all sidelined by injury, the Lakers signed Marshall out of the D-League on Friday before their home game against Minnesota. Air Max 97 Donna Scontate . Nathan MacKinnon, Jamie McGinn and Jan Hejda also scored for the Avalanche, who won despite being outshot 38-23. MacKinnons goal, also on the power play, came with just over a minute remaining.Ten weeks ago, I penned a piece beginning with my own Olympic dreams as a 14-year-old mesmerized by the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, just two hours from home. By the end, I had done a nearly 180-degree turn, understanding the position of golfers who have chosen not to participate in the Olympic Games.I still stand by that, as professional golfers are independent contractors. Whether players such as Jason Day, Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson or Adam Scott have any regrets about not competing in Rio are solely their own and no one elses business.They shouldnt have had to publicly rationalize their decisions, either. But those decisions are also in the rearview mirror.Overall, the Olympic experience was a good one for golf. Im still not sure who needed each other more, golf or the Olympics, but it was a win.Perfect? No. Needing improvement? Certainly, but still very positive.So, lets take a look at the thumbs up and thumbs down for the two weeks of Olympic golf competition.Thumbs up1. Quality of play Both Justin Rose and Inbee Park shot 16 under par in winning their gold medals. While Parks victory was a runaway, the competition for the remaining five golf medals was keen and riveting, with Lydia Ko holing a 7-footer for a silver over Shanshan Feng. Stacy Lewis also missed a putt at the final hole that could have set the stage for a three-way playoff for the bronze.2. Parity among the medal winners Six medals to six different countries. From Great Britain, Sweden and the United States on the mens side to South Korea, New Zealand and China in the womens event, golfs global appeal was only reinforced.3. Television exposure While the overall rating numbers were very good for both weeks, perhaps the biggest boom will someday be seen in China, where golf is still in its infancy.Even Chinas Feng said her thoughts were on performing for her people at home, because normally, golf is only shown on golf-specific outlets, whereas this competition was shown throughout China, reaching billions of those who had never been exposed to the game.4. Pairings observations Brazilians Adilson da Silva and Miriam Nagl both hit the opening tee shots for their respective competitions. There was also terrific balance of star pairings throughout the opening day for each competition, with nearly every group having a representative from Europe, North America and rest of the world.5. The dark horse/who-in-the-world-is-that factor Australias Marcus Fraser and Indias Aditi Ashok had everyone searching the internet to find out who they were and how they got to Rio. They each were the Eddie the Eagle of the golf competition, but even better.6. The Olympic Golf Course Purposely built for these Olympics, the course was superb. It is now open for play as the first public course in Brazil.Consideration was given for the usually windy conditions during design and construction. The surfaces (zoysia and paspalum grasses) are extremely tolerant of varying weather conditions. Players were presented with options as to how to play certain shots, and the green speeds, in the 11-foot range on the stimpmeter, allowed for creativity, aggressive play and heroics.Let this be a lesson to those setting up major championships, all the way down to your club member guest: Faster isnt always better, but thrilling golf with scoring potential is.7. New lingo Zero emphasis on a top 10. That just isnt going to get it done at the Olympics. We now have a battle for silver and a back-door bronze. Love it.Thumbs down1. Pace of play The final mens pairing played in five hours on the last day, and the women took 5 hours, 45 minutes on their first.dddddddddddd That is certainly not going to help grow the game.Officials made it clear to the women after Day 1 that the pace was unacceptable and even gave Brazilian player Victoria Lovelady a slow-play penalty in the second round.Caddies seemed overly involved and, if anything, the women should have played faster after seeing the course both in person and on television the previous week.2. Format While 72 holes of stroke play is certainly most familiar in golf, there are other formats that would be more compelling. Much was spoken of the possibility of a team or mixed-team element, even by people such as Sergio Garcia, LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan and Stacy Lewis.Heck, even Matt Kuchar thought there was a team element to the competition less than a week before he departed for the games!When golf is re-evaluated for post-2020 inclusion in the Olympics in 2017, lets hope this gets some serious traction.3. PGA Tour schedule conflicts The LPGA Tour absolutely nailed it on this one: There was no competing event, so that the sole focus could be on the Olympics. The PGA Tour should follow suit and not force players to make a choice.Camilo Villegas withdrew from the Olympics to focus on keeping his status on the PGA Tour next year by playing the John Deere Classic instead of representing his native Colombia.Justin Rose lost two Fed Ex Cup spots by winning the gold, and three Web.com Tour players -- Rodolfo Cazaubon, Cheng Tsung Pan and Seamus Power -- also lost important starts on that tour to be at the Olympics.4. PGA Tour announcements of upgrades at the Tour Championship on the eve of the Olympics It was not quite as bad as the USGA announcing its new television deal with FOX and leaving longtime partners NBC and ESPN the night before the 2013 PGA Championship, but it was still very questionable when the focus should have been on the Olympics.5. Unreasonable focus on the players who werent in Rio There was phenomenal uproar about Day, Spieth, McIlroy, Johnson and Scotts absence. But even though Olympic soccer includes U-23 teams with three older-player exceptions, where was the equivalent noise about two of that sports biggest stars -- Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi -- not being in Rio?6. Endless propagandizing The nearly 24/7 messaging of legitimizing golfs inclusion in the Olympics got to be too much. Show the viewers great shots, the players passion and the displays of nationalism in the gallery. Tell me the stories that make me want to root for these players and let me make up my mind about golf being there or not. That did happen in the end, but there was way too much force-feeding at the start.7. Those who encouraged?Inbee?Park to give up her Olympic spotIt became the ultimate take that moment. The Hall of Famer earned every bit of her place on South Koreas team, despite a chronic left thumb injury. And how did she respond? Park, admittedly playing at about 80 percent, won the womens gold medal by 5 shots over top-ranked Lydia Ko. If Park never hits another golf shot, what a way to go out.Golf in the Rio Olympics was a win -- not a perfect score but darn good, despite the pitfalls faced. It won because golfers played at their highest level and on a beautifully setup test as great as any sport in the world -- and not because of messaging or posturing of administrators, federations or governments.Golf is just cool.And as far as golf staying in the Summer Games beyond Tokyo, it indeed makes the Olympics better too. ' ' '