Sports June 27, 2010

The knockout round of the FIFA world cup is underway, and not without contraversy. The referees have made some vital calls that have cost some teams the entire tournament. This is not a first either, as several calls were blown in group play as well. I remember last world cup where the referees were given extra money for giving cards. So they gave out more cards, many times without reason. You might say they're only people, but why not use technology and have instant replay. It doesn't really slow down the game either. The NFL challenge system has been around for a long time, and has become pretty efficient. Why can't FIFA use something like that? Its not that far fetched, we get the replay on our TVs at home.

The year of the pitcher continues with another no-hitter, this time from Edwin Jackson against his former team the Rays. Thats 3 out of the last 5 no-hitters against the Rays, and the other two were perfect games. This is ridiculous. The Rays aren't that bad a team either as they have the fifth best record in the league. They just seem to come up empty way too often. Edwin Jackson also threw 149 pitches to get it. I remember earlier in the year when the Yankees were going to pull C.C. Sabathia in a game he had a no-hitter in. Fortunately for Joe Girardi, C.C. gave up a hit, letting him escape a painful decision. Ironically, that was against the Rays...

The NBA draft also went down this week, all two rounds of it. True the NBA draft can't be too long, as the maximum roster size is 12 players. However, some of the rebuilding teams can use more rounds so they have a chance to win. Take the Nets for example. They are way more than one player away from the playoffs. By the time they can get a good roster full of players through the draft, the players they had first drafted will be gone to free agency, dooming them for long periods of time. True they can always acquire a player through free agency, as they are banking on right now, but it makes the Cinderella effect harder, something fans like to see.